Brian Kaltak (born 30 September 1993) is a Vanuatuan international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for Australian club

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Kaltak has played club football with

Waterside Karori Waterside Karori AFC is an association football club in Karori, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. They currently play in the Capital Football (New Zealand), Capital Football Central League (New Zealand), Central League. History Waterside Ka ...

Hekari United Hekari United, formerly known as POM Souths, Souths United, PRK Souths United and Hekari Souths United, is a professional football club formed in 2006, based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The club holds the record for most titles in the Pa ...

, Solomon Warriors, Amicale,

Erakor Golden Star Erakor Golden Star F.C. is a Vanuatuan football team based in Port Vila. Their motto is 'Yesu Iwi' which means God is good. They play in the Port Vila Premier League, the Port Vila`s top football competition. In 2016 they became champions, whic ...

and Tasman United. Kaltak trained with

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

from July 2011 until late January 2012 after being invited by coach

Ricki Herbert Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current technical director at Cambridge FC. Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after the side faile ...

and receiving $15,000 in financial support from

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

to cover costs.

Auckland City

On 3 October 2018, Kaltak signed for

Auckland City Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 January 2019, scoring from a free kick in a 3–2 win over

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

. In 2020, Kaltak became the first ni-Vanuatu to win the

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a m ...

as a player.

Australia

In April 2022, Kaltak went on trial with

A-League Men A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

. He signed for Australian club

FK Beograd FK Beograd () is a defunct football club based in Karaburma, Belgrade, Serbia. History After winning the Belgrade Zone League in the 1993–94 season, the club finished as runners-up in the 1994–95 Serbian League North and earned promotion ...

in June 2022 along with fellow Vanuatu international

Jeffrey Tasso Jeffrey may refer to: * Jeffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * ''Jeffrey'' (1995 film), a 1995 film by Paul Rudnick, based on Rudnick's play of the same name * ''Jeffrey'' (2016 film), a 2016 Dominican Republic documentary film ...

, before returning to Central Coast on trial in August 2022, prior to the start of the 2022–23 A-League Men season. Kaltak signed for

on 27 September 2022.

International career

Kaltak made his international debut for

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

in 2011. In March 2022, Kaltak went to Qatar for the

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

. Vanuatu's first match was scheduled against Tahiti on 17 March 2022, but the team was forced to withdraw from the tournament without playing a game due to a

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outbreak among the travelling contingent.

Personal life

Kaltak was born in Erakor, and moved to

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

to obtain his secondary education. Brian's cousins

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

and

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

also play for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. The pair were both named in the 2012 OFC Nations Cup squad. In 2021, Kaltak told the New Zealand High Commission in Vanuatu that he believed athletes should avoid tobacco as part of

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. Produced by

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FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

released ''Captains'' in 2022, an eight-part sports

docuseries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

following six national team captains in their respective 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification campaigns. Kaltak, representing Vanuatu, starred alongside

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Chelsea and captains the Brazil national team. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, he is known f ...

(

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Luka Modrić Luka Modrić (; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. He plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an a ...

(

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Pierre-Emerick Emiliano François Aubameyang (born 18 June 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Chelsea. He is renowned for his pace, finishing, and off-ball movement. Born in France, he is a former ...

(

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

Andre Blake Andre Jason Blake (born 21 November 1990) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer and the Jamaica national team. College soccer Blake spent three years playing colleg ...

(

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

) and

Hassan Maatouk Hassan Ali Maatouk ( ar, حسن علي معتوق, ; born 10 August 1987) is a Lebanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Ansar and captains the Lebanon national team. Known for his pace and technical skills, Maa ...

(

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

). It was released by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

and also shown on FIFA's own streaming platform, FIFA+.

Career statistics

International

:''Vanuatu score listed first, score column indicates score after each Kaltak goal.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaltak, Brian 1993 births Living people Vanuatuan footballers Vanuatu international footballers Waterside Karori players Hekari United players Solomon Warriors F.C. players Amicale F.C. players Erakor Golden Star F.C. players Tasman United players 2012 OFC Nations Cup players 2016 OFC Nations Cup players Association football defenders Vanuatuan expatriate footballers Vanuatuan expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand Vanuatuan expatriate sportspeople in Papua New Guinea Expatriate footballers in Papua New Guinea Vanuatuan expatriate sportspeople in the Solomon Islands Expatriate footballers in the Solomon Islands Auckland City FC players New Zealand Football Championship players People from Shefa Province Vanuatu youth international footballers Vanuatu under-20 international footballers Vanuatuan expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate soccer players in Australia FK Beograd (Australia) players Central Coast Mariners FC players