Matthew Allan Kemp (born 8 August 1980) is an Australian

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 le ...

who plays for

Adelaide Raiders Adelaide Croatia Raiders SC, formerly known as Adelaide Raiders and historically Adelaide Croatia, is a semi-professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, they currently plays in the South Australian State League 1. It is a Croati ...

. Kemp announced his retirement from the A-League in May 2012.
Goal.com news 23 May 2012 He made 79 appearances for

Melbourne Victory 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 e ...

, his last being against Greek giants

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

Club career

Kemp was signed by the

AIS AIS may refer to: Medicine * Abbreviated Injury Scale, an anatomical-based coding system to classify and describe the severity of injuries * Acute ischemic stroke, the thromboembolic type of stroke * Androgen insensitivity syndrome, an intersex ...

in 1998 but transferred the next season to

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community. Adelaide City is one of Aust ...

who were then part of the now defunct NSL. After playing a season there he was signed by Italian side

SPAL 1907 Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

. The next season, he moved back to Australia where he returned to play for

, before being signed by

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

. He played for Adelaide in the A-League's first two seasons. It was announced on 11 April 2007 that he had signed a two-year contract with Melbourne Victory. During his first season Kemp was much-maligned by the supporters, but soon proved his worth as a valuable defender. He was the Victory's standout player during their 2008 Asian Champions League campaign where he benefited from his experience the year before in the same competition with Adelaide. During the 09/10 Season Kemp has proved his worth to the Victory in attack as well as defence playing in wide and sometimes central midfield. He scored his first goal for the club in a match against the Central Coast Mariners in early 2010 and followed up with a goal coming off the bench against Wellington on Australia Day a few weeks later. In the match against

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from t ...

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

on 5 February 2010, Kemp badly injured his knee when his leg buckled while challenging for the ball. Despite a valiant attempt to continue playing, Kemp succumbed to the pain and was stretchered off. Matthew Kemp had announced his retirement from the A-League on 21 May 2012, aged just 31, stating that injuries were not a factor in his decision. "I’d like to thank the club for those opportunities and wish them all the best in the future", Kemp said. He said that he could have continued playing, but his decision was more based on the future. He felt it was time to look ahead and retrain in areas that would provide future professional opportunities and give him a chance to spend more time with his family. He also ruled out returning to his hometown of Canberra, choosing instead to play at West Adelaide SC.

International career

Kemp got his first senior international cap for the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

on 7 January 2010 in an AFC Asian Cup qualifying match versus

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

at the

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium Al Kuwait Kaifan Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Kuwait City, Kuwait. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and hosts the home matches of Al Kuwait Kaifan. The stadium holds 12,350. This stadium had also hoste ...

in Kuwait City.

Honours

With

: *

A-League Championship A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

: 2008–2009 * A-League Premiership: 2008–2009 With

: * A-League Premiership: 2005–2006 Personal honours: *

Clubman of the Year: 2009–2010

References

External links

Melbourne Victory profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, Matthew 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Canberra Soccer players from the Australian Capital Territory Association football fullbacks Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Adelaide City FC players Croydon Kings players S.P.A.L. players Adelaide United FC players Melbourne Victory FC players A-League Men players Expatriate footballers in Italy National Soccer League (Australia) players Australia international soccer players