Club: CD Alavés, Spain

Position: Striker

John Aloisi was born and bred in Adelaide and began his footballing career at Adelaide City juniors. He had one of the shortest NSL careers on record which, despite lasting just five minutes, nevertheless made national headlines. The then 15-year-old was felled by Melbourne Knights defender Mark Talajic which led to an on-field fracas involving spectators, players and security - all captured on television cameras!

An Australian Institute of Sport graduate, he played in the Australia U-20 team which toured South America in 1992, but did not make the final cut for the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship squad after preferring to take trials with clubs in Europe in late 1992.

At the age of 16, he moved to Belgium where he first linked up with Standard Liege. He then joined Royal Antwerp where he scored on his Belgian first division debut - a 3-1 win over Genk in February 1994. After playing 35 league games for Antwerp, he switched to Cremonese in Italy in November 1995 where he scored just two minutes into his debut in Serie A - a 2-1 win over Padova. After almost two full seasons (14 league goals) with Cremonese, he moved to Portsmouth in England, tallying 25 league goals in one and a half seasons there. He moved to Coventry City in 1999 but lost his regular starting berth with injury and heavy international commitments being mainly to blame.

However, a move to the Spanish first division in 2001/02 with Osasuna revitalised his club career. Since his move to Pamplona, the striker has held down a starting position and scored some important goals, including Osasuna's goal in the 2-1 Spanish Cup final defeat by Real Betis this month.

He played his part in Australia's ill-fated 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, although he did not take the field in the final play-off against Iran. He also played in four of the five matches in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup finals in Saudi Arabia, including the final against Brazil. Aloiso subsequently featured prominently in the qualifiers for Korea/Japan, with an appearance in the final play-off against Uruguay in late 2001.

Nicknamed 'the Kangaroo' by Spanish fans, he was one of Frank Farina's three overage inclusions in the Olympic side in the 2004 tournament in Athens. After a hesitant opening game against Tunisia, the strapping six-footer found his range against Serbia and Montenegro where he scored three goals, which accounted for 50 per cent of his nation's overall tally in the tournament.