Kevin Muscat

At 51 years old, Kevin Muscat has this physical status:

Club career

Muscat, a descendant of Maltese descent, began his career as a youth at Australian National Soccer League (NSL) club Sunshine George Cross in 1989/90, making his first senior appearances for the club in 1989/90. He went from Sunshine to the Australian Institute of Sport in 1990 and was named the Australian Junior Player of the Year by the Weinstein Institute of Sport.

He started playing for Heidelberg United in the 1991-92 season and spent four seasons with the South Melbourne Hellas. He was convicted at Sheffield United under new manager Dave Bassett in 1995, but stayed in South Melbourne. He attracted the attention of several overseas clubs following his outstanding performances with South Melbourne and the Olyroos. Bassett had taken over Crystal Palace and sold Muscat to the south London club for £35,000 from South Melbourne Hellas by August 1996. Muscat was a member of Palace's winning promotion to the English Premier League after defeating Sheffield United 3-2 at Wembley Stadium in 1997 play-off finals. Muscat made nine Premier League appearances for Palace before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000 in October 1997.

Muscat played for five seasons before being drafted to Scotland to join Rangers on a free transfer in July 2002. In 2002-03, he was a member of the Rangers squad, which won a treble of domestic trophies. Millwall was Muscat's last British club, for whom he played from 2003 to 2005. For the first time in history, he led Millwall to the FA Cup Final in 2004.

He missed out on the final itself after suffering a knee ligament injury in the semi-final against Sunderland, but Millwall boss Dennis Wise insisted on him being awarded with a medal. In the 2005–06 season, he returned to Australia to become Melbourne Victory's inaugural captain. For the 2006-07 season, Victory boss Ernie Merrick, Muscat, a defender for almost his entire career, moved to midfield. He was the captain until 2011.

Muscat declared his intention to leave club football after the 2011 Asian Champions League concluded in February. He was forced to leave Melbourne on January 22, 2011, resulting in a season-long suspension from the A-League. Despite having previously described the sport as "not all that exciting," Muscat's career came to an end in the 2011 AFC Champions League. Muscat regained captaincy for his farewell match in Melbourne, a 1–1 draw against J-League team Gamba Osaka. In a 3–1 loss to Altona Magic in August 2011, Muscat scored on his return to Sunshine George Cross.

International career

Muscat competed in Portugal under 20 years of rule in 1991 and 1993, as well as in 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He made his international debut against Kuwait in September 1994 and went on to make 51 appearances for the national team, including Confederations Cup tournaments in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Muscat captained the national team five times starting in April 2001 and winning a vital penalty in Australia's losing play-off against Uruguay for a spot in the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals.

Muscat was dropped from the squad after Guus Hiddink took over in 2005 and played no part in Australia's next qualification for the 2006 World Cup, but was recalled later by Graham Arnold and captained Australia in a 2–0 Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait. In 2008, newly appointed coach Pim Verbeek selected Muscat in a team of 22 A-League-based players to train for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, but he did not participate in any subsequent fixtures.

Managerial career

Muscat served as a playing assistant coach under Ernie Merrick for the first two years of his playing career. Kevin Muscat started working as an assistant coach at Melbourne Victory shortly after he resigned from football due to a clause in his deal with the university, making him an assistant coach for the next two years. After Mehmet Durakovic was fired after a poor run of results, Muscat was appointed as Melbourne's caretaker coach until he was replaced by former Ipswich Town and Queens Park Rangers boss Jim Magilton. Melbourne Victory defeated the Newcastle Jets 2–1, 2–1, in his first game as Victory boss, with two own goals from defender Byun Sung-Hwan.

Magilton handed over the Melbourne Victory over-Whelming tenure as the head coach of Melbourne Victory, which saw just two victories in 12 matches, to Brisbane Roar manager Ange Postecoglou, who took over the Victory in the 2011-2013 A-League season. Postecoglou was appointed the new manager of Australia's Victory after a fruitful first season as captain of the A-League ladder and progressing to the semi-finals of the A-League finals, with Postecoglou winning over Brisbane Roar, Australia's former club. Muscat was subsequently hired as the assistant coach following his appointment as assistant coach on a two-year deal from October 31, 2013-2014.

Melbourne Victory's first full season as boss and just his second year with the club, Muscat led Melbourne Victory to an A-League premiership-championship double in 2015, the Victory's third A-League premiership-championship double. The Victory won 15 draws and 4 losses in a regular season, the most successful of any club this season, with a final score total of 53 points, three points ahead of second-placed Sydney FC and a final goal difference of +25, the highest level of any club this season. Victory led the Victory to a 3–0 victory over Melbourne City in the semi-finals before beating Sydney FC 3–0 at AAMI Park.

Muscat, along with Darren Davies and Ross Aloisi, was selected by Ange Postecoglou in June 2017 to serve as members of Australia's coaching staff for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Muscat was announced as the head of Belgian First Division A team Sint-Truidense V.V. on June 5th, but just six months later, he was fired due to poor results.

Muscat was appointed manager of Yokohama F. Marinos in July 2021, replacing Ange Postecoglou as he arrived in Melbourne Victory.

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