Joshua Kennedy

Kennedy debuted for City against Melbourne Victory, being substituted on the field for Safuwan Baharudin in the 60th minute.

He opened his scoring account for City with their second goal in the clinical 3-2 win over Adelaide United.

Joshua Blake Kennedy (born 20 August 1982) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a striker for the Australia national soccer team.

Kennedy is known by Australian fans as "Jesus" due to his apparent resemblance to traditional depictions of Jesus earlier in his playing career.

Born in Wodonga, Victoria, Kennedy began playing junior football in Albury/Wodonga, near his hometown of Yackandandah in Victoria, Australia.

There, he played with the Twin City Wanderers and later SS&A Boomers.

His talents won a scholarship place in the Australian Institute of Sport program, leading to a professional contract at new National Soccer League club Carlton in 1999, alongside fellow AIS graduates Vince Grella and Mark Bresciano.

After a season, he made a move to Europe transferring to Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg.

His debut as a substitute coming on five minutes from time in the 4–4 draw against fellow Northern German side Hamburger SV on 13 September 2000, at age 17 made him the youngest player ever to appear for VfL.

It was his only appearance for the first team that year, and the following season brought little change for Kennedy as he managed just seven appearances for the Bundesliga side, starting only once.

However, he scored two goals in the 2001–02 season, with his first ever Bundesliga goal coming on 8 September 2001 against Energie Cottbus.

At the start of the following season Kennedy was transferred to Regionalliga Süd side Stuttgarter Kickers, where he was a regular feature playing 23 games for the Swabian side.

After just one season Kennedy left for Cologne where he joined (at the time) Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln.

However, he mostly played for their reserve team in the Regionalliga Nord, where he was the club's second-top scorer of the season with nine goals in twenty-three games.

Having just won promotion to 2. Bundesliga, Dynamo Dresden were looking for a striker and found it in the then 22-year-old Victorian.

This transfer, his fourth in four years, proved to be a vital one in Kennedy's career.

He immediately found a first-team spot with the Saxon side and played in all of the club's thirty-four league matches – again becoming the second-top scorer of his club with nine goals.

The following season, he was again an integral part in the club's fight against relegation scoring seven goals and setting up four.

This attracted the interest of Bundesliga club 1. FC Nürnberg who signed Kennedy to a three-year contract, and of Australian national coach Guus Hiddink who called the previously uncapped Kennedy up to the Australian Squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In July 2006, during his first training session with Nürnberg, Kennedy ruptured his right Achilles tendon.

On 11 January 2008, fellow German Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC announced the signing of Kennedy via an undisclosed transfer fee.

After a further disappointing appearance in an important cup tie on 28 January 2009, Kennedy was replaced in the second half of the match and subsequently refused to shake hands with his coach.

Due to this behaviour, he was thrown out of the squad.

On 2 February 2009, Kennedy once again made negative headlines when he announced his intention to leave the club as soon as possible.

After five months without any Bundesliga appearances Kennedy was finally allowed to return to the squad even though he still refused to apologise.

On 18 April 2009, he was part of the starting line-up for the first time since his suspension.

Altogether, Kennedy started 20 of his 23 appearances but – after 27 goalless games – was only able to score twice in the final match of the season which proved to be of no relevance because Karlsruhe nevertheless was relegated from the Bundesliga.

On 17 June 2009, he signed a contract with Nagoya Grampus until 31 December 2011.

Kennedy scored a goal on debut for Nagoya Grampus in his side's 1–1 draw.

In the 2010 season, Kennedy helped Nagoya win their first-ever league title, becoming a joint top scorer with Ryoichi Maeda on 17 goals.

He was also named in the 2010 J. League Best Eleven.

He is contracted until June 2011.

His first goal for Karlsruhe came on his debut against his former club Nürnberg in what would turn out to be a cruel twist of fate for the latter – just weeks after leaving them.

Kennedy went on to score four goals in his first five appearances and was widely praised for his performances.

However, following this stunning start he did not manage to score in 21 consecutive Bundesliga matches and finally lost his starting position.

On 23 September 2011, Kennedy scored off a Kensuke Nagai cross to help his side to a 3–1 win over Vissel Kobe.

The result put Grampus one point behind leaders Gamba Osaka and gave Kennedy his 15th goal of the 2011 J. League season, putting him one goal above Ventforet Kofu's striker Mike Havenaar.

Kennedy finished the season with 19 goals and the J-league golden boot.

On 6 November 2014, it was announced that he had signed with Melbourne City as their Australian Marquee.

He joined the team in January 2015.