Joshua Kennedy

Born in Wodonga, Victoria, Kennedy began playing junior football in Albury/Wodonga, near his hometown of Yackandandah in Victoria, Australia. There, he played with the Twin City Wanderers and later SS&A Boomers. His talents won a scholarship place in the Australian Institute of Sport program, leading to a professional contract at new National Soccer League club Carlton in 1999, alongside fellow AIS graduates Vince Grella and Mark Bresciano. After a season, he made a move to Europe transferring to Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg. His debut as a substitute coming on five minutes from time in the 4–4 draw against fellow Northern German side Hamburger SV on 13 September 2000, at age 17 made him the youngest player ever to appear for VfL. It was his only appearance for the first team that year, and the following season brought little change for Kennedy as he managed just seven appearances for the Bundesliga side, starting only once. However, he scored two goals in the 2001–02 season, with his first ever Bundesliga goal coming on 8 September 2001 against Energie Cottbus. At the start of the following season Kennedy was transferred to Regionalliga Süd side Stuttgarter Kickers, where he was a regular feature playing 23 games for the Swabian side. After just one season Kennedy left for Cologne where he joined (at the time) Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln. However, he mostly played for their reserve team in the Regionalliga Nord, where he was the club's second-top scorer of the season with…

In 1999, Kennedy represented Australia at the U17 World cup and the Young Socceroos in 2001 at the U20 Youth World Cup in Argentina. Kennedy received his first international cap in a pre-2006 World Cup friendly against Liechtenstein and made his mark in this game with a headed goal. He came on as a substitute in Australia's first 2006 World Cup game, in which Australia beat Japan 3–1 by scoring three goals in the last eight minutes. Kennedy was touted as Hiddink's secret weapon against the Japanese because he was taller than all of the Japanese defenders. He followed this up with a second appearance as a substitute in Australia's third Group Stage game against Croatia. Injury prevented Kennedy from participating in Australia's 2007 AFC Asian Cup campaign. Kennedy was recalled to the Socceroos squad to face Argentina in a friendly on 11 September. On 6 February 2008, he scored his second international goal against Qatar in a World Cup qualifier held in Melbourne, his third against South Africa, fourth against Holland and his fifth against Qatar again. On 1 April 2009, he scored his sixth goal for Australia, Kennedy came on as a substitute on the 60th minute for Scott McDonald and scored a header against Uzbekistan giving Australia a 1–0 lead. Under new Socceroos coach Holger Oseick, Kennedy has flourished scoring eight goals in just five matches. These goals included two against New Zealand in June, the equaliser against Thailand in September, a double against Saudi…

Club

As of match played 8 May 2015

International

Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kennedy goal.

Kennedy is married to Australian Opals player Jacinta Hamilton.