Kevin Vincent Muscat (born 7 August 1973), better known by his nickname "Super Kev", is an English-born Australian professional soccer manager and former player who played as a defender. He represented the Australia national team at international level, earning 46 caps between 1994 and 2006. Muscat is currently head coach of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port.
After beginning his professional career in the Australian National Soccer League with Sunshine George Cross in 1989, Muscat played eight seasons in the United Kingdom with Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Rangers and Millwall. He returned to Australia in 2005 for the first time since leaving South Melbourne in 1996 to captain Melbourne Victory in the inaugural season of the A-league. His playing style was brutal defence with little regard for accumulating yellow cards or avoiding injury to opponents.
Muscat retired from professional football in March 2011 after Melbourne Victory's 2011 AFC Champions League campaign, citing his growing frustration at his inability to keep pace with the game. Muscat briefly rejoined his former club Sunshine George Cross for part of the 2011 Victorian State League Division 1 season. Muscat is Melbourne Victory's all time top scoring defender, with 35 goals in all competitions.
During his international career, Muscat represented the Australia U-20 side at the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship in Portugal and the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia. He represented the Australia U-23 side at the 1996 Summer Olympics. After making his full international debut for Australia in September 1994 against Kuwait, Muscat represented the national side at the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2000 OFC Nations Cup, 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.
After several seasons as an assistant coach, Muscat was appointed head coach at Melbourne Victory in October 2013. He coached Victory to the 2014–15 A-League Premiership, the 2014–15 A-League Championship and success in the 2015 FFA Cup. He left the role in 2019.
Born in Crawley, West Sussex, in England from Maltese descent, Muscat began his career as a junior at Australian National Soccer League (NSL) club Sunshine George Cross, making his first senior appearances for the club in the 1989–90 season at 16 years old. He moved from Sunshine to the Australian Institute of Sport in 1990 and was awarded the Weinstein Medal as the Victorian Junior Player of the year.
He continued playing in the NSL for Heidelberg United in the 1991–92 season before earning a move to Australian powerhouse South Melbourne Hellas. Mostly deployed as a left-back, Muscat's aggressiveness and defensive awareness made him a standout performer in the league which attracted international attention. During his time at South, he was called up to the Olyroos.
In 1995–96 he trialled at Sheffield United under manager Dave Bassett but decided to stay at South Melbourne. After further impressive performances with South Melbourne and the Olyroos, he attracted the interest of many overseas clubs. His performances for South culminated in a senior international call-up by Eddie Thompson for the Australian National Team. By August 1996 Bassett had taken the helm at Crystal Palace and signed Muscat for the south London club for £35,000 from South Melbourne Hellas. In his departure Muscat thanked the South Melbourne fans for their support towards him.
Muscat was part of the Palace team that subsequently won promotion to the English Premier League, defeating Sheffield United in the 1997 play-off final at Wembley. Muscat obtained a reputation as a 'hard man' at Palace and was constantly targeted by the media and opposing fans for his style of play. He made nine Premier League appearances for Palace before moving to First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000 in October 1997.
Muscat remained at Wolves for five seasons before moving to Scotland to join Rangers on a free transfer in July 2002.
Muscat was part of the Rangers squad which won a treble of domestic trophies in 2002–03 season. He helped the club's defence keep six consecutive clean sheets in the league between 25 August 2002 and 28 September 2002. Muscat would end his career in Scotland having played 29 times for Rangers.
On 29 August 2003, Muscat signed for Millwall in the English First Division on a three-year contract; it was his fourth and final British club. He was part of the team that reached the FA Cup final in 2004, though his season ended with a knee ligament injury in the semi-final win over Sunderland, through a collision with George McCartney.
On 5 May 2005, Muscat agreed to a three-year deal at Melbourne Victory FC in the new A-League. He was the club's inaugural captain in the 2005–06 season. Under Victory manager Ernie Merrick, Muscat, a defender for virtually his entire career, moved to midfield for the 2006–07 season. He remained the captain until 2011.
In February 2011, Muscat announced his intention to retire from club football after the conclusion of the 2011 Asian Champions League. His decision to finish was fast-tracked by an infamous tackle he committed in a Melbourne derby on 22 January 2011, which resulted in a season-ending eight-week ban from the A-League. Muscat played out his competitive career in the 2011 AFC Champions League under the captaincy of centre-back Adrian Leijer, despite having previously referred to the competition as "not all that enjoyable". Muscat regained the captaincy for his farewell match in Melbourne, a 1–1 draw against J-League side Gamba Osaka. Muscat scored on his return to Sunshine George Cross in a 3–1 loss to Altona Magic in August 2011.
Muscat represented Australia at Under-20 level at the World Youth Cup finals in Portugal in 1991 and Australia in 1993, and at Under-23 level at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He made his full international debut in September 1994 against Kuwait, and went on to make 51 appearances for the national team, including Confederations Cup tournaments in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Muscat captained the national team five times from April 2001 and scored a critical penalty in the 1–0 home leg of Australia's unsuccessful play-off against Uruguay for a place in the finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Muscat was dropped from the squad when coach Guus Hiddink took over in 2005 and played no part in Australia's subsequent qualification for the 2006 World Cup, but was recalled later in 2006 by Graham Arnold and captained Australia in its 2–0 Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait. In 2008, newly appointed coach Pim Verbeek selected Muscat in a squad of 22 A-League based players to prepare for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, but he did not play in any subsequent fixtures.
In 1996, Muscat was sent off in his first season in the UK in a match involving Crystal Palace and Norwich City after body checking Norwich player Darren Eadie which then sparked a 21-man melee where punches were thrown. Two other players were also sent off in the incident.
Muscat was branded a "lowlife" and a "nobody" by Nottingham Forest striker Ian Wright, in September 1999. Wright said he was about to shoot when he heard Dougie Freedman, Forest's other striker, shout "leave it". Wright stepped over the ball to allow Freedman to hit it, but instead Muscat cleared the ball; according to Wright, Muscat impersonated Freedman.