Mark Viduka
Viduka playing for Australia in 2005 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Mark Anthony Viduka | ||
Date of birth | October 9, 1975 | ||
Place of birth | Melbourne, Australia | ||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
Playing position | Forward | ||
Youth career | |||
1992β1993 | AIS | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Appsβ | (Gls)β |
1993β1995 | Melbourne Knights | 48 | (40) |
1995β1998 | Dinamo Zagreb | 84 | (40) |
1998β2000 | Celtic | 37 | (30) |
2000β2004 | Leeds United | 130 | (59) |
2004β2007 | Middlesbrough | 72 | (26) |
2007β2009 | Newcastle United | 38 | (7) |
Total | 409 | (202) | |
National teamβ‘ | |||
1993β1995 | Australia U20 | 20 | (37) |
1994β1996 | Australia U23 | 18 | (17) |
1994β2007 | Australia | 43 | (11) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:12, 14 August 2009 (BST). |
Mark Anthony Viduka (Croatian pronunciation: [ΛΚiduka]; born 9 October 1975) is an Australian retired football player who played as a centre forward. He captained the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to the last 16. He holds the record of most goals scored by an Australian in the prestigious UEFA Champions League competition with four.
Club career
Melbourne Knights
In 1993, Viduka started his professional career in Australia for Croatian-based club Melbourne Knights (who up until the 1993 season were known as Melbourne Croatia) and became an Australian international in June of the following year. In his two seasons with the Knights, he was top goal scorer in the National Soccer League (NSL) and was twice awarded the Johnny Warren Medal for NSL Best Player of the Year[1] in 1993β94 and 1994β95. Viduka's time at Melbourne Knights included one NSL title in the 1994β95 season.
Dinamo Zagreb
In 1995, Viduka moved to Croatia to play with Croatia Zagreb (now called Dinamo Zagreb). The grandstand at Knights' Stadium, home of the Knights, was renamed the "Mark Viduka Stand" in his honour and paid for with his transfer money.
He spent three-and-a-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.
Celtic
Celtic bought Viduka in December 1998 for Β£3.5 million. In the same month as his signing, Celtic announced that Viduka had quit the club without kicking a ball for them, citing stress as his reason.[2] A week later, Croatia Zagreb complained that they had not received their fee for the player. 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 4β2 victory against Motherwell. After making his first team debut against Dundee United on 27 February 1999,[3] his first goals for the club came when he scored a brace against Morton in the Scottish Cup on 8 March 1999.[4] He was voted Scottish Player of the Year for 1999β2000 after scoring 27 goals in his first full season at Celtic Park. He was regarded as a skilled player, with fellow Australian Croatian Josip Ε imuniΔ noting his ability to hold the ball up well and bring other players into the game.[5]
Leeds United
Leeds United manager David O'Leary signed Viduka just before the 2000β01 season for Β£6 million. At Leeds, he was expected to line up in a three-pronged attack alongside the previous season's top scorer Michael Bridges and Australia teammate Harry Kewell, but injuries to those two saw him form a partnership with Alan Smith in Leeds UEFA Champions League matches, while Robbie Keane, signed on loan from Internazionale as cover for Bridges, also benefited in their Premier League matches together in the second half of the season. In his first season, Viduka scored 22 goals, including all four in a memorable 4β3 win over Liverpool at Elland Road. He signed a five-year deal in the summer of 2001 and would star in both domestic competitions and Europe, with Leeds finishing in the country's top four in 2000/01, and fifth in 2001/02.
In the 2002β03 campaign, Viduka scored another 22 goals, including a hat-trick in a 6-1 win at Charlton Athletic[6] and the winner in a 3-2 victory at Arsenal on the penultimate day of the season that effectively saved United from relegation. His hat-trick in the Charlton game is the most recent hat-trick to date by a Leeds United player in the Premier League.[7]
However, the club's financial crisis continued, and resulted in the sale of key players including Harry Kewell and Robbie Keane. In the 2003/04 season, Viduka was again top scorer at Leeds, finishing the season strongly as was the case in the previous season, as interim manager Eddie Gray attempted to steer the club away from the Premier League trap door following the departure of Peter Reid in November after eight months as manager.
However, despite Viduka's best efforts, scoring vital and winning goals in both March and April, it was on the first weekend of May, during his final appearance in the jersey, that Leeds would be consigned to relegation, in a 4-1 loss to Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium, where the striker was sent off following two yellow cards and at a point in the game where his team were leading 1-0 due to a penalty converted by Viduka himself.
He was sold to Middlesbrough in the summer of 2004 as United's financial difficulties deepened.
Middlesbrough
Viduka's debut season at Middlesbrough was initially impressive, albeit frustrated by injuries. In the 2005β06 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 2006β07 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 19 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. Viduka joined north-east rivals Newcastle United on a free transfer on 7 June 2007.[8] He did this because he is a lifelong supporter of Collingwood Football Club and he wanted to play for a team nicknamed the Magpies and wore Black and White vertical stripes.[9]
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 debut in a Premier League match at Bolton Wanderers on 11 August, and scored his first goal on 26 August against his former club Middlesbrough.
On 23 September, he scored a further two goals against West Ham United to bring his tally up to three for Newcastle. On 23 December, he again scored two goals against Derby County. After an injury lay off over the new year, Viduka was brought back into the side by new manager Kevin Keegan, where he played as part of a 4β3β3 formation along with Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins. This new formation brought about a change of fortune for Newcastle as the three strikers rescued them from a relegation battle, with Viduka scoring two more goals over the rest of the season and setting up others for Martins and Owen before picking up an Achilles' heel injury before the last game of the season.
He made his return to the first team after six months out injured at former club Middlesbrough, coming on for Martins as a substitute on 29 November 2008. This was a great relief for manager Joe Kinnear, who stated that he had previously feared the Australian's career might have been prematurely ended by his injury woes.[10] Later, Kinnear suggested to reporters that Viduka might call time on his career at the end of the 2008β09 season. However, Viduka later expressed his desire to continue playing past this season after acquiring a groin injury in late December.[11] After returning from injury,he was immediately used by newly appointed coach Alan Shearer in an attempt to prevent the team's relegation. After playing a man of the match performance in the 3β1 victory against his former team Middlesbrough, Mark appeared to have scored his first goal of the season against Fulham. However match referee Howard Webb ruled that Kevin Nolan impeded goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer disallowing the goal. He was released following Newcastle's relegation.
International career
Viduka began captaining the Australian national team in 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 21 May 2006, he was named as the Australian captain for the World Cup.[12]
Viduka also led Australia's national team to their first World Cup Finals victory with a 3β1 win over Japan in June 2006, as well as guiding them through an encounter with Brazil, losing 2β0, and a controversial bout with Croatia, ending with a 2β2 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, Viduka 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.[13] In a friendly against Singapore, a week before the start of the Asian Cup, Viduka scored two headed goals in a 3β0 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 1β3. In the next match, he scored two goals against co-host team Thailand, defeating them 4β0; other goals scored by Michael Beauchamp 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.[14][15] Two years on from the 2007 Asian Cup, he was still yet to return for the Socceroos, either stating he had injuries or club commitments. He missed World Cup Qualifiers against Qatar, Bahrain, and Japan, even though fully fit and asked to play by Socceroo manager Pim Verbeek. Questions were raised over his commitment to the national team, even by other members of the squad.[16] Viduka was not selected in the final squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, having retired from football a year previously.
Honours
Club
- Croatian First League Championship (3): 1995β96, 1996β97, 1997β98
- Croatian Football Cup (3): 1995β96, 1996β97, 1997β98
International
Individual
- Oceania Footballer of the Year: 2000
- SPFA Players' Player of the Year: 2000
- NSL Top Goalscorer: 1993β94, 1994β95
- NSL U21 Player of the Year: 1993β94, 1994β95
- Johnny Warren Medal: 1993β94, 1994β95
- SPL Top Goalscorer: 1999β2000
- Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best':[17] 2001.
- Alex Tobin OAM Medal: 2011
Personal life
Viduka and his wife Ivana have three sons together: Joseph (born 2002), Lucas (born September 2006) and Oliver (born May 2008). They live in Melbourne.[18] His father, Joe, was also from Croatia, from where he emigrated to Australia in the 1960s.[19]
He 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".[20] 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.[21] Viduka is a member of Melbourne City Football Club, and has been since their inaugural season. He is affectionately referred to by his nicknames "V-Bomber"[22] and "Big Dukes"[23] in Australia.
Viduka supports the Collingwood Magpies in the Australian Football League, although he admits that he doesnβt know a lot about football.[24] His support for the Magpies was one of the major influences in his move to Newcastle United F.C.[25]
Career stats
Club career
Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Club | League | App | Gls | App | Gls | App | Gls | App | Gls | App | Gls | |
1992β93 | Melbourne Knights | NSL | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | |
1993β94 | 20 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 18 | |||
1994β95 | 24 | 21 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 27 | |||
1995β96 | Croatia Zagreb | Prva HNL | 27 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 12 | |
1996β97 | 25 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 30 | 23 | |||
1997β98 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 31 | 16 | |||
1998β99 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 4 | |||
1998β99 | Celtic | SPL | 9 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 8 | |
1999β00 | 28 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 37 | 27 | |||
2000β01 | Leeds United | Premier League | 34 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 4 | 53 | 22 | |
2001β02 | 33 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 42 | 16 | |||
2002β03 | 33 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 22 | |||
2003β04 | 30 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 12 | |||
2004β05 | Middlesbrough | 16 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 7 | ||
2005β06 | 27 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 43 | 16 | |||
2006β07 | 29 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 19 | |||
2007β08 | Newcastle United | 26 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 7 | ||
2008β09 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |||
Career Totals | 409 | 202 | 37 | 26 | 11 | 3 | 50 | 27 | 507 | 258 |
International career
Australia national team | ||
---|---|---|
Year | Apps | Goals |
1994 | 2 | 0 |
1995 | 0 | 0 |
1996 | 0 | 0 |
1997 | 10 | 2 |
1998 | 2 | 0 |
1999 | 0 | 0 |
2000 | 2 | 0 |
2001 | 3 | 0 |
2002 | 0 | 0 |
2003 | 3 | 1 |
2004 | 2 | 0 |
2005 | 7 | 3 |
2006 | 6 | 0 |
2007 | 6 | 5 |
Total | 43 | 11 |
International goals
# | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 October 1997 | Stade El Menzah, Tunis, Tunisia | Tunisia | 0-2 | 0-3 | Friendly |
2 | 12 December 1997 | King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Mexico | 1-0 | 3-1 | 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup |
3 | 19 August 2003 | Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland | Republic of Ireland | 0-1 | 2-1 | Friendly |
4 | 3 September 2005 | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia | Solomon Islands | 2-0 | 7-0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
5 | 3-0 | |||||
6 | 9 October 2005 | Craven Cottage, London, England | Jamaica | 3-0 | 5-0 | Friendly |
7 | 30 June 2007 | National Stadium, Singapore City, Singapore | Singapore | 0-1 | 0-3 | Friendly |
8 | 0-3 | |||||
9 | 13 July 2007 | Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand | Iraq | 1-1 | 1-3 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup |
10 | 21 July 2007 | Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand | Thailand | 0-2 | 0-4 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup |
11 | 0-3 |
References
- β Player Of The Year Awards β OzFootball, accessed 8 July 2006 Archived 27 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- β "Viduka rejected Celtic". BBC Sport (bbc.co.uk). 10 July 2004. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
Viduka enjoyed a successful spell at Parkhead, despite a rocky start which saw him walk out four days after signing due to stress.
- β "Celtic 2 Dundee United 1". Sporting Life. 27 February 1999. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
- β McKinney, David (8 March 1999). "Viduka goals send Celtic cruising through". London: The Independent. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
- β http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/12/09/viduka-to-be-honoured-with-alex-tobin-medal/
- β "Leeds thrash Charlton". BBC News. 5 April 2003.
- β
- β "Viduka makes switch to Newcastle". BBC Sport (bbc.co.uk). 7 June 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
- β "Pie-eyed".
- β http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_4596801,00.html Sky Sports β "Kinnear feared for Viduka"
- β http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_4682429,00.html Sky Sports - "Viduka aims to play on"
- β AAP (21 May 2006). "Viduka named Socceroos captain". The Age (Melbourne: Fairfax Media). Retrieved 21 May 2006.
- β AAP (26 September 2006). "Viduka pledges to play on for Australia". Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). Retrieved 7 May 2007.
- β "Viduka faces Australia decision", BBC, 23 July 2007
- β "Viduka mulls over Australia decision", Australian Broadcasting Corporation news website, 23 July 2007;
- β "Viduka must commit: Schwarzer", Fox Sports, 19 June 2009
- β Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best' </
- β "Viduka leaving his mark". Herald Sun (News Limited). 5 February 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- β The Away Game by Matthew Hall, pag. 45
- β "Hallelujah Mark Viduka". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). 27 February 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
- β "Alistair Griffin produces song for Middlesbrough star". Broadband TV channel. 1 March 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
- β "V-Bomber". OzFootball Webzine.
- β "Mark Viduka Player Profile for Newcastle United". Newcastle United.
- β Beveridge, Riley. "Your AFL clubβs most famous supporters, from Barack Obama to Cam Newton". Fox Sports. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
- β "Pie-eyed".
- β Mark Viduka at National-Football-Teams.com
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mark Viduka. |
- OzFootball profile
- Mark Viduka β FIFA competition record
- Mark Viduka career statistics at Soccerbase
- Statistics at footballdatabase.com
- Mark Viduka at National-Football-Teams.com
Sporting positions | ||
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Preceded by Craig Moore |
Australia captain 2005β2006 |
Succeeded by Lucas Neill |
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