Alistair Edwards

Personal Details Date of Birth: 21 June 1968 Place of Birth: Whyalla, South Australia Height: Position: Attacker Club Summary Club Games Goals Kwinana United (junior) - - Australian Institute of Sport (1987) - - Rangers (1987/1988) 0 0 Sydney Olympic (1989-1992) 54 8 Brighton and Hove Albion (1989/1990) 1 0 Singapore Armed Forces (1990, on loan) ? ? Johor (1991-1992, on loan) ? ? Singapore Armed Forces (1993, on loan) ? ? Selangor (1994, on loan) ? ? Millwall (1994-1996) 4 0 Sydney Olympic (1995-1997) 27 2 Sarawak (1997-1998) ? ? Perth Glory (1998-2002) 93 24 Total International Summary Games Goals Australia 'A' (1991-1997) 19 3 Australia 'B' (1992-1994) 3 2 Australia Under-20 (1987) ? ?

Career Brief

Edwards tallied up nineteen 'A' caps for Australia during a globetrotting 15-season career that took in Australia, Scotland, England and Malaysia. Edwards came up through the ranks at Kwinana United, representing the club at various State junior levels and making his State League debut at the age of 15. After playing his part in the State Under-18 team winning the 1986 National Championship that things really started to happen for the young attacker.

A scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport led to a place in the Young Socceroos squad for the 1987 Under-20 World Championship in Chile. There Edwards scored the opening goal in Australia's 2-0 win over Togo before he lined up against Yugoslavia and Chile. Soon after he joined Glasgow Rangers and, although he didn't play a competitive game for the Scottish giants, the seeds of future success had now been sown.

Sydney Olympic was the net port of call, Edwards making his National Soccer League debut against APIA Leichhardt in February 1989 and six months later was unable to prevent his team going down to Marconi Stallions in the Grand Final. Edwards tried his luck with English Division Two club Brighton and Hove Albion but managed only a single appearance before returning to Olympic and snaring the opening goal in June 1990's 2-0 Grand Final win against Marconi.

Edwards would reap enormous rewards from loans spells in Malaysia's Super League. For Singapore Armed Forces he returned 13 goals to win the 1990 Golden Boot, and in January/February 1991 gained his Socceroos debut against Czechoslovakia. During a couple of seasons with Johor Edwards helped the club to the Super League Championship and Malaysia Cup double in 1991. In the first six months of 1992 he donned the green and gold n friendlies with Sweden, against who Edwards struck his first international goal, Argentina and Uruguay.

During August Edwards played his part in the Socceroos win at the 1992 Presidents Cup, the attacker scoring in the 3-0 final defeat of host nation Indonesia. A month later he featured in World Cup qualifiers with Tahiti and the Soloman Islands before returning to club football with successive seasons at Singapore and Selangor. Another opportunity to play in England presented itself and by mid-1994 Edwards found himself at Millwall, where a nagging groin injury put him on the sidelines for an extended period. Prior to injury he represented Australia in friendlies with Kuwait and Japan.

By February 1996 Edwards was back in Australia and once again wearing Olympic colours. Further Socceroo outings came at the Simba Cup against host nation South Africa and Kenya, a one-off friendly with Saudi Arabia and the World CUp qualifier against Tahiti. Edwards final appearance for Australia arrived in January 1997 when he came off the bench to score with his first touch in a 2-1 defeat of South Korea. He played two seasons with Sarawak, picking up a Malaysia Super League Champions medal in 1997, before leaving the club when the league found itself in financial difficulties.

Edwards became a Perth Glory upon his return to Australia in January 1998 and made an immediate impact, netting seven goals in his opening eight games. He shared the club's top goal scorer award with Con Boutsianis in 1999/2000 when Glory completed the regular season on top of the table, only to lose a pulsating Grand Final to Wollongong Wolves on penalties. That same story played out in 2001/02 when Glory again topped the table before losing the Grand Final, this time to Sydney Olympic, after which Edwards hung his boots up for the last time.

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This page was last updated on the 1st June 2010.