Jess Kedwell Vanstrattan (born 19 July 1982) is a retired Australian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

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 ...

. Vanstrattan was born in

Gosford Gosford is a waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic views on the shores of Brisbane Water. Gosford is ...

and started his senior career with Central Coast. He played the majority of his career in Italy before returning to Australia to play in 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 ...

for Gold Coast United,

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

and

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 Australi ...

Early life

Vanstrattan was born in

Gosford, New South Wales Gosford is a Waterfront (area), waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic v ...

Playing career

Club

Vanstrattan started his career for Central Coast and then Northern Spirit in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. At just 17 he made his 1st grade debut for the Spirit, playing the last 3 games of the season for 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 ...

club.

Verona

In the summer of 2001, he was signed by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

on a 5-year deal and loaned to

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

in a co-ownership deal for 500 million lire. At Verona, aged 19, Vanstrattan was a regular on the bench for the Serie A side and played 54 games in 2 years for the reserve team (

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in the 1 ...

). In his third season, Verona assistant Marco Baroni, ex defender of the

Scudetto The ''scudetto'' (; Italian for 'little shield') is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous ...

winning

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

side of

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

was signed as head coach of Carrarese Calcio and signed Vanstrattan (on loan) immediately in the 2003–04 season, where he made his first team debut in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. However, in the first game of that season Vanstrattan suffered a serious knee injury rupturing his right knee ACL and missed the remainder of the season. In January 2004, his loan was ended and Vanstrattan returned to Verona where he signed a 4-year contract extension . In June 2004, the co-ownership deal was terminated and Verona received full registration rights.

Juventus

Vanstrattan was involved in a controversial transfer saga in the summer of 2007. After ending his contract with Verona by mutual agreement (due to expire in 2008), Jess returned home to Australia in June, criticising Verona for several years of not fulfilling promises made. He signed for

a month later. Vanstrattan played pre-season games for ''the Old Lady'', becoming the first Australian to turn out for the club. However, in early August 2007, the

Lega Calcio The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for National Professionals League), commonly known as Lega Calcio (Football League), was the governing body that ran the two highest football divisions in Italy, namely Serie A and Serie B, from 1946 to ...

ruled that the goalkeeper's contract at Juventus was illegal after Verona (as found in a court hearing) falsified documents including the falsification of Vanstrattan's signature in an attempt to block the transfer of the player to Juventus and the transfer was to be cancelled until courts could decide an outcome. Vanstrattan needed to return to Verona officially under contract again, although only for four days, within which time the courts found Verona guilty. The club was ordered to agree on a loan deal which saw the player return to Juventus on 21 August, in time for the 2007–08 Serie A season. Vanstrattan played for Juventus in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

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 ...

in friendly matches. In June 2008, Vanstrattan did not agree to a three-year contract extension with Juventus and was released by both Verona and Juve.

Gold Coast United

On 7 October 2008, Vanstrattan became the first signing for Gold Coast United after being released by

in June. On 3 August 2009 he succumbed to an ankle injury sustained while training in preparation for the first game of the 2009–10 A-League season. He was sidelined for several weeks but recovered to play the rest of the season, and after a slow start was able to put in several man of the match performances.

Central Coast Mariners

On 19 July 2010, Vantstrattan was signed by the

after he wanted to move back home. Central Coast had recently lost first choice goal keeper Danny Vukovic to Turkish club

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

. Unfortunately, 3 games after signing with the club, Vanstrattan suffered a second ACL rupture and missed the duration of the season. On 14 April 2011 Vanstrattan was released by the Mariners.

International

Vanstrattan played a number of games for the Australia U-17 team in 1999. This included winning the OFC U-17 Championship and playing in the

1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the eighth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Napier, and Dunedin in New Zealand from 10 to 27 November 1999. Players born after 1 January 1982 could participate in ...

, where ''The Joeys'' finished second. In 2001, Vanstrattan played in the Australia U-20 side which won the

2001 OFC U-20 Championship The 2001 OFC U-20 Championship was the thirteenth contested. It was won by Australia who qualified for the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup after defeating New Zealand 4–3 on aggregate. Participating teams * * * * * * * * * * * First round Group st ...

, and went on to participate in the

2001 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between 17 June and 8 July 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar del ...

. Vanstrattan went on to represent Australia U-23 in two friendlies against club sides in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Management career

In 2014, Vanstrattan became the goalkeeping coach for Central Coast Mariners Academy. The academy was eventually dissolved in 2014. In 2015, Vanstrattan became the goalkeeping coach for

Career statistics

Honours

Australia U-20 *

OFC U-19 Men's Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, t ...

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 ...

References

External links

Oz Football profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanstrattan, Jess Kedwell Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australia men's youth international soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Serie B players National Soccer League (Australia) players Hellas Verona FC players Juventus FC players AC Ancona players A-League Men players Central Coast Mariners FC players Gold Coast United FC players Newcastle Jets FC players Melbourne City FC non-playing staff Central Coast Mariners FC non-playing staff Men's association football goalkeepers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Soccer players from Gosford Australian people of Dutch descent 1982 births Living people Association football goalkeeping coaches Sportsmen from New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen People from Gosford