Travis Dodd (born 6 January 1980) is an Australian former

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who last played for

North Eastern MetroStars SC North Eastern MetroStars Soccer Club, commonly known as MetroStars, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1994, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues South Australia ...

in the National Premier League - South Australia competition. He played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

or winger and also played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He was the first Indigenous Australian to score for the Australian national team.

Domestic career

Born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, he played junior football at Elizabeth before joining the South Australian Sports Institute in 1996. He was

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 ...

's fourth youngest

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

(NSL) player of all time (16 years 281 days), and the fifth player in NSL history to score a hat-trick after coming on as a substitute (in a 4–1 win over

Football Kingz Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

in 2003). At the conclusion of the 2003–04 NSL season, he moved abroad, playing firstly with Malaysian club

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

, then Greek club

Panionios NFC Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

. During his stint with Panionios, Dodd scored in their

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

first round victory over high-profile Italian side

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Football in Italy, Italian association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a ...

. His career at the Greek club was short lived, with a change in manager seeing him frozen out of the senior squad. He made nine appearances for the club, four in the league, and five in the UEFA Cup.

Adelaide United

Dodd returned home to

in 2005 and was a part of the

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 ...

side that won the 2005–06 A-League Premiership. On 23 May 2007, Dodd was the first Australian player to score a hat-trick in the

Asian Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

, scoring all three in a 3–0 win against Đồng Tâm Long An. After positive performances in the Asian Champions League, Dodd was linked with a move to

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

. Dodd took the

captaincy A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule ...

in July 2008 taking over from

Michael Valkanis Mihalis "Michael" Valkanis (Greek: Μιχάλης "Μάικελ" Βαλκάνης; born 23 August 1974) is a Greek Australian former football (soccer) player and was previously a manager of Melbourne City FC. Club career Valkanis rose through ...

. He became Adelaide's fourth captain since its formation in 2003. During 2008 Dodd had a rich vein of form scoring 11 goals from midfield including a goal against New Zealand team

Waitakere United Waitakere United was a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They were one of the franchises in the ISPS Handa Premiership. They played their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeu and The Trusts Arena. History Waitakere United ...

in the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

that saw the team progress to the Quarterfinals. 2008 also saw Dodd become the first Adelaide United player to play 100 competitive games in which he scored the only goal in the 1–0 win over

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

in round one of the

2008–09 A-League The 2008–09 A-League was the 32nd season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the fourth season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Two new clubs, North Queensland Thunder and Gold Coast Galaxy had received tentativ ...

season.

Perth Glory

On 1 March 2011, it was announced that Dodd had signed a two-year contract 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

reportedly worth $200,000 per season with an option to extend the contract to a third year. On 23 March 2013, Dodd tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a league match against

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 ...

potentially sidelining him for 12 months. On 4 April 2014, with Dodd still unable to play after more than a year of recovery, Perth Glory announced that his contract would not be renewed, thus leaving Dodd's further playing career in doubt.

MetroStars

On 7 February 2016, Dodd signed with South Australian club

North Eastern MetroStars North Eastern MetroStars Soccer Club, commonly known as MetroStars, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1994, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues South Australi ...

in the National Premier League. He again tore his ACL during the last game of the regular season, and has foreshadowed a move into coaching for 2017.

International career

Dodd's debut international match for

was an

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

qualifier against

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 Allianz Stadium, on 16 August 2006. He scored the opening goal for the home side in a 2–0 win. Dodd's goal marked the first ever international goal scored by an Indigenous Australian player.

Managerial career

Dodd joined W-League team

during the 2017–18 Season as an assistant coach.

References

External links

Adelaide United profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Travis 1980 births Living people Soccer players from Adelaide Australian soccer players Association football wingers Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players Indigenous Australian soccer players Expatriate footballers in Malaysia A-League Men players National Premier Leagues players National Soccer League (Australia) players Adelaide City FC players Adelaide United FC players Perth Glory FC players Parramatta Power players Panionios F.C. players North Eastern MetroStars SC players Newcastle Breakers FC players