Kristian Rees (born 6 January 1980 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

He made his NSL debut playing for

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakden, a north-eastern suburb of Adelaide. The club was a founding member of the now-defunct National Soccer League (NSL) and currently competes in the National Premier ...

. He was also a member of

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

's minor-premiership winning squad of 2005/06 and of the team that came runners-up in 2006/07. He played for

in the

Hyundai 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 the first 2 seasons of the competition, including during their inaugural foray into the Asian Champions League. He was released by the club to the surprise of many at the end of the 2006/07 season, and joined

Whittlesea Zebras Brunswick Juventus FC is an Australian soccer club based in the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner. The club currently competes in the Victoria Premier League 2 (VPL 2). The earliest traces of the club date back to 1948 with the founding of Brunsw ...

in the

Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

. He made his debut for the Zebras against Green Gully on 3 June 2007 and has been one of the stand-out players in the league, leading the previously struggling Zebras to a spot in the Grand Final. Such was his impact that despite joining the Zebras after the start of the season, he still won the Club Best & Fairest Award, and though the team could not manage to beat Preston Lions in the Grand Final, Rees capped off a magnificent season by scoring his team's goal in the final, and also hit the crossbar. He was also selected for the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

n State Team tour of

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 ...

but unfortunately work commitments prevented him from taking up the spot. On 13 November 2007 Rees signed for

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 ...

club

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

until the end of the season where he joined up with former

teammate and captain,

Ross Aloisi Ross Aloisi (born 17 April 1973) is a former Australian soccer player and current assistant coach of Shanghai Port. He was the captain of Adelaide United in the Hyundai A-League – a team he guided to a minor premiership, a pre-season cup and ...

. At the end of the 2007-2008 A-league season, Rees and Phoenix could not agree terms to extend his contract in Wellington, and after turning down the opportunity to join

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club,

Liaoning FC Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

, he returned to

to link up with former teammate,

Damian Mori Damian Mori (born 30 September 1970) is an Australian former football player who is an assistant coach for Adelaide United. He won two Johnny Warren Medals, awarded to the best player in the Australian league and was top scorer on 5 occasions ...

. On 3 December 2008 he was signed to a two-year contract by

Gold Coast United Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian Association football, soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first ...

. Rees ended his playing career with

Palm Beach SC Palm Beach Soccer Club is an Australian amateur soccer club based in Palm Beach, Queensland. The club was formed in 1966. The club plays in the Football Queensland Premier League 3 − South Coast, the top flight of the Football Queensland Sou ...

after a successful run in the

FFA Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia (known as Football Federation Austra ...

playing alongside former

teammate

Karl Dodd Karl Dodd (born 13 November 1980, in Southport, Queensland, Australia) is an Australian former professional soccer player, who is currently head coach at NPL Queensland club Brisbane Roar Youth. Club career He played for the Brisbane Str ...

. Rees wasn't retired for 6 months before being lured out of retirement by the Sharks.

Political career

Rees is a member of the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

(formerly known as the Palmer United Party), a

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

political party founded by billionaire mining magnate

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian billionaire businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, t ...

in 2013. Palmer was also the owner of Gold Coast United FC, a club that Rees played for before it left the A-League in 2012 (when Palmer's license was revoked by the

FFA FFA may refer to: Aviation and military * First Flight Airport, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States * Free-fire area in U.S. military parlance * Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein, a Swiss aircraft and railway vehicle manufacturer * Fe ...

). In the

2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday, 7 September 2013. The centre-right Coalition (Australia), Liberal/National Coalition Opposition (Australia), opposition led by ...

, Rees ran as the party's

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

for the

Division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 ...

, and in the

2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday, 2 July 2016, to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign p ...

, was the lead candidate for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for South Australia. Rees also ran in the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a seco ...

as the party's candidate for

Currumbin Currumbin ( ) is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Currumbin had a population of 3,278 people. Geography The suburb extends from Currumbin Creek in the north to Wyberba Street in the south. The Pa ...

. Rees again contested the Senate for South Australia as the party's lead candidate in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. He was also appointed to the party's frontbench as the Shadow Minister for Community Services.

Honours

With

: * A-League Premiership: 2005-2006

References

External links

Gold Coast United profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Kristian 1980 births Living people Soccer players from Adelaide Men's association football central defenders Australian men's soccer players A-League Men players FFSA Super League players Salisbury United FC players Para Hills Knights SC players Adelaide City FC players Modbury Jets SC players Adelaide United FC players Brunswick Juventus FC players Wellington Phoenix FC players Gold Coast United FC players Palm Beach SC players Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand United Australia Party (2013) politicians National Premier Leagues players 21st-century Australian sportsmen