Clayton Zane (born 12 July 1977) is an Australian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

coach and former player, who played as a striker. In the 2001 season, he was the top scorer and awarded the

Kniksen award The Kniksen Award ( no, Kniksenprisen), established in 1990, honors the best players in the Norwegian football premiership. The award is named after the legendary Norwegian football player Roald Jensen, nicknamed "Kniksen". Categories Categ ...

as Striker of the Year in Norway. He earned 14 caps for the

Australia national team Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sport ha ...

, scoring six goals. His last club as a player was R.S.C. Anderlecht, where a two-year-long injury prematurely ended his career in late 2005. Following his retirement from playing Zane worked as a coach at

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

, serving as a head coach in 2014.

Club career

Zane was first brought to Europe as a relative unknown by Norwegian team

Molde Molde () is a town and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

. After scoring no goals in 14 matches he was sold to

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...

. In his first season in

he ended top scorer of the

Norwegian Premier League Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...

with 17 goals and he was voted Norwegian Player of the Year some weeks later. He was then sold to Belgian club R.S.C. Anderlecht in 2002 where he scored twice in ten games.

International career

Zane represented the

at the 2001 Confederations Cup and is best remembered for scoring the only goal when Australia defeated subsequent champion

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 ar ...

in the group stage. He scored a hat-trick for Australia against

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , langu ...

in June 2000. Zane was a member of the Australian squad at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney.

Coaching career

On 9 August 2011, it was announced that Zane had signed a contract to be the coach of the Newcastle Jets W-League team. On 8 June 2012, he was announced as the youth team coach of the Newcastle United Jets Youth Squad. In January 2014

head coach Gary van Egmond was sacked due to poor results and Zane was appointed interim head coach until the end of the season. The club chose to appoint Phil Stubbins as head coach of the club for the following season and returned Zane to the position of 1st team assistant coach. Zane, along with goalkeeping coach Neil Young and strength & conditioning coach Andrew Packer were sacked as part of a club cleanout of players and staff. On 7 September 2016, Zane became the caretaker coach of the

after the termination of Scott Miller. Zane is regarded as well liked by the playing group and has a "Calming presence".

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zane goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Individual * Norwegian Premier League top scorer: 2001 *

: Striker of the Year 2001

References

External links

*
Oz Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zane, Clayton 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Newcastle, New South Wales Australian soccer players Association football forwards Australia international soccer players Australia under-20 international soccer players 2000 OFC Nations Cup players Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players Olympic soccer players of Australia Kniksen Award winners National Soccer League (Australia) players Belgian Pro League players Eliteserien players Newcastle Breakers FC players Northern Spirit FC players Lillestrøm SK players Molde FK players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Australian soccer coaches Newcastle Jets FC managers A-League Men managers Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate footballers in Norway Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium