Louis Karl Brain (born 9 May 1982) is a former 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He played for

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 ...

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 ...

's inaugural season. Born in England, he represented the Australia U17 and

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

national teams.

Club career

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, Louis Brain moved to Australia at the age of nine, and played junior football with the Modbury Jets and Salisbury East 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 ...

. At the age of 15, Brain joined the

South Australian Sports Institute Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in the state of South Australia. Sport as entertainment plays an important role with South Australia, in 2007 having the second highest rate of event attendance ...

, and played in their under-23 team in the South Australian Premier League in 1997 and 1998. He joined

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

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 ...

in time for the 1998–99 season, but commitments to the Australian U-17 side restricted his season in the top flight. When Brain eventually made his NSL debut, in round 24 against the

Brisbane Strikers Brisbane Strikers Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1991 as Brisbane United, the club competed in the National Soccer League until the 2003–04 season. Brisbane Strikers ...

, he scored the first goal in the match to help Adelaide to a 3–0 victory. He played a further five matches at the end of the season as Adelaide went on to finish sixth, but did not play any part in the finals series for Adelaide. Brain completed a short stint with Para Hills Knights in the SAPL before returning to Adelaide City for the 1999–2000 season. In the three seasons that followed, Brain made a total of 53 appearances and scored 6 goals for Adelaide, but his match time was still being affected by international commitments. After Adelaide finished second-last in 2001–02, Brain relocated to

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

to play for Sydney United. Brain played in all but two of United's matches in 2002–03, starting 19 times and scoring once. Sydney United missed the finals series, and Brain chose to move further north again, to the

for 2003–04. He played in 23 of Brisbane's 24 regular season matches, and then played a big hand in both legs of their elimination final against

. After losing 3–0 in the away leg, Brain set up one goal for Joshua Rose and then scored one himself with a brilliant individual effort to make the score 3–1 in favour of Brisbane. The match finished with Brisbane winning 4–1, but Adelaide progressed via the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

. In February 2005, Brain elected to move back to his home city, and was signed by

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

as the 15th man on their 20-man roster for the inaugural season. Brain played in the first ever A-League match, against the Newcastle United Jets, and won the dubious honour of being the first player to receive a

caution Caution may refer to: * Prudence * A precautionary statement, describing a potential hazard * A police caution, an alternative to prosecution for a criminal offence in some countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia * A statement read by a ...

in the newly formed competition, just three minutes in. Just two weeks later, though, he earned another A-League record – the fastest goal scored. In Adelaide's round 3 clash 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), Victory ...

, Brain scored after just 11 seconds, a goal which turned out to be the only difference between the sides. Brain made a total of 17 league appearances for Adelaide, mainly from the bench, and scored three goals, but his contract was not renewed by the club at the end of the 2005–06 season. Brain went on loan with

Adelaide Raiders Adelaide Croatia Raiders SC, formerly known as Adelaide Raiders and historically Adelaide Croatia, is a semi-professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, they currently plays in the South Australian State League 1. It is a Croati ...

until his contract with United expired, and then signed for the Modbury Jets. However, he had already played in an FFSA AUFC cup tie for the Raiders, and his subsequent appearance in Modbury's 5–1 win over Adelaide Olympic saw the Jets ejected from the competition.

International career

Louis Brain began his international representative career with the Australian under-17 team, the Joeys, in 1998. He scored two goals in a 4–0 victory over

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, held at

Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium (also known as Coopers Brewery, Coopers Stadium under naming rights) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Hindmarsh, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian ...

in Adelaide. He became a regular in the Joeys squad throughout 1999, especially during qualifying for the 1999 U-17 World Cup, to be held in New Zealand. Brain scored twice during the

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

qualifying stages, and also the decisive goal in Australia's 1–0 away leg win over

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

, which confirmed their place in the tournament. Brain toured with the Joeys to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

in the lead-up to the World Cup, and was selected in the 18-man Australian squad to contest the tournament. Brain played in all six of Australia's matches at the World Cup, as the team advanced to the tournament final to meet

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Brain picked up a yellow card in the final minute of extra time as Australia went down 8–7 in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

after the match finished at 0-0. Brain made his debut for the Young Socceroos (under-20) in 2001, playing 30 minutes against Japan during the

East Asian Games The East Asian Games was a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association and held every four years from 1993 to 2013. Among those who competed included athletes from East Asian countries and territories of the Olympic Council ...

. In the following match, a 6–0 win over

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, Brain made his first start for the Young Socceroos, celebrating by scoring his first U-20 international goal in the 12th minute, following by a second in the 48th. Australia reached the final of the competition, but fell to Japan 2–1. Mid-year, Brain was selected in the 18-man squad for 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 ...

in Argentina. He played just once in the tournament, the first half of Australia's 1–1 draw with

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

which put the team through to the second round.

Footnotes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brain, Louis Karl 1982 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English emigrants to Australia Men's association football midfielders Australian men's soccer players English men's footballers A-League Men players FFSA Super League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Adelaide City FC players Adelaide United FC players Brisbane Strikers FC players Sydney United 58 FC players North Eastern MetroStars SC players South Australian Sports Institute soccer players 21st-century English sportsmen 21st-century Australian sportsmen