 Davidson in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alan Edward Davidson | ||
| Date of birth | (1960-06-01)1 June 1960 (age 65) | ||
| Place of birth | Altona North,Melbourne, Australia | ||
| Position(s) | |||
| Youth career | |||
| Altona City SC | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1977 | Altona City SC | 36 | |
| 1978–1984 | South Melbourne | 142 | (10) |
| 1984–1985 | Nottingham Forest | 3 | (0) |
| 1986 | South Melbourne | 13 | (3) |
| 1987–1992 | Melbourne Croatia | 133 | (8) |
| 1994 | South Melbourne | 8 | (0) |
| 1992–1996 | Pahang FA | 110 | |
| 1995 | South Melbourne | 7 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Collingwood Warriors | 10 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Melbourne Knights | 13 | (0) |
| Total | 439 | (21) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 1979 | Australia U-20 | 10 | |
| 1980–1991 | Australia | 51 | (2) |
| 1988 | Australian Olympic Team | 4 | |
| 1989 | Australia (futsal) | 3 | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1999 | Pahang FA | ||
| 2000 | Whittlesea Zebras | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 20 August 2007 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 20 August 2007 | |||
Alan Edward Davidson (born 1 June 1960) is an Australian formerassociation football player who played as adefender ormidfielder. He represented the Australia national team, earning over 50 caps, and played club football for teams includingSouth Melbourne andMelbourne Croatia in theNational Soccer League. Davidson also had a successful stint in Malaysia, playing forPahang FA, where he won multiple domestic titles. Known for his strong tackling and leadership, he was a key figure in Australian soccer during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Davidson made his senior debut in the Victorian State League in 1976 at the age of 15 playing forAltona City SC which had been his junior club. He transferred toSouth Melbourne in 1978, where he played until the end of the 1984 season, making 155 appearances and scoring 13 goals.
He moved to England for the 1984–85 season forNottingham Forest F.C.[1] and a promising start where he broke into the first team as a right-back was curtailed by illness after suffering a blow to the head and having a seizure during a reserve game on a very cold night which side lined him till the end of the season. He resumed training and played for the first team before suffering a serious back injury which sidelined him for over a year,[2] forcing him into early retirement at the age of 25. He returned home to Melbourne.
He resumed playing in Australia at the end of 1986 for South Melbourne and in 1987 transferred toMelbourne Croatia, making 133 appearances and scoring 10 goals from 1987 to the end of the 1991–92 season and transferred toM-League clubPahang FA in Malaysia during 1992 where he was voted the League's best player, guiding the team to theM-League Championship andMalaysia Cup double. He was the only foreign player ever to be honored and received an AMP awarded by the Sultan ofPahang in 1996.
During 1989 Davidson led the Australia National Futsal Team to the first everFIFA Futsal World Cup in the Netherlands where he played in all three round one games against Zimbabwe, Italy and United States. Brazil were crowned FIFA Futsal World Champions beating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final.
Near the end of his playing career, he guested forSouth Melbourne FC for two seasons (1994 and 1995), while with the Malaysian clubPahang FA between (1992 and 1996). His penultimate season (1996–97) he guested with theCollingwood Warriors, and his last season (1997–98) was back with theMelbourne Knights.
He finally retired in 1998 at the age of 38 after threeWorld Cup campaigns, one1989 FIFA Futsal World Cup and anOlympic Games:1988 Seoul Olympics, 79 Socceroo appearances, 51 FIFA full A internationals and was number #32 official Socceroo Captain and Socceroo Cap No-292. He was inducted to theFootball Federation AustraliaFootball Hall of Fame – in the Hall of Champions category – in 2001.
Davidson was appointed the head coach of his former team Pahang in January 1999,[3] however he parted ways with Pahang in April the same year.
In 2006 Former 1974 Socceroo World Cup Coach Rale Rasic named Davidson in his greatest ever Socceroo team.
Davidson also sits on Football Federation Australia A-Leagues Independent Match Review Panel and is one of two of the original three founding members of the current Match Review Panel formed in 2008–09 A-League season.
Davidson's footballing career was honoured on 12 July 2012 at the "Australia's Greatest Ever Footballers Gala" ceremony at the Sydney Convention Center being named in Australia's Best 11 ever "Socceroo Team" of all time. The team selected was –Mark Schwarzer,Lucas Neil,Joe Marston,Craig Moore, Alan Davidson,Johnny Warren,Ned Zelic,Tim Cahill,Ray Baartz,Mark Viduka andHarry Kewell.
Alan has been an honorary playing member of Victoria Police Soccer Club (VPSC) for a number of years (his father was a Victoria Police member), representing the Club at a number of local and National events. In June, 2013, Alan was honoured by accepting the title of Community Patron of VPSC. Alan travelled with VPSC in July, 2013, to Hong Kong, playing for VPSC in a tournament with the Hong Kong Police Force, Hong Kong Celebrity All Stars and Victoria Asian Football Federation. VPSC went through the tournament unbeaten to win the title.
Davidson was honoured byFootball Federation Victoria at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne on 14 October 2013 in recognition of outstanding contribution to football in the state of Victoria and inducted to the FFV Hall of Fame.
On Tuesday 17 December 2013, Davidson was again honoured by Football Federation Australia and selected in the FFA Team of the Decade between 1980 – 1989 at The Crown Towers in Melbourne. The FFA Team of the Decade for the 1980sTerry Greedy, Alan Davidson,Tony Henderson,Charlie Yankos,Graham Jennings,Joe Watson,Murray Barnes,Oscar Crino,Zarko Odzakov,John Kosmina,Eddie Krncevic.
Wednesday 19 March 2014, Davidson was again honoured by Football Federation Victoria by Awarding him a Life Member of FFV in recognition of his outstanding meritorious service to football in Victoria.
His first Australian representative honours were in 1978–79 during the Under 19World Youth Cup, qualifiers inNew Zealand andParaguay and made 10 youth appearances.
Davidson made his senior debut for Australia on 9 February 1980 at the age of 19 againstCzechoslovakia in Melbourne drawing the game 2–2.
Davidson retired asSocceroos #32 official Socceroo Captain and Socceroo Cap No-292 after 79 internationalcaps (51 in officialFIFA matches) between 1980 and 1991 with theAustralia team, scoring 2 goals in those appearances.
Davidson was born in Altona North, a suburb of Melbourne, in 1960 to Keith, an Australian, and Kazuko, who was born in Japan. His parents had met when his father was posted to Japan with theBritish Commonwealth Occupation Force.[4][5]
His sonJason is also a professional football player,[6] currently playing for the for Melbourne Victory and theSocceroos.
South Melbourne
Nottingham Forest
Melbourne Knights
Pahang FA
Collingwood Warriors
Australia
 | ||