Clint Brian Bolton (born 22 August 1975) is an Australian former

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He was one of the most experienced goalkeepers in the history of the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

, which preceded the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

. He played over 300 games for Brisbane Strikers, Sydney Olympic FC and Parramatta Power, and won two A-League championships with

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

Club career

Brisbane Strikers

Clint Bolton began his career at the Brisbane Strikers in 1993 signing for the club after spending a year at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

. He spent seven seasons at the club making 178 appearances for the Brisbane Strikers, keeping 51 clean sheets. He also won the

final in 1997 with the club. In 2000, Bolton signed for Sydney Olympic FC.

Sydney Olympic FC

Sydney Olympic FC was Clint Bolton's second club and he spent three seasons at the club making 95 appearances for the club making 32 clean sheets. In the 2001/02 National Soccer League competition, Sydney Olympic FC won the NSL title. The club also made it to the NSL final in the 2002/03 season, but were defeated by Perth Glory in the final. After three seasons at the club, Bolton signed for the Parramatta Power.

Parramatta Power

Parramatta signed Bolton in 2003 after Bolton had spent the previous three seasons at Sydney Olympic FC. He played one season for the club making 27 appearances and keeping 11 clean sheets. In the final National Soccer League competition in 2003/04, Parramatta made it to the NSL Grand Final against the Perth Glory. The winner would be the final winner of the National Soccer League competition which had been running since 1977. Clint Bolton was making his 300th NSL appearance and it was to be his last. The Parramatta Power lost the game in extra-time 1–0 to Perth Glory in the final game of the season and the final game of the NSL competition. After the NSL competition had folded, Bolton was looking for another club to keep his match practice and fitness. He opted to sign for firstly Fraser Park FC where he made 10 appearances and afterwards he signed for APIA Leichhardt. He then went on to sign for Sydney FC for the inaugural A-League season.

Sydney FC

Clint Bolton signed for Sydney FC from APIA Leichhardt for the inaugural A-League season. He made his Sydney FC league debut against the Melbourne Victory on 28 August 2005. He helped his side to the inaugural Hyundai A-League Grand Final against the Central Coast Mariners in which Sydney FC won by one goal to nil. He played every game throughout the season in the league (24 games) for Sydney FC making 5 clean sheets. He was voted as Sydney FC player of the year for the 2005–06 season ahead of the other nominees Dwight Yorke, Alvin Ceccoli and David Carney. On receiving the honour Bolton stated

"It is always an honour to win an award like this, especially when it is voted on by your team mates. It has been a great year for Sydney FC, winning the Championships and doing well at the Club World Championships, and to receive this award is very flattering. We have all worked incredibly hard over the last 13 months since we started training and to be singled out amongst the players we have is special."

On 1 January 2007 he achieved a record 5 consecutive clean sheets, beating Central Coast Stopper Danny Vukovic's record of 4. He again played every match of the A-League season in 2006–07 for Sydney, and is currently the club's highest capped player. Bolton was only the 2nd player to reach 100 competitive games for the Sky Blues when he played the first Pre-Season match against

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional Association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's Australian soccer league system ...

. Clinton received a standing ovation and a guard of honour as he ran out. In a statement given after the 2–1 victory he said he was extremely happy to have reached the milestone and hopes he can continue his career with Sydney for another 3–5 years.

Melbourne Heart

On 16 February 2010, it was announced that Bolton had signed for the new

club Melbourne Heart as the team's inaugural goalkeeper. He played in every minute of the Heart's thirty matches in its first season in the A-League, and earned seven clean sheets along the way. He was accoladed for his efforts at the end of the season by receiving the club's 'player of the year' award. As a result of the Heart finishing second-to-last on the A-League ladder, their worst finish in an A-League season, Bolton, along with teammates Simon Colosimo, Matt Thompson and

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

, were released by the Heart at the conclusion of the 2012–13 A-League season. Bolton joined Melbourne Heart as Strategic Projects Manager in July 2013.

Club career statistics

Source: worldfootball.net
football-lineups.com
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A. Includes the Pre-Season Challenge Cup (2005–2008) and the FFA Cup. B. For the purposes of this table, "Asia" also includes the Oceania Club Championship (OFC). C. "Other" matches include OFC Club Championship Australian Qualifying Tournament,

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

and the Pan-Pacific Championships

International career

Bolton was part of the Australian Under-20 squad for the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship in Qatar. He also appeared for the Olyroos in qualifiers for the 1996 Olympic Games, but was not included in the squad for the final tournament. He made his senior international debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

in 2000, and was a squad member when Australia won the

2000 OFC Nations Cup The 2000 OFC Nations Cup was held in Papeete, Tahiti. The six participating teams were Australia and New Zealand who qualified as of right, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu who qualified from the Melanesia Cup, the Cook Islands and Tahiti who qua ...

. He subsequently represented Australia against

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

in 2001, keeping clean sheets in all of his three international appearances. On 16 August 2006, Bolton was recalled to the Socceroos side, after 20 appearances on the bench over the years, in a second-string Australian line-up for an Asian Cup qualifier against

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. He kept a clean sheet and helped Australia to a 2–0 win.

National team statistics

Honours

; Brisbane Strikers * NSL Championship: 1996–97 ; Sydney Olympic * NSL Championship: 2001–02 ;

* A-League Championship: 2005–06, 2009–10 * A-League Premiership: 2009–10 * Oceania Club Championship: 2004–05 Australia *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

: 3rd place,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Australia U-20 * OFC U-20 Championship:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Individual

* A-League Goalkeeper of the Year: 2005–06 *

Player of the Year: 2005–06 * Melbourne Heart Player of the Year: 2010–11, 2011-12 * PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2011–12 * Sydney FC Hall of Fame: 2015 * Sydney FC Team of the Decade: 2006-2015

References

External links

Oz Football profile

Clint Bolton Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Clint 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Bundaberg Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Brisbane Strikers FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Parramatta Power SC players Sydney FC players Melbourne City FC players A-League Men players Men's association football goalkeepers National Soccer League (Australia) players APIA Leichhardt FC players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Melbourne City FC non-playing staff Fraser Park FC players 2000 OFC Nations Cup players OFC Nations Cup–winning players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Soccer players from Queensland