Mark Viduka

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Mark Viduka
Personal information
Full name	Mark Anthony Viduka
Date of birth	October 9, 1975 (1975-10-09) (age 32)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Newcastle United
Number	36
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993–1995 1995–1998 1998–2000 2000–2004 2004–2007 2007–	Melbourne Knights Croatia Zagreb Celtic Leeds United Middlesbrough Newcastle United	049 (40) 081 (40) 037 (30) 130 (59) 072 (26) 026 0(7)
National team2
1993–1995 1994–1996 1994–	Australia U20 Australia U23 Australia	024 (32) 018 (17) 043 (11)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:05, 15 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 12:00, 22 July 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Mark Anthony Viduka^[1][2][3] (IPA: [ˈmaː(r)k ˈʋiduka]) (born October 9, 1975 in Melbourne) is an Australian football striker of Croatian and Ukrainian descent.^[4] He plays for Newcastle United in the English Premier League and for the Australian national team, which he captained at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to the last-16.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Melbourne Knights 1.2 Croatia Zagreb 1.3 Celtic 1.4 Leeds United 1.5 Middlesbrough 1.6 Newcastle United 2 International career 3 Personal life 4 Career statistics 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Melbourne Knights

Viduka started his career in Australia with Melbourne Knights in 1993, and became an Australian international in June of the following year. In his two seasons with the Melbourne Knights he was top goal scorer in the National Soccer League and was twice awarded the Johnny Warren Medal for NSL Player of the Year^[5] in 1993/94 and 1994/95. Viduka's time at the Melbourne Knights included one NSL title in season 1994/1995.

[edit] Croatia Zagreb

In 1995 he moved to Croatia to play with Croatia Zagreb (now Dinamo Zagreb). The grandstand at Knights' Stadium, home of the Melbourne Knights was renamed the Mark Viduka Stand in his honour and paid for with his transfer money.

He spent three and half seasons with the club, helping them to win three Doubles in Croatia between 1996 and 1998. He was also part of the Croatia Zagreb team that reached the third round of the UEFA Cup in 1997 and went on to make his UEFA Champions League group stage debut with the club a year later.

[edit] Celtic

Celtic bought Viduka in December 1998 for £3.5 million. In the same month as his signing Celtic stunned Scottish football by announcing that a stressed-out Viduka had quit the club without kicking a ball for them.^[6] A week later Zagreb complained that they had not received their fee for the player.^{[citation needed]} These issues were eventually resolved and Viduka made his first appearance in a Celtic shirt on 16 February 1999, scoring for the under-21 team as an over-age player in a 4–2 victory against Motherwell. He was voted Scottish Player of the Year for 1999-2000 after scoring 27 goals in his first full season at Celtic Park. He was regarded as a skilled player, able to hold the ball up well and bring other players into the game.^[who?] He did however incur the wrath of the Celtic support when he claimed to be only playing at about 75% of his capability during his time in Glasgow.^{[citation needed]}

On 4 December 2007, whilst presenting his show on talkSport, Ian Wright claimed that during half time of Celtic's February 2000 Scottish Cup defeat against Inverness Caledonian Thistle an unnamed striker refused to go back out for the second half of the game.^[7] Wright refused to name the player, but spoke of his disgust at the lack of professionalism displayed by the player and also explained that it was Wright himself who came on as a substitute for the player, making it apparent that he was talking about Viduka.^[8]

[edit] Leeds United

Leeds United manager David O'Leary signed Viduka just before the 2000–01 season for £6 million. At Leeds he was expected to line up in a three-pronged attack alongside Harry Kewell and Michael Bridges, but injuries to those two saw him form a partnership with Alan Smith in Leeds UEFA Champions League matches, while Robbie Keane also benefited in their Premiership matches together. In his first Elland Road season, Viduka scored 22 goals, including all four in a memorable 4–3 win over Liverpool at Elland Road. He signed a five-year deal in the summer of 2001.

In the 2002–03 campaign Viduka scored another 22 goals, however Leeds' off-pitch financial troubles prompted the club to sell key players, including Harry Kewell and Robbie Keane. This prompted speculation that Viduka would join the Leeds exodus with Barcelona confirming their interest in the Australian international along with Premiership clubs Liverpool and Manchester United.

With the relegation of Leeds United to the Football League Championship, the sale of Viduka to Middlesbrough was completed.

[edit] Middlesbrough

Viduka's debut season at Middlesbrough was initially impressive, albeit frustrated by injuries. In the 2005–06 season however, Viduka was in sensational form in all competitions for Middlesbrough, reaching double figures early on in the season. He also played an important part in spearheading Middlesbrough's campaign in the UEFA Cup where they twice had to score four goals in a game to proceed. They eventually lost in the final to Spanish side Sevilla on 10 May 2006.

With his contract due to expire at the end of the 2006–07 season, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate expressed his interest in keeping Viduka. In August 2006, he was awarded the number 9 shirt at Middlesbrough, his preferred number at all his previous clubs. Following another successful season, in which he scored 21 goals, Viduka attracted interest from other clubs who were hoping to sign him on a free transfer as he became out-of-contract. Southgate reiterated his wish to retain Viduka's services and revealed he would offer him a new contract, however Viduka joined north east rivals Newcastle United on a free transfer on 7 June 2007.^[9]

[edit] Newcastle United

In signing for Newcastle United, Viduka became manager Sam Allardyce's first signing at the club. His contract was for two years, with the option of a third year.

He made his Newcastle début in a Premiership match at Bolton on August 11, 2007 and scored his first goal for Newcastle on August 26, 2007 against his former club Middlesbrough.

On the September 23, 2007 he scored a further two goals against West Ham United to bring his tally up to three for the "Magpies". On December 23, 2007 he again scored two goals against Derby County, bringing the game level on both occasions. The game finished 2-2. In recent games he has made a major contribution, in a 3 man attack (along with Oba Martins and Michael Owen) Newcastle have won against Fulham, in which he scored, Spurs where he set up Owen and Reading, where he scored.

[edit] International career

He has captained the Australian national team since September 2005, in place of the injured Craig Moore, the regular captain. Viduka thrived under Guus Hiddink's tenure as coach of the national squad and led Australia as it qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany over a two-leg qualifier against Uruguay, the first time in 32 years that Australia qualified to participate in the event. On May 21, 2006 he was named as the Australian captain for the World Cup.^[10]

He also led Australia's national team to their first World Cup Finals victory with a 3–1 win over Japan in June 2006, as well as guiding them through an encounter with Brazil, losing 2–0, and a controversial bout with Croatia, ending with a 2–2 draw. He then led Australia into the second round, where they lost their round of 16 match to Italy. Although a regular scorer in the Premier League, has struggled to score any significant goals for the Socceroos, and the 2006 World Cup was no different.

Viduka considered retiring from international competition after the 2006 World Cup, citing increasing family commitments as the primary reason. However, in September 2006 he confirmed that he would continue playing for Australia and intended to compete in the 2007 Asian Cup.^[11] In a friendly against Singapore a week before the start of the Asian Cup, Viduka scored two headed goals in a 3–0 victory for Australia, Harry Kewell scored the third. It was the second time he scored two goals in an international match, having previously done so against the Solomon Islands in 2005.

On Australia's first ever Asian Cup participation, Viduka captained the side and he scored their solitary goal against Iraq, a game which they ultimately lost 1–3. In the next match he scored two goals against co-host team Thailand, defeating them 4–0, other goals scored by Michael Beachamp and Harry Kewell and making them fall out of the remaining competition. At one stage he led the goalscoring at the Asian Cup tournament, although his team was eliminated in the quarter-finals in a penalty shootout against Japan.
Subsequent to that loss, question marks hang over whether Viduka will continue his international career.^[12][13]

[edit] Personal life

Viduka and his wife, Ivana, have three sons: Joseph (born 2002), Lucas (born September 2006), and Oliver (born May 2008).

Viduka had a song written about him by English singer/songwriter and Middlesbrough fan, Alistair Griffin (who also previously co-wrote the football song recorded by Terry Venables). The song lyrics were written to the tune of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".^[14] Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate embraced the tune as a way of raising money for his chosen charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. Leonard Cohen has now given permission for the song to be released as a charity download single.^[15]

Viduka is a fan of Australian rules football and supports Collingwood Football Club.^[16]

[edit] Career statistics

Club Performance			League		Cup		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Australia			League		Cup		Total
1994-95	Melbourne Knights	National Soccer League	22	18
Croatia			League		Croatian Cup		Total
1995-96	Croatia Zagreb	Prva HNL	27	12
1996-97			25	18
1997-98			25	8
1998-99			7	2
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		Total
1998-99	Celtic	Premier League	9	5
1999-00			28	25
England			League		FA Cup		Total
2000-01	Leeds United	Premier League	34	17
2001-02			33	11
2002-03			33	20
2003-04			30	11
2004-05	Middlesbrough	Premier League	16	5
2005-06			27	7
2006-07			17	14
2007-08	Newcastle United	Premier League
Total	Australia		22	18
	Croatia		84	40
	Scotland		37	30
	England		190	80
Career Total			333	168

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mark Viduka FIFA competition record
• Mark Viduka career stats at Soccerbase
• Statistics at footballdatabase.com

v • d • e Australia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Moore • 4 Cahill • 5 Culina • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka • 10 Kewell • 11 Lazaridis • 12 Covic • 13 Grella • 14 Chipperfield • 15 Aloisi • 16 Beauchamp • 17 Thompson • 18 Kalac • 19 Kennedy • 20 Wilkshire • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Hiddink

v • d • e Newcastle United F.C. – current squad 1 Given • 3 José Enrique • 6 Caçapa • 7 Barton • 9 Martins • 10 Owen • 11 Duff • 13 Harper • 14 N'Zogbia • 16 Milner • 17 Smith • 20 Geremi • 21 Beye • 22 Butt • 23 Ameobi • 25 Faye • 27 Taylor • 30 Edgar • 34 Forster • 35 Tozer • 36 Viduka • 38 LuaLua • 39 Carroll • 40 Krul • Manager: Keegan

Awards
Preceded by Paul Trimboli	Johnny Warren Medallist 1993/94-1994/95	Succeeded by Damian Mori
Preceded by Francis Awaritefe	NSL Golden Boot 1993/94-1994/95	Succeeded by Damian Mori
Preceded by Steve Corica	NSL U21 Player of the Year 1993/94-1994/95	Succeeded by Jim Tsekinis
Preceded by Henrik Larsson	Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year 2000	Succeeded by Henrik Larsson
Preceded by Harry Kewell	Oceania Player of the Year 2000	Succeeded by Harry Kewell
Preceded by Henrik Larsson	SPL Topscorer 2000	Succeeded by Henrik Larsson