Ross Aloisi (born 17 April 1973) is a former

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

soccer player who was the captain of

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

in the

Hyundai A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

– a team he guided to a minor premiership, a pre-season cup and two Asian Champions League campaigns. After leaving Adelaide United in controversial circumstances, he played for

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

in the A-League, where he was appointed their inaugural captain. Now, after his retirement as a football player, (having also featured as an assistant coach for

), he is now one of the current assistant coaches of J1 League club

Yokohama F. Marinos is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Having won the J-League title four times an ...

Club career

Aloisi was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, the older brother of former

Socceroo The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated wi ...

John Aloisi John Aloisi () (born 5 February 1976) is an Australian former soccer player and current head coach of A-League club Western United. In a professional career that spanned 20 seasons, with league totals of 459 games and 127 goals, he was the firs ...

. He signed with National Soccer League club

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community. Adelaide City is one of Aust ...

, for whom he made 6 appearances in the 1990–91 as the team finished third before losing in the preliminary final.

NSL

Aloisi continued with Adelaide City in 1991–92, and played 11 matches, scoring a goal in their preliminary final victory against

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, with matches played at Lakeside Stadium ...

as Adelaide went on to take the championship. Between seasons, he played for the

Modbury Jets Modbury SC, commonly known as Modbury Jets, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. It's senior mens teams currently compete in the National Premier Leagues South Australia and senior womens team in the ...

(1992) and Enfield City (1993) in the South Australia Super League, and after a final stint with Adelaide City in 1992–93 he moved to Europe with K. Boom F.C. in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He played just four matches for the club before returning to Australia to play for

Brunswick Juventus Brunswick Juventus Junior Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football (soccer) club that is based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick East. Nicknamed the 'Zebras', the club fields both senior and reserves t ...

in the 1993–94 NSL season. Aloisi scored 4 goals in 13 matches as the team finished 13th of the 14 teams. The club merged with Box Hill Inter and the

Bulleen Lions FC Bulleen Lions is an Australian semi-professional football club based in the Melbourne suburb Bulleen. Founded in 1974 by Melbourne's Italian community, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, the second high ...

to become the Melbourne Zebras, and Aloisi made 8 appearances in 1994–95, scoring a goal in the Zebras' 2–0 victory over the

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

in the Johnny Walker Cup. He signed on with the West Adelaide Sharks for the 1995–96 NSL season. Aloisi made 31 appearances for 4 goals as West Adelaide missed the finals by a single point, Aloisi played another 17 matches for West Adelaide, but again they missed the finals series, and he decided again to attempt to build a career overseas.

Europe

Aloisi signed with Swiss club

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local br ...

, and played 38 matches for them in the 1997–98 season for 6 goals, and a further 2 matches in 1998–99, before moving to play for

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (; commonly referred to FC Lorient or simply Lorient) is a French association football club based in Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in we ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Aloisi only played 1 match for FC Lorient over two seasons before moving on to

Grazer AK Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (in Austria the abbreviation GAK is more common), is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria (''Steiermark''). The football section used to be on ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. Aloisi made 18 appearances for GAK in 1999–2000, and a further 2 in 2000–01, where the club reached the second round of the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. Moving to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, Aloisi made 41 appearances over two seasons for

Alzano Virescit Virtus CiseranoBergamo 1909 is an football in Italy, Italian association football club from Ciserano, Lombardy. It was born in 2019 as a merger of ''Ciserano Calcio'' and ''Virtus Bergamo'', itself a direct heir of ''Alzano Virescit'', a club th ...

, before moving to

Pro Sesto Pro Sesto 1913 S.r.l. (formerly ''Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Nuova Pro Sesto'' and initially ''Associazione Calcio Pro Sesto'') is an association football club, based in Sesto San Giovanni, Lombardy, Italy. Pro Sesto currently plays ...

where he scored 3 goals in 29 matches in 2002–03.

Adelaide United

With the formation of

in the NSL, Aloisi was lured to finally return home to Australia, and he became an integral member of the team, playing 26 games and scoring 4 goals as the new club reached the preliminary final. The collapse of the NSL, however, saw Aloisi move to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

to play for Selangor FC helping them to finish second in the newly formed

Malaysian Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier Leag ...

. With the introduction of the A-League, Aloisi returned again to Australia and

, signing with the team in November 2004. The retirement of 2003–04 captain

Aurelio Vidmar Aurelio Vidmar ( ; born 3 February 1967) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Thai League 1 club Bangkok United. He is a former captain of the Australia national team and former coach ...

saw Aloisi inducted as captain of the club for the first A-League season, and he played 23 of Adelaide's 24 matches, scoring 2 goals as the team won the inaugural A-League Premiership. Aloisi shared the LifeFM Adelaide Player of the Year award with Angelo Costanzo,.

2006–07 season

In the 2006–07 A-League season, Aloisi captained Adelaide United in a successful campaign that saw the side reach the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

against

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...

on 18 February 2007 in Melbourne. Controversy followed Aloisi's appearance in that game, with him earning a red card in the 34th minute, leaving his side 1 man down for the rest of the match. United lost the Grand Final 6–0, a then record losing margin and aggregate score in a match in the short history of the A-League. Two months later Aloisi was sacked. John Kosmina (coach) had been asked to resign (sacked) by the Adelaide United board the Thursday following the grand final. Aloisi then left the club altogether and has promised in magazine interviews to one day "tell all". Aloisi's allegedly unamicable departure was cited by brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

as being a principal reason why he rejected United's offer to become their

marquee player A marquee player is an athlete who is considered exceptionally popular, skilled, or otherwise outstanding, especially in professional sports. Its name comes from theater marquees, on which the names of the stars of productions in said theater ar ...

for the 2007/2008 season. John also noted that Ross' departure lessened his desire to play for United, as his previously stated desire to play for United was based upon the incentive of finishing his career playing alongside his brother.

Wellington Phoenix

Aloisi was offered the role of captaining the new A-League franchise

, for the 2007–08 season. He scored twice in his only season with the Phoenix, before retiring at the end of the season. Following retirement, Ross Aloisi joined Fox Sports as a commentator. He is also a columnist for Soccer International magazine and co-owns a successful ceramics business with his brother. He now also co-hosts a weekly Internet Television show ll about soccer/football with

John Kosmina Alexander John Kosmina (born 17 August 1956), known as John Kosmina, is an Australian former football (soccer) player and manager, most recently being the Senior Head Coach of Brisbane Strikers. He is a member of the Football Federation Austral ...

, Two Up Front for AustraliaLiveTV.com.

International career

At the age of 16 travelled to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

to play for Australia at the 1989 FIFA Under-16 World Championship. He made one appearance off the bench against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, playing 39 minutes in the 2–2 draw. It was in 1994 that Aloisi broke into the Australian national team, playing 12 matches (for 2 goals) for the under-23 side (the Olyroos), and making his top-level debut for the Socceroos against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

in a friendly in September that year. He played a second match for Australia against Japan five days later, earning a

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

in the 0–0 draw. Aloisi played two matches for the Olyroos in 1995, In early 1996, Aloisi participated in the Olyroos' qualifying campaign for the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, scoring 5 goals in 5 games as Australia finished on top of the

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

group. Aloisi appeared in the away leg of the qualifying play-off tie against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, which Australia won 7–2 on aggregate to qualify for the Games. He played in all three of Australia's Olympic matches, but the team were knocked out in the group stages after losses to

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. In June 1998, Aloisi made his third appearance for the Australian national team, playing 16 minutes in a 7–0 friendly loss against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. In mid-1999, he returned home briefly to play two matches for Australia in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, friendlies against English club Manchester United,.

Managerial statistics

All competitive league games (league and domestic cup) and international matches (including friendlies) are included.

Honours

With

: * A-League Premiership: 2005–06 With

: * NSL Championship: 1991–92 * NSL Cup: 1991–92

References

External links

OzFootball profile

Two Up Front
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aloisi, Ross 1973 births Living people Soccer players from Adelaide Australian people of Italian descent Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Australian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Australia international soccer players Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics West Adelaide SC players Adelaide City FC players FC Aarau players FC Lorient players Grazer AK players S.S.D. Pro Sesto players Adelaide United FC players Wellington Phoenix FC players Selangor FA players Belgian Pro League players Swiss Super League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players A-League Men players National Soccer League (Australia) players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate footballers in Italy Virtus Bergamo Alzano Seriate 1909 players Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand Association football midfielders FK Beograd (Australia) players