Emmanuel "Manny" Muscat (born 7 December 1984) is a former professional footballer who last played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

right back 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 ...

for Green Gully in the

NPL Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

. Born in Australia, he represented the Malta national team.

Club career

Early career

Raised in

West Sunshine Sunshine West is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Brimbank local government area. Sunshine West recorded a population of 18,552 at the . Sunshine West is a ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Manny Muscat played for

Sunshine George Cross Caroline Springs George Cross Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Fraser Rise, a north-western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and plays in State League Division 1, the fourth tier of football in Victoria. George ...

where he was made captain at the age of 19, then made the switch to rivals

Green Gully SC Green Gully Soccer Club is an Australian association football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Green Gully is one of the largest clubs in Melbourne, having participated in the now defunct National Soccer League between 1984–1986. The club c ...

where he had the most successful years in his Victorian Premier career.

Wellington Phoenix

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 ...

signed him from Green Gully in August 2008, initially as a short-term injury replacement for the injured

Vince Lia Vince Lia (born 18 March 1985) is an Australian professional football (soccer) player who plays for Altona Magic in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. Born in Shepparton, Lia played youth football in Victoria before making his senior deb ...

, but he was later offered a full contract and signed on as a contracted player. Muscat made a total of twenty-six appearances for the Wellington Phoenix in the 2009–10 season, including all three of the final series matches. After getting the only red card of Wellington's season, fellow Phoenix player Troy Hearfield picked up Muscat's usual role of

. This change pushed Muscat into a defensive midfield role for Wellington where Muscat continued to play through the rest of the season. On 20 October 2009, Muscat was rewarded for his fine form as he extended his contract with Wellington Phoenix for another three years. On 20 January 2012 Muscat scored his first goal for the club in his eighty fifth appearance versus the

Newcastle Jets FC Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

. The day after breaking his goal drought it was confirmed Muscat had extended his contract by a further two years and rejected offers from hometown clubs

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

and

Melbourne Heart Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Profession ...

. On 3 January 2013 Muscat received a 3-game suspension after twice elbowing a Brisbane Roar player in his side's 2–1 loss.

Melbourne City

On 3 March 2016, it was announced that Muscat had signed a 2-year deal with Melbourne City commencing at the beginning of the 2016–17 A-League season. He made his first appearance in a City shirt in a 5–0 friendly match win over

Port Melbourne SC Port Melbourne SC is an Australian soccer club based in Port Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The club was formed in 1968 by local Greek Australians, and was promoted over the years to the Victorian Premier League in 1994. It spent ...

on 20 July 2016. On 3 May 2018, Muscat was released by Melbourne City.

Green Gully

Muscat returned to Green Gully after leaving the

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 ...

International career

On 11 May 2009, Muscat was called up to the Maltese national team and made his international début, for a friendly against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. He was used as a late substitute for a 2010 World Cup qualifier against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. In August 2010, Muscat was called up for the opening two

UEFA Euro 2012 qualification The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

matches against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

A-League career statistics

Honours

Club

; Melbourne City *

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austral ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Individual

* A-League All Stars: 2014

References

External links

Football-Lineups Tactical Profile

Wellington Phoenix Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muscat, Manny 1984 births Living people Caroline Springs George Cross FC players Green Gully SC players Wellington Phoenix FC players Melbourne City FC players A-League Men players Australian people of Maltese descent People with acquired Maltese citizenship Association football defenders Maltese footballers Malta international footballers Australian soccer players Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand People from Sunshine, Victoria Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Australian expatriate soccer players Maltese expatriate footballers Maltese expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand