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Brett Emerton

Brett Michael Emerton (born February 22, 1979 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian football player who plays for Blackburn Rovers in England. He is usually a wide midfielder but has been known to play in central positions or at full back.

Club career

Emerton was a product of the Australian Institute of Sport and started his career with Sydney Olympic in the National Soccer League in August 1996, making 93 appearances and scoring 16 goals. After captaining the Olyroos at the Sydney Olympics, he joined Feyenoord in August 2000 for a fee of £415,000, winning a UEFA Cup winners medal in May 2002 (although Emerton himself was banned for the final match) and being named the 2002 Oceania Footballer of the Year. He made a total of 111 league and cup appearances for Feyenoord, scoring eleven goals.

Blackburn Rovers

After being linked with several Premiership teams, he joined Blackburn Rovers in July 2003 for an undisclosed fee, on a four-year contract, saying, "I've always dreamed of playing in the Premiership so to finally achieve it is great." His transfer to Blackburn was noted by the fact that he apparently turned down offers from larger clubs so that he could play in his preferred position on the wing. He scored on his debut in a 5-1 win over Wolves in August 2003. The manager, Graeme Souness, said of him, "Emerton is a top player, we are very fortunate to have him. [...] If he can keep up that level of trickery I will be quite happy." However, he was unable to inspire Blackburn as they failed to make progress in the UEFA Cup and struggled against relegation.

Blackburn survived that season but again struggled in the 2004–05 season, not winning a game until September 2004. However, the club preserved their Premiership status following a change of manager and reached the FA Cup semi-finals, where they lost to Arsenal. Emerton paid credit to new manager, Mark Hughes, ""It is a huge achievement. When Mark came in we were in a bit of disarray but from the day he arrived we worked on our fitness. Everyone is better for that and it has shown in our performances."

A more successful season in 2005-06 saw Blackburn reach the 5th round of the FA Cup, losing to West Ham, the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, losing to Manchester United, and qualify for the UEFA Cup. Following the end of the season, Emerton signed a new four-year deal at Blackburn in August 2006. Mark Hughes described him as "...a player who gives me a lot of options. He can carry the ball from one end of the field to the other. That's why teams have coveted him this summer." Emerton made 47 appearances in the 2006-07 season as Blackburn finished in mid-table but reached the FA Cup semi-final for the second time in three years, losing to Chelsea, and reached the knock-out stages of the UEFA cup, eventually losing out to Bayer Leverkusen for a place in the last 16. At the end of the 2006-07 season, Emerton had made a total of 167 appearances for Blackburn in all competitions, scoring 10 goals.

In July 2008, Emerton signed a new four-year contract, to keep him at the club until summer 2012.

International career

Emerton was captain of the "Olyroos", Australia's Olympic football team, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he was sent off against Nigeria as Australia were beaten 3-2 and went out of the tournament. He was named in the Australia squad for the Fifa Confederations Cup held in South Korea and Japan in 2001 and made the starting line-up in a shock win over France and a defeat by South Korea as Australia qualified from the Group stages. He was a member of the Australian national team that lost out on the final place in the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea and Japan when Uruguay beat Australia over two legs in November 2001. He played in the team that comprehensively beat England 3-1 at Upton Park in February 2003, scoring the final goal to seal an impressive win.

Emerton played in both legs of World Cup play-off against Uruguay in November 2005, when the Socceroos qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the first time that Australia had reached the finals of the World Cup since 1974, and was named in the Australian squad for the World Cup finals. He was in the starting lineup for all three Group Stage games against Japan, Brazil and Croatia as Australia qualified for the second round. However, he received two yellow cards against Croatia, was sent off in the 87th minute and subsequently missed the Socceroos' second round match against Italy.

Emerton scored 2 goals against Qatar in Australia's 4th match of World Cup Qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in Doha Qatar. The match finished 3-1 to the Australians, with former Liverpool FC striker Harry Kewell getting Australias 3rd goal, and consequently Harry's 2nd of the tournement, as well as Australia advancing to the 2nd round of the World Cup.

Club career statistics

(correct as of 11 July 2008)

Club	Season	League			Cup *			Europe			Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
Feyenoord Rotterdam	2001–02	25	6	-	-	-	-	7	0	-	32	6	-
Feyenoord Rotterdam	2002–03	33	3	-	-	-	-	9	0	-	41	3	-
Blackburn Rovers	2003–04	37	2	12	1	0	-	2	1	-	40	3	12
	2004–05	37	4	4	7	1	-	0	0	0	44	5	4
	2005–06	30	1	3	7	1	-	0	0	0	37	2	3
	2006–07	34	0	3	7	0	1	6	0	0	47	0	4
	2007–08	30	1	0	3	0	0	4	0	0	37	1	0
Career totals											245	20	23