Shane Smeltz

Shane Smeltz
Shane Smeltz
Personnel
Surname	Shane Edward Smeltz
birthday	29th September 1981
place of birth	Goeppingen ,  Germany
size	185 cm
position	Storm
Juniors
Years	station
	Queensland Academy of Sport
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1999	Gold Coast City	2 0(0)
1999-2001	Brisbane Strikers	25 0(0)
2002	Napier City Rovers	21 (20)
2002-2003	Adelaide City	26 (19)
2003-2004	Adelaide United	6 0(1)
2005	Mansfield Town	5 0(0)
2005-2006	AFC Wimbledon	43 (26)
2006-2007	Halifax Town	31 0(2)
2007-2009	Wellington Phoenix	39 (21)
2009-2010	Gold Coast United	26 (19)
2010	Gençlerbirliği Ankara	6 0(1)
2011	Gold Coast United	12 0(9)
2011-2014	Perth Glory	58 (28)
2014-2016	Sydney FC	43 (12)
2016	Kedah FA	18 (11)
2016-2017	Wellington Phoenix	12 0(3)
2017-2018	Borneo FC	20 0(5)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals) 2
2003-2017	New Zealand	58 (24)
1 Only league games are given. As of July 9, 2020 2 As of July 9, 2020

Shane Smeltz (born September 29, 1981 in Göppingen , Germany ) is a former New Zealand soccer player .

Childhood and youth

Shane Smeltz was born in Germany . At that time his parents were members of the US Army and stationed near Göppingen. He and his family moved back to New Zealand when he was just under a year old. He stayed there until he was six years old before his family moved to Queensland , Australia . He lived in Cairns , Brisbane and on the Gold Coast . In addition to New Zealand citizenship, Smeltz also has Australian citizenship because his wife is Australian and English because his mother is from England.

Club career

From 1999 to 2004 he played for various Australian clubs. Except in 2002, when Smeltz played for Napier City Rovers in the New Zealand National Soccer League .

In 2005 he moved to Mansfield Town in the English Football League Two . He then played at AFC Wimbledon and scored 26 goals in 43 league games. He was also under contract with Halifax Town and was able to score two goals in 31 games.

Wellington Phoenix

Smeltz returned to New Zealand in 2007 and signed a two-year deal with Wellington Phoenix . He was named New Zealand Player of the Year that same year. In his first season in the A-League, he was able to secure second place in the scorers list with nine goals. In the 2008/2009 season he scored 12 goals and was the top scorer. Since the founding of the A-League, these were the most goals that a player had scored in one season.

Gold Coast United

In November 2008, Phoenix lost the Smeltz race against Gold Coast United. The striker signed a three-year contract with the then newly formed team. Gold Coast United played their first game against Mudgeeraba SC, an Australian amateur club, and won 12-1. Smeltz scored nine goals here. On August 8, 2009 Smeltz scored the first competitive goal in history for Gold Coast United. A week later he scored four goals against the North Queensland Fury . In the 2009/10 season Smeltz scored a total of 19 goals, setting a record for the most goals in a season. He was also the league's top scorer for the second year in a row.

On July 12, 2010, his move to the Chinese club Shandong Luneng Taishan was announced. Shane Smeltz ended his two-year engagement with the Chinese club Shandong Luneng Taishan after just five days. For his wife Nikki and their two children, it was impossible to get used to Shandong, Smeltz explained his surprising decision. He returned to Gold Coast United as the move to China had not yet been legal. He then moved to Gençlerbirliği Ankara , where he stayed but only half a year and returned to Gold Coast United.

Perth Glory

For the 2011/12 season Smeltz moved to Perth Glory . In 2012 he was with Glory in the final of the A-League , but failed there at Brisbane Roar . In 2013 he reached the finals again with Perth, but they lost in the semifinals against Melbourne Victory . During his entire time at Glory, he had 28 goals in 58 games.

Sydney FC

On May 18, 2014 it was announced that Smeltz is moving to Sydney FC with immediate effect . He signed a one-year contract with the East Australians and is supposed to replace the migrated Alessandro Del Piero . In his first season he reached the Grand Final with Sydney, but lost 3-0 to Melbourne Victory .

Kedah FA

On July 12, 2016 Schmeltz moved to the Malaysia Super League to Kedah FA .

Wellington Phoenix / Borneo FC

After a brief stint in his home country from December 2016 to April 2017 at Wellington Phoenix , he moved to League 1 , the top division in Indonesia. At Borneo FC , he played 20 league games and scored 5 goals, finally Smeltz ended his active career here in January 2018.

National team

Smeltz played for New Zealand's U-20 and U-23 selection. He scored his first international goal for New Zealand on April 25, 2006 in a friendly against Chile . This game was also his debut for the All Whites.

The first big tournament for him was the OFC Nations Cup 2008 . At this tournament he was top scorer with eight goals and was able to win the title with New Zealand. Because of this victory, New Zealand played in the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. Smeltz was also part of the New Zealand squad at the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. The team was eliminated in the preliminary round, although they have not lost any of their three games. Smeltz scored the 1-0 goal in the second group game against Italy . Smeltz made his last appearance in the dress of the national team on October 6, 2017 in the 1: 2 defeat in the friendly against Japan . Here he came in the 71st minute for Kosta Barbarouses in the game.

Web links

• Profile on nzfootball.co.nz
• Shane Smeltz in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ An interview with striker Shane Smeltz: "My goal is Europe". In: fr-online.de. June 5, 2010, accessed December 18, 2014 . 
2. ↑ wellingtonphoenix.com: Smeltz signs with Gold Coast published November 4, 2008
3. ↑ Sport News: New Zealander Smeltz ends engagement in China. In: zeit.de. July 17, 2010, accessed December 18, 2014 . 
4. ↑ BBC Sport: Italy 1-1 New Zealand published June 20, 2010