Brett Emerton

NSL Career: Sydney Olympic 94 (16) / 1996/97 - 1999/00

Socceroos Career: 95 (20) A Internationals / 5 (1) B Internationals

Before he became one of Australia's greatest football exports, Brett Emerton was one of the hardest players to contain in the NSL. A powerful athlete, Emerton burst on to the scene at a young age and ran the opposition ragged for Sydney Olympic with his excellent ball control, vision and unrelenting forward runs through the middle or out wide. 

Growing up as an all-round athlete in a non-footballing family, Emerton started his junior career with Campbelltown Gunners before moving to Macarthur Rams and later Marconi. After spending some time in the NSW Institute of Sport's Soccer Academy, Emerton earned a scholarship to the prestigious AIS Soccer Program at the age of 16.

From the AIS, Emerton signed for NSL club Sydney Olympic and made his debut as a 17 year old where his work rate and creativity was immediately recognised as he set up team mate Kris Trajanovski in a three-nil win over Gippsland. Emerton made 18 league appearances in his first season and played in Olympic's three-one NSL Cup Quarter-Final loss to Brisbane Strikers. Cementing his spot in the side during the 1997/98 season, Emerton continued to improve and made his full international debut against Chile just two weeks shy of his 19th birthday. 

After another inconsistent season, Olympic failed to qualify for the finals series but the emergence of Emerton in his second season saw the young Socceroos midfielder named NSL U-21 Player of the Year. Emerton's seemingly endless running capacity continued to strain opposition defences during the 1998/99 season as Olympic began it's resurgence under new coach Branko Culina. 

Following the 1998/99 season, Emerton represented the national team in a series of B internationals (as there were no A internationals scheduled for 1999) and scored in Australia's three-two win over a FIFA World XI that included Jürgen Klinsmann, Christian Vieri and Matt Le Tissier. The match commemorated the opening of the Sydney Olympic Stadium (later Stadium Australia).

The dynamic midfielder took his game to another level during the 1999/00 season, finishing with a personal best nine goals, including a brilliant brace against Adelaide City in the first leg of the elimination final. Following Olympic's minor semi-final loss to Carlton, Emerton captained the Olyroos at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and received attention from Dutch giants Feyenoord, who signed the midfielder for a transfer fee in the region of $700,000 - $800,000.

Emerton became a key player for Feyenoord over three seasons as they finished runners-up in the Eredivisie in the 2000/01 season and third in the following two seasons. Emerton played in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup for Feyenoord and played in both legs of the side's 2001/02 UEFA Cup Semi-Final win over Inter Milan, but missed the final where Feyenoord defeated Borussia Dortmund three-two.

In 2003, Emerton completed a dream move to the EPL, signing for Blackburn with a transfer fee of over $4,000,000. Emerton spent eight and a half seasons with the club as a regular where he helped them qualify for two editions of the UEFA Cup while representing the Socceroos in two FIFA World Cups. 

After terminating his Blackburn contract early in 2011/12 season, Emerton returned to Australia to join Sydney FC. Emerton spent three seasons at the club before hanging up his boots at the age of 35. Emerton was selected as number eight in FFA's Socceroos Team of the 2010s.

Following his retirement, Emerton was a key figure in the formation of the FFA Cup (later Australia Cup), using his experiences of playing in two English FA Cup Semi-Finals as motivation and was the face of the inaugural tournament with former Wollongong Wolves star and Sydney FC team mate Paul Reid.