Kevin Muscat

Kevin Vincent Muscat (born 7 August 1973) is an Australian former association football player and the current manager of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port.

After beginning his professional career in the Australian National Soccer League with Sunshine George Cross in 1989, Muscat played eight seasons in the United Kingdom with Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Rangers and Millwall.

Born in Crawley, West Sussex, in England from Maltese descent, Muscat began his career as a junior at Australian National Soccer League (NSL) club Sunshine George Cross, making his first senior appearances for the club in the 1989–90 season at 16 years old.

He moved from Sunshine to the Australian Institute of Sport in 1990 and was awarded the Weinstein Medal as the Victorian Junior Player of the year.

During his international career, Muscat represented the Australia U-20 side at the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship in Portugal and the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia.

He continued playing in the NSL for Heidelberg United in the 1991–92 season before earning a move to Australian powerhouse South Melbourne Hellas.

Mostly deployed as a left-back, Muscat's aggressiveness and defensive awareness made him a standout performer in the league which attracted international attention.

During his time at South, he was called up to the Olyroos.

As a player, he played as a defender, and represented the Australia national team at international level winning 46 caps and scoring 10 goals between 1994 and 2006.

After making his full international debut for Australia in September 1994 against Kuwait, Muscat represented the national side at the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2000 OFC Nations Cup, 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

In 1995–96 he trialled at Sheffield United under manager Dave Bassett but decided to stay at South Melbourne.

After further impressive performances with South Melbourne and the Olyroos, he attracted the interest of many overseas clubs.

His performances for South culminated in a senior international call-up by Eddie Thompson for the Australian National Team.

He represented the Australia U-23 side at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

By August 1996 Bassett had taken the helm at Crystal Palace and signed Muscat for the south London club for £35,000 from South Melbourne Hellas.

In his departure Muscat thanked the South Melbourne fans for their support towards him.

Muscat was part of the Palace team that subsequently won promotion to the English Premier League, defeating Sheffield United in the 1997 play-off final at Wembley.

Muscat obtained a reputation as a 'hard man' at Palace and was constantly targeted by the media and opposing fans for his style of play.

He made nine Premier League appearances for Palace before moving to First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000 in October 1997.

Muscat remained at Wolves for five seasons before moving to Scotland to join Rangers on a free transfer in July 2002.

He was part of the Rangers squad which won a treble of domestic trophies in 2002–03.

He would end his career in Scotland having played 22 times for Rangers.

Muscat's final British club was Millwall, for whom he played from 2003 to 2005.

In 2004, he captained Millwall to the FA Cup Final for the first time in their history.

He missed the final itself after suffering a knee ligament injury in the semi-final against Sunderland, although the Millwall manager Dennis Wise insisted on him being presented with a medal.

He returned to Australia in 2005 for the first time since leaving South Melbourne in 1996 to captain Melbourne Victory in the inaugural season of the A-league.

His playing style was brutal defence with little regard for accumulating yellow cards or avoiding injury to opponents, a reputation that was so strong that while at Rangers he was never picked for an Old Firm derby due to the perceived risk that his explosive temper causing a major incident or costing Rangers the match by being sent off.

He ended his A-League career in disgrace after deliberately injuring Adrian Zahra with a disgraceful tackle that was widely describe as an assault by the football media.

He left Millwall to return to Australia to become Melbourne Victory's inaugural captain in the 2005–06 season.

Under Victory manager Ernie Merrick, Muscat, a defender for virtually his entire career, moved to midfield for the 2006–07 season.

Muscat retired from professional football in March 2011 after Melbourne Victory's 2011 AFC Champions League campaign, citing his growing frustration at his inability to keep pace with the game.

Muscat briefly rejoined his former club Sunshine George Cross for part of the 2011 Victorian State League Division 1 season.

He remained the captain until 2011.

In February 2011, Muscat announced his intention to retire from club football after the conclusion of the 2011 Asian Champions League.

His decision to finish was fast-tracked by an infamous tackle he committed in a Melbourne derby on 22 January 2011, which resulted in a season-ending eight-week ban from the A-League.

Muscat played out his competitive career in the 2011 AFC Champions League under the captaincy of centre-back Adrian Leijer, despite having previously referred to the competition as "not all that enjoyable".

Muscat regained the captaincy for his farewell match in Melbourne, a 1–1 draw against J-League side Gamba Osaka.

After several seasons as an assistant coach, Muscat was appointed head coach at Melbourne Victory in October 2013.

He has coached Victory to the 2014–15 A-League Premiership, the 2014–15 A-League Championship and success in the 2015 FFA Cup.

He left the role in 2019.