Scott Higgins (born 9 June 1976) is an Australian former

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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. His career saw him play in three different continents, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Football career

Club career

He started his professional footballing career in the NSL with

Canberra Cosmos Canberra Cosmos Football Club was an Australian soccer club based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. It participated in the National Soccer League from the 1995/96 season until the end of the 2000/01 season, after which it folded, primar ...

and later returning to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

with

Brisbane Strikers Brisbane Strikers Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1991 as Brisbane United, the club competed in the National Soccer League until the 2003–04 season and was one of two ...

. In the relaunched

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 ...

, he secured a deal with

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record ...

in 2005, before moving to Europe in June 2006 to join

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

. A difference of opinion with Falkirk boss John Hughes ended his stay in Scotland with the "Bairns" in a good position at sixth in the SPL and through to the semi-finals of the League Cup. Before departing Scotland Higgins stated it was a boyhood dream to play against his much loved Glasgow Celtic at Parkhead on 23 December 2006. Higgins played a key role at keeping Celtic at bay and was a standout for the Bairns, saying after the game "no one can take that away from me, I loved every minute of it and knowing my family was here and my best mate Barry who is a mad hoops fan was sitting watching back in Australia makes me very proud"; however, they eventually went down one–nil. He departed Scotland on 24 January 2007 to join

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 ...

i side

Maccabi Herzliya Maccabi Herzliya F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי הרצליה, ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Herzliya'') is an Israeli football club based in Herzliya. The club is currently in and plays at the Herzliya Municipal Stadium. History ...

Herzliya

When Higgins joined Herzliya, he became the first Australian in Israeli football. With some stellar performances he led his club to the

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup ( he, גביע הטוטו, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League ( Ligat Ha'Al), and the second division Liga Leumit. Fro ...

final, a first ever for the club, where they defeated

Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל כפר סבא, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Kfar Saba'') is an Israeli football club based in Kfar Saba. The club competes in the Liga Leumit and plays home matches at Levita Stadiu ...

2–1 at the

Ramat Gan Stadium Ramat Gan Stadium ( he, אצטדיון רמת גן, ''Itztadion Ramat Gan'') is a football stadium in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. It served as the national stadium of Israel until 2014. Overview Completed in 1951 and serving ...

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...

. Unfortunately, despite helping Herzliya to lift the Toto Cup and avoid relegation from the Israeli Premier League, Higgins left the club in late May 2007 as the club moved to secure the Macedonian national team keeper,

Jane Nikolovski Jane Nikoloski ( mk, Јане Николоски) (born 12 December 1973) is a Republic of Macedonia, Macedonian former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper. Playing career Club Nikoloski returned fr ...

, as a replacement in a deal that ultimately fell through.

A-League

On returning to Australia, he was 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 ...

on a short-term contract as cover for injured goalkeeper Daniel Beltrame for the start of the 2007–08 season. In December 2008, Higgins signed a four-game contract with the

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 ...

as cover for

Mark Paston Mark Nelson Paston (born 13 December 1976) is a New Zealand former Goalkeeper (association football), football goalkeeper who most recently played for the Wellington Phoenix FC, Wellington Phoenix in the A-League before announcing his retireme ...

. He has not yet made an appearance for the

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

. He was released halfway through his contract, as Paston became match-fit earlier than expected. He never got any game time with the

Miron Bleiberg Miron Bleiberg ( he, מירון בלייברג) is an Israeli-Australian football (soccer) manager. Biography Bleiberg was educated at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, Israel. A former captain in the Israeli Navy, Bleiberg commanded patrol bo ...

, football director of new

club

Gold Coast United Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...

has announced that Higgins will be signed by the club for the 2009–10 season. On 30 September 2008, he was announced along with

Jess Vanstrattan Jess Kedwell Vanstrattan (born 19 July 1982) is a retired Australian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Vanstrattan was born in Gosford and started his senior career with Central Coast. He played the majority of his career in ...

's inaugural signings.

Coaching

At the conclusion of the 2010–11 A-League season Higgins retired and joined the staff at GCU as goalkeeping coach.

Politics

Higgins was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2013 federal election in the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

representing

for the

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...

References

External links

Gold Coast United profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Scott 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Cairns Soccer players from Queensland Men's association football goalkeepers Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland A-League Men players National Soccer League (Australia) players Scottish Premier League players Israeli Premier League players Brisbane Strikers FC players Falkirk F.C. players Gold Coast United FC players Maccabi Herzliya F.C. players Brisbane Roar FC players Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Wellington Phoenix FC players United Australia Party (2013) politicians