Player Profiles: Shaun Bartlett

Shaun Bartlett

Shaun Bartlett was born in Cape Town on 31 October 1972. Raised by his grandmother in Factreton on the Cape Flats, Bartlett began playing for his church team and quickly developed a deft striking ability on the field. He was also a talented cricketer.

Bartlett began his career with his hometown Cape Town Spurs and then moved to Major League Soccer and the Colorado Rapids in the league’s inaugural season in 1996.

In 1997, he was traded to the MetroStars halfway through the season. Bartlett left MLS returned to his home country. He later went on loan to FC Zurich and transferred there for good in 1998. He went on loan to Charlton Athletic in 2000 and moved there in 2001 on a permanent deal worth £2 million. Bartlett won the Premier League Goal of the Season award in 2000-01, for his volley against Leicester City. He was released by the club in May 2006. He then signed with SA giants Kaizer Chiefs and in the summer of 2008 retired from professional football. After several discussions, he then made a return to football with Bloemfontein Celtic.

In his international career, Bartlett made his full international debut in a friendly against Lesotho on April 26, 1995. He is currently the second all-time leading scorer behind Benni McCarthy for the South African national team, with 28 goals in 74 appearances. He helped his country to the 1996 African Nations Cup and played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring two goals.

A football analyst at SuperSport, Bartlett is a 12-handicap and plays out of Eagle Canyon Country Club in Gauteng.