Craig Foster facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Craig Foster AM
Foster in February 2022
Born	Craig Andrew Foster (1969-04-15) 15 April 1969 (age 56) Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
Alma mater	Kadina High School Johan Cruyff Institute Central Queensland University
Occupation	Former soccer player, human rights advocate, sports presenter
Known for	Australian national soccer team player and captain, human rights advocacy
Notable work	Fighting for Hakeem (2019)
Television	SBS (2002 – June 2020) Stan (August 2020 – present)
Board member of	Australian Republic Movement (Chair), Australian Multicultural Council, John Moriarty Football
Awards	Logie Awards (3) Member of the Order of Australia

Craig Foster

Personal information
Full name	Craig Andrew Foster
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
1986–1987	AIS
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1988–1989	Sydney United	39	(2)
1989–1990	Sunshine Georgies	33	(0)
1991	Avala
1991	Singapore
1992	Avala	6	(0)
1992–1993	Ernest Borel
1994–1996	Adelaide City	50	(16)
1996–1997	Marconi Stallions	26	(4)
1997–1998	Portsmouth	19	(4)
1998–2000	Crystal Palace	52	(3)
2000–2003	Northern Spirit	43	(2)
National team
1985	Australia U-17
1996–2000	Australia	29	(9)
Honours Representing  Australia Men's Association football FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up 1997 Saudi Arabia OFC Nations Cup Winner 1996 Oceania Winner 2000 Tahiti
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Craig Andrew Foster, also known as Fozzy or Fozz, was born in 1969. He is a famous Australian soccer player who also works as a sports commentator. Besides sports, he is a strong supporter of human rights.

Craig played soccer professionally from 1988 to 2003. He was part of Australia's national team, the Socceroos, from 1996 to 2000. He was the 419th player to join the Socceroos and the 40th captain of the team.

After his playing career, Craig became a chief soccer analyst for SBS, a TV channel, from 2002 to 2020. He now works for the Stan streaming service. He is well-known for helping people and speaking up for human rights. He played a big part in helping a Bahraini soccer player, Hakeem al-Araibi, get released from prison in Thailand. Craig also wrote a book about this experience called Fighting for Hakeem.

In 2022, Craig Foster was chosen to lead the Australian Republic Movement. This group wants Australia to have its own head of state instead of the British monarch.

Early Life and Education

Craig Andrew Foster was born in 1969 in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. His family has Anglo-Celtic roots.

He went to Kadina High School. He often returns to his old school to talk to and inspire students. Craig has advanced degrees in Football Business and Sport Management from the Johan Cruyff Institute. In 2019, he also earned a law degree from Central Queensland University.

Playing Career

Craig Foster played as a midfielder in soccer. This position means he played in the middle of the field, helping both defense and attack.

Club Career

Craig started his professional career with Sydney United in 1988. In his first season, his team played in the grand final but lost. He has said that his time at Sydney United helped him understand and appreciate different cultures.

He then played for several clubs, including Sunshine George Cross in 1989 and Avala in 1992. In 1992 and 1993, he played for Ernest Borel in Hong Kong. He returned to Australia to play for Adelaide City in 1994 and Marconi Stallions in 1996.

When he was 28, Craig moved to England. He played for Portsmouth from 1997 to 1998. Then he moved to Crystal Palace and played there from 1998 to 2000.

He came back to Australia to play for Northern Spirit in North Sydney. He retired from professional soccer in 2003. Even after retiring, he still plays for a local team called Waverley Old Boys Over 35s.

International Career

Craig Foster played for Australia's national team at different levels. He was part of the Australian under-16 team that reached the quarter-finals of the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship in China.

From 1996 to 2000, he played for the senior national team, the Socceroos. He played 29 games for the Socceroos and scored nine goals. He also had the honor of being the team's 40th captain.

As a Socceroo, he played in important tournaments:

• FIFA Confederations Cup: His team was runner-up in 1997.
• OFC Nations Cup: He played in the winning teams in 1996 and 2000.
• He captained the team in a friendly match against Bulgaria in 2000, which ended in a 1–1 draw.

International Goals

Craig Foster scored nine goals for the Australian national team. Here is a list of his international goals:

List of international goals scored by Craig Foster

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	11 June 1997	Western Sydney Stadium, Parramatta, Australia	Solomon Islands	7–0	13–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	28 June 1997	North Harbour Stadium, North Shore, New Zealand	New Zealand	3–0	3–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	29 March 2000	Na Stínadlech, Teplice, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	1–3	1–3	Friendly
4	15 June 2000	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne, Australia	Paraguay	1–0	2–1	Friendly
5	19 June 2000	Stade Pater Te Hono Nui, Pīraʻe, Tahiti	Cook Islands	4–0	17–0	2000 OFC Nations Cup
6				6–0
7				8–0
8				14–0
9	28 June 2000	Stade Pater Te Hono Nui, Pīraʻe, Tahiti	New Zealand	2–0	2–0	2000 OFC Nations Cup

Football Honours

Craig Foster received several awards and recognitions for his soccer skills:

• He was named one of the "Hong Kong Top Footballers" in 1991–92.
• He was nominated for "Oceania Footballer of the Year" in 1997.
• He was the top scorer in the 2000 OFC Nations Cup.

Other Roles Related to Soccer

Foster in 2011

After retiring from playing, Craig Foster became a well-known soccer commentator and analyst. He started his TV career with the Seven Network. Later, he joined SBS, where he worked with famous broadcasters like Les Murray. He became known as "Fozz" or "Fozzy" to many fans.

He was the main soccer analyst for the SBS show The World Game for about 18 years, until 2020. He is remembered for his exciting commentary during big matches, like the World Cup Qualifiers. He often spoke about how Australian soccer needed to improve and adopt new playing styles.

In 2007, Craig was chosen to be Australia's representative to judge the Ballon d'Or. This is a very important award given to the best individual soccer player in the world. He also helped coach a team for the SBS TV show Nerds FC in 2007.

In 2020, Craig left SBS and joined Stan Sport. There, he helps present major European soccer competitions like the UEFA Champions League.

Craig has always been a strong supporter of players' rights. He served on the board of Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), which looks after soccer players' interests. He is a lifetime member of the PFA. He is also an Ambassador for the Johan Cruyff Institute and a director for John Moriarty Football, which helps young Indigenous Australians through soccer.

Human Rights and Social Advocacy

Craig Foster is a dedicated advocate for human rights and social justice. He is a member of the Australian Multicultural Council. He has also been a human rights and refugee ambassador for Amnesty International. He often uses his public platform to speak out against unfair practices. He works on many social issues, including Indigenous rights, helping people experiencing homelessness, climate change, and supporting refugees.

Hakeem al-Araibi Campaign

Craig Foster played a very important role in helping a Bahraini soccer player named Hakeem al-Araibi. Hakeem was a refugee in Australia. In 2018, he was arrested in Thailand while on his honeymoon. This happened because Bahrain had asked for his arrest.

Craig traveled to Switzerland to meet with FIFA, the world's soccer governing body. He presented a petition with over 50,000 signatures asking for Hakeem's release. He also went to Thailand to speak with Hakeem's lawyers and visit Hakeem in prison. Craig used social media, especially Twitter, to share Hakeem's story and gather support.

Thanks to these efforts, Hakeem was finally released in 2019. Many people, including Australia's Prime Minister, praised Craig for his amazing work. After Hakeem's release, Craig said that the fight for justice was not over. He called for investigations into how athletes are treated in different countries. He also spoke about how Australia should treat all people seeking safety with respect.

Craig Foster is a main character in the 2023 documentary film The Defenders. This film tells the story of the campaign to free Hakeem al-Araibi. Craig also helped write the film, based on his book Fighting for Hakeem.

Refugee Advocacy

In February 2019, after Hakeem al-Araibi was safe, Craig Foster wrote an open letter to Australian political leaders. He thanked them for their help with Hakeem. He also pointed out that Australia's own treatment of refugees made it harder to get international support for Hakeem. He said that Australia's policy of keeping asylum seekers in offshore detention centers was not fair.

Craig became the face of Amnesty Australia's "Game Over" campaign. This campaign asks the Australian government to end indefinite detention for asylum seekers. Many famous sportspeople and artists supported this campaign. In 2020, Craig and rugby star Sonny Bill Williams presented a petition with over 65,000 signatures to the Australian Parliament. They asked the government to accept New Zealand's offer to resettle refugees who had been held in offshore detention for many years.

In 2022, Craig gave an important speech about human rights and Australia's role in the world. He spoke about how Australia needs to improve its record on Indigenous rights, refugee rights, and climate change. The day after his speech, the government announced it would accept New Zealand's offer to resettle some refugees.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar

Craig Foster has also spoken out against human rights issues related to major soccer events. He criticized the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He highlighted problems like unpaid wages and poor working conditions for the migrant workers who built the stadiums. He supports the #PayUpFIFA campaign, which asks for money to be paid to the families of these workers.

He also criticized Saudi Arabia's sponsorship of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. He called this "sportswashing." This means a country uses sports to improve its image, even if it has human rights problems. Craig pointed out the irony of Saudi Arabia, where women have fewer rights, sponsoring a big women's sports event.

Other Roles

Craig Foster has held other important roles. He was a director for the Council on Australia Latin America Relations. He also used to be the chair of the Australian Republic Movement.

He volunteers with "Play for Lives," a global effort by sports people to help during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also a key person behind "#RacismNotWelcome," a campaign that puts up street signs to show that racism is not welcome in communities across Australia.

As of 2022, Craig Foster also holds these positions:

• Adjunct Professor of Sport & Social Responsibility at Torrens University.
• Ambassador for The Big Issue Street Soccer Program.
• Member of the Australia Committee of Human Rights Watch.
• Director of the Nangala Foundation, which helps with early reading in Indigenous communities.
• Member of the Advisory Council of the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW.
• Director of the Crescent Foundation.

Recognition and Honours

As a sports broadcaster, Craig Foster won several Logie Awards for "Most Outstanding Sports Coverage" with The World Game team at SBS. These included awards for coverage of the 2006 and 2018 World Cups.

In 2019, he was recognized as a "True Australian Leader" by the Australian Financial Review. The Sydney Morning Herald also listed him as one of the "People that Defined 2019."

In 2020, he was a finalist for the Human Rights Medal for his work helping Hakeem al-Araibi. He also received the NSW Humanitarian Award and the Abyssinian Medal for his work in human rights. He was a finalist for NSW Australian of the Year in 2021.

Artist Julian Meagher painted a portrait of Craig Foster called Fozzy. This painting was shortlisted for the famous Archibald Prize in 2021.

In 2021, Craig Foster was given the title "Member of the Order of Australia" (AM). This honor recognized his important contributions to multiculturalism, human rights, refugee support, and soccer.

Addresses

Craig Foster has given many important speeches:

• 2019: He gave the opening speech for the UN's Centre for Sport and Human Rights Conference in Geneva.
• 2019: He gave the Higginbotham Lecture for RMIT University in Melbourne.
• March 2022: He gave the Australian National University's "Australia and the World Lecture" at the National Press Club of Australia.
• April 2022: He gave the UniSA Nelson Mandela Lecture in Adelaide.

Personal Life

Craig Foster is married to Lara Foster. They have three children named Jake, Jemma, and Charli. He wrote a special message to them in his book Fighting for Hakeem.

He has said that he is an introvert. This means he prefers quiet activities and does not always enjoy big social gatherings.

Images for kids

• 

  Foster in 2011

See also

In Spanish: Craig Foster para niños