Michael Baird (footballer)

Michael Baird

Personal information
Full name	Michael Baird
Date of birth	1 August 1983 (1983-08-01) (age 28)
Place of birth	Brisbane, Australia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Sabah FA
Youth career
1987 -	Newmarket SFC
-	Pine Hills
-	The Gap
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2001	Brisbane Lions	17	(7)
2001–2002	Brisbane Strikers	15	(4)
2002–2003	South Melbourne FC	18	(4)
2003–2004	Sydney Olympic	11	(2)
2004	→ Queensland Lions	7	(2)
2004–2005	Bonnyrigg White Eagles	13	(7)
2005–2006	Brisbane Roar	20	(6)
2006–2009	Universitatea Craiova	67	(12)
2010–2011	Perth Glory	13	(1)
2011–2012	Central Coast Mariners	3	(0)
2012–	Sabah FA
National team
2002–2004	Australia U-20	10	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Michael Baird (born 1 August 1983 in Brisbane, Australia) is an Australian footballer who currently plays for Sabah FA in the Malaysian Super League.^[1] He currently plays as a striker. Michael has played in both the NSL and the Hyundai A-League, spending time at clubs in New South Wales and Queensland. The young striker then moved overseas to play with Universitatea Craiova in the Romanian top flight, however due to a contract dispute, he moved back to Australia to compete in the A-League for Perth Glory missing out on the first 3 rounds of the 2010/2011 season due to his lack of provisional clearance by FIFA.

Club career

Michael Baird was born in Newmarket, Brisbane and began playing football at the age of five, with his local club, Newmarket SFC. In 2000, he began his professional career, with the Brisbane Lions Soccer Club (now known as Queensland Lions FC) in the Brisbane Premier League. Baird stayed with them in 2001, and scored 7 goals from 17 games during the season. In 2001–02, Baird was promoted to the National Soccer League, signing with the Brisbane Strikers, with whom he scored 4 goals from 15 appearances. The club finished fourth on the league table,^[2] but at the end of the season Baird signed with the team who had defeated the Strikers in the elimination final, South Melbourne FC for 2002–03. Meanwhile Baird made 18 appearances for South Melbourne in the 2002–03 NSL season, scoring 4 goals as they finished 7th, one point shy of the finals.^[3]

Upon returning to Australia, Baird completed the 2003–04 season with Sydney Olympic, picking up 2 goals in his 11 appearances. Baird returned briefly to the Queensland Lions for the 2004 QPL season, helping the team to the premiership^[4] before transferring to the Bonnyrigg White Eagles in the New South Wales Premier League.

In late 2004, Baird received offers from new A-League clubs Queensland Roar and the Central Coast Mariners, but made the decision to sign with his home club, thus becoming one of the first recruits for the Roar.^[5] Baird played in Queensland's 3-0 loss to Sydney FC in the Australian qualifiers for the 2004–05 Oceania Club Championship, but in late June he was struck with osteitis pubis, and it was feared he would miss the start of the inaugural A-League season.^[6] However, despite not playing in Queensland's Pre-Season Cup matches, Baird was fit in time for their first A-League game, scoring the final goal in their 2-0 win over the New Zealand Knights.^[7] Baird made a total of 20 appearances for the Roar in the 2005–06 season, scoring 6 goals and earning a red card in a round 14 match against the Mariners.^[8] Late in the season, Baird was released from the second year of his Roar contract to sign a four-year deal with Romanian club FC Universitatea Craiova,^[9] and finished off his A-League career with a goal in his final game.^[10] On 15 April 2010 it was confirmed that Baird along with his FC Universitatea Craiova team mate Josh Mitchell had returned home to sign for A-League side Perth Glory.^[11] After Struggling to make an impact with Perth Glory it was announced that on 6 January 2011 that Central Coast Mariners had signed the forward until the end of the 2011-2012 season.^[12]

On 16 November 2011, Baird joined the Malaysian club, Sabah FA as one of the two foreign players allowed in the 2012 Malaysia Super League. Baird, alongside his fellow countrymen, Brendan Gan signed a two year contract Sabah.^[13]

International career

At the age of 19, Baird was selected in the Australian national team to play in the Oceania Football Confederation qualifying matches for the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. He played in Australia's first match, a 2-0 victory over Vanuatu, then scored 4 goals in an 11-0 thrashing of Fiji in the first leg of the tournament final.^[14]

Baird was selected in the 20-man squad to represent Australia in the 2003 World Youth Championship,^[15] also playing in Australia's 2-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates in the leadup to the tournament.^[16] During the competition, however, Baird only managed a 32-minute appearance in Australia's 2-1 win over Canada,^[17] preferred behind Alex Brosque, Scott McDonald and Spase Dilevski. Australia finished on top of their group with 7 points, including a surprise victory over Brazil, before losing 1-0 to the hosts, the United Arab Emirates in the round of sixteen.

References

1. ^ Former rising star given another chance for shot at Glory Retrieved at 18 November 2011
2. ^ "2001–2002 Season A-League Table". OzSoccer. http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/NSL/20012002/ALTable.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
3. ^ "2002–2003 Season A-League Table". OzSoccer. http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/NSL/20022003/ALTable.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
4. ^ "2004 Queensland Premier League – Final Table". OzSoccer. http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/States/QLD/2004PLT.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
5. ^ "Home-Boy Baird Glad to be Back". 28 April 2005. http://www.qldroar.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=1246. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
6. ^ "Baird and Simpson Injury Blow". 29 June 2005. http://www.qldroar.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=1288. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
7. ^ "Queensland Roar vs New Zealand Knights FC". http://www.a-league.com.au/scoreboard/0000260028/scoreboard.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ "Central Coast Mariners FC vs Queensland Roar FC". http://www.a-league.com.au/scoreboard/0000260104/scoreboard.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ "Baird to Romania". 20 January 2006. http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=3078&pageid=11. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
10. ^ "Baird Bids Farewell with a Goal". 8 February 2006. http://www.qldroar.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=3293. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
11. ^ "Glory Bring Back Romania Aussies". http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/126737,glory-bring-back-romania-aussies.aspx. Retrieved 15 April 2010. 
12. ^ "Baird heads to Mariners". http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1038991/Baird-heads-to-Mariners,Baird-heads-to-Mariners.aspx. Retrieved January 2011. 
13. ^ Former rising star given another chance for shot at Glory Retrieved at 18 November 2011
14. ^ "Oceania U-20 World Cup 2003 Qualifiers". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tableso/oc-u20-03.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
15. ^ "Australia – Squad List". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061017174314/http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/teamsquad/0,3694,WYC-2003-3-AUS-6537,00.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
16. ^ "Young Socceroos Bounce Back After Break". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061017174314/http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/teamsquad/0,3694,WYC-2003-3-AUS-6537,00.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. 
17. ^ "Match Report – Australia-Canada". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/report1/0,3375,WYC-2003-17-32425-AUS-CAN,00.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Perth Glory profile
• OzFootball profile

Romanian football portal

Persondata
Name	Baird, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 August 1983
Place of birth	Brisbane, Australia
Date of death
Place of death