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Kaz Patafta
Personal information
Full name	Kaz Phonesak Patafta
Date of birth	25 October 1988 (1988-10-25) (age 21)
Place of birth	Canberra, Australia
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Newcastle Jets
Number	22
Youth career
2004–2006 2006–2008	ACTAS AIS SL Benfica
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2007–2008 2008–	→ Melbourne Victory (loan) Newcastle Jets	014 00(1) 025 00(1)
National team2
2004–2005 2005–2006	Australia U-17 Australia U-20	018 00(2) 005 00(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 September 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 15 December 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Kaz Phonesak Patafta (born 25 October 1988 in Canberra) is an Australian football (soccer) attacking midfielder who currently plays for the Newcastle Jets. He attended Radford College in Canberra and received a football scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2004. He is of Croatian and Laotian descent.

Club career

Until that date, he had been ignored by Australia's A-League squads but soon, two European giants, PSV Eindhoven (whose interest was due to the recommendation of then Australian national team manager, Guus Hiddink) and SL Benfica, expressed interest in signing him ^[1]. The Portuguese side won the race for the Australian youngster but his move overseas was initially blocked by Football Federation Australia because he was under the age of 18. He eventually joined Benfica's B-Squad in January 2006. His first game for the Benfica first team was against CF Estrela da Amadora in a pre-season game on 15 August 2006.

Patafta joined Australian A-League champions Melbourne Victory on loan for the 2007/08 season. He played his first game for Melbourne Victory in a pre-season match against Sydney FC, to which they lost 1-0. He has mostly made appearances off the bench in the 2007/08 A-League season, amid suggestions he is not physical enough, or even big enough for the league. His first goal in the A-League, a left foot shot from a tight angle, came in the round 20 encounter against Wellington Phoenix.

In May 2008, Patafta secured a release from the remainder of his contract with Benfica with the assistance of the Australian Professional Footballers' Association. On 2 June 2008, Patafta signed a 1 year deal with the Newcastle Jets.^[2][3]

International career

Patafta gained attention when he captained the Australian Under-17 football team, the "Joeys", during the 2005 World Championships in Peru.^[4]

"In a team where most of the players show good skills with the ball, Kaz Patafta has ensured his spot and has no replacement as a midfielder. A good reader of the game and the centre of command, this boy naturally became the captain of the Aussies".

Patafta was included as part of Australia's "train-on" squad before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, along with fellow promising young Australian players Kristian Sarkies and Neil Kilkenny. Unlike these players, he was not given a senior cap in the team's three pre-World Cup friendly matches.

References

External links

• Newcastle Jets profile
• The World Game profile on YouTube