Harry Kewell

Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian soccer coach, manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of V.League 1 club Hanoi FC.

As a player, Kewell represented Leeds United, Liverpool, Galatasaray, Melbourne Victory, Al-Gharafa and Melbourne Heart. While at Leeds he was named the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2000. Internationally, he received 58 caps, and scored 17 goals while playing for Australia. A left winger also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder or second striker, he is often regarded within the media as "Australia's finest soccer export", despite his career being blighted with injury. In 2012, Kewell was named Australia's greatest soccer player in a vote by Australian fans, players and media.

Kewell scored a goal against Croatia which took Australia through to the knockout stages of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Australian national team's second World Cup. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Professional Footballers' Association. Kewell also has a British passport through his father's heritage. Former Middlesbrough midfielder-turned pundit Robbie Mustoe named Kewell as one of the greatest players he had played against but questioned his consistency and attitude after his initial injuries. Former German international Michael Ballack has also highlighted Kewell's ability and inconsistency.

Kewell has represented Australia at the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, where Australia finished runners-up, the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which Australia claimed for the fourth time, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, where Australia finished runners-up.

To date, Kewell is the only Australian man to have ever played in the UEFA Champions League final, being part of Liverpool's squad that won the 2005 UEFA Champions League final.

Harry Kewell was born on 22 September 1978 in Sydney, New South Wales, to an English father, Rod, and an Australian mother, Helen. Harry grew up supporting Liverpool in English football's First Division. Kewell received his early schooling at Smithfield Public School and secondary schooling at St. Johns Park High School before transferring to Westfield Sports High School. Before becoming a teenager he played junior football for Smithfield Hotspurs (now Fairfield Hotspurs) before switching to Marconi Fairfield as a teenager.

At age 14, Kewell travelled to Thailand, Italy and England with the successful Marconi under-14 team that had recently won the state titles. The team played games against the junior team of Milan, as well as apprenticeship sides in England. This was the first time Kewell had been out of the country but provided him his first taste of football in Europe, having also attended a Premier League match for the first time as a spectator. At age 15, Kewell was offered the opportunity to travel back to England and trial with Premiership football club Leeds United for a period of four weeks as part of the Big Brother Movement in Australia. Kewell travelled to England with his future Socceroo teammate Brett Emerton. Both were successful during their trials at Leeds, however only Kewell was able to take up the club's offer due to his father's English heritage, which satisfied the visa requirements.

Kewell played for three seasons in the Leeds United youth team. His first match for the youth team was against Sunderland in 1995, and he scored his first hat-trick against Rotherham on 7 December 1996. Kewell was handed his first team debut at age 17 in a 1–0 home defeat against Middlesbrough on 30 March 1996. In 1997, Kewell was part of the Leeds United youth-team that claimed the 1996–97 FA Youth Cup final in a 3–1 aggregate win against Crystal Palace. The first goal he scored for Leeds came some time later, in October 1997, in a 3–1 League Cup victory over Stoke City. Around that time, he was flatmates with Leeds goalkeeper Nicky Byrne, who would later become a member of boyband Westlife.