John Aloisi

A 55-times capped Socceroo, Aloisi made his debut for the national team as a 21-year-old in March 1997.

He scored 27 goals for Australia, going at nearly a goal every two games, which places him fourth in the all-time top goal scorers list.

John is of course best known for one of the most legendary moments in Australian sport when he buried the winning penalty in the shoot-out against Uruguay in 2005, booking Australia’s spot in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 32 years.

He also represented the nation as an overage player at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, scoring three goals and guiding the Olyroos to the quarter-finals.

Away from the national teams, Aloisi had a hugely successful playing career in both Australia and abroad and remains the only Australian to play and score in the English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A and La Liga in Spain.

It was the latter where he was most successful, playing over 150 times for Osasuna and Alaves collectively, scoring 38 goals in total.

After his European success, Aloisi returned to Australia where he became an A-League champion with Sydney FC before ending his career at Melbourne Heart in 2011.

From there, Aloisi began his career in coaching, first taking the Melbourne Heart role in 2012. He managed 39 games before leaving in December 2013, before taking up a role in the Melbourne Victory academy two years later.

His best spell in a still young managerial career came with Brisbane Roar, where he took over in 2015. John led the Roar to consecutive semi-final appearances and also engineered a spectacular win over Shanghai Shenhua to qualify for the AFC Asian Champions League in 2017.

Aloisi joined Western United as the Club’s second-ever head coach, with ambitions to take the young Club to the top of Australian football.

And that he did, galvanising the squad and leading it to achieve a record-breaking regular season which saw the side finish third on the table.

A brilliant run through finals brought Western United all the way to the 2022 A-League Men Grand Final, where Aloisi won his first ever title as a coach with the Green and Black running out 2-0 winners to become A-League Men Champions.