Joshua Blake Kennedy (born 20 August 1982) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a striker for the Australia national soccer team.

His talents won a scholarship place in the Australian Institute of Sport program, leading to a professional contract at new National Soccer League club Carlton in 1999, alongside fellow AIS graduates Vince Grella and Mark Bresciano.

His debut as a substitute coming on five minutes from time in the 4–4 draw against fellow Northern German side Hamburger SV on 13 September 2000, at age 17 made him the youngest player ever to appear for VfL.

However, he mostly played for their reserve team in the Regionalliga Nord, where he was the club's second-top scorer of the season with nine goals in twenty-three games.

On 11 January 2008, fellow German Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC announced the signing of Kennedy via an undisclosed transfer fee.

[5] His first goal for Karlsruhe came on his debut against his former club Nürnberg in what would turn out to be a cruel twist of fate for the latter – just weeks after leaving them.

After a further disappointing appearance in an important cup tie on 28 January 2009, Kennedy was replaced in the second half of the match and subsequently refused to shake hands with his coach.

Altogether, Kennedy started 20 of his 23 appearances but – after 27 goalless games – was only able to score twice in the final match of the season which proved to be of no relevance because Karlsruhe nevertheless was relegated from the Bundesliga.

In the 2010 season, Kennedy helped Nagoya win their first-ever league title, becoming a joint top scorer with Ryoichi Maeda on 17 goals.

On 23 September 2011, Kennedy scored off a Kensuke Nagai cross to help his side to a 3–1 win over Vissel Kobe.

Kennedy received his first international cap in a pre-2006 World Cup friendly against Liechtenstein and made his mark in this game with a headed goal.

After not earning a game for over a year, he came on as a 77th-minute substitute for Tim Cahill and scored Australia's only goal against Iraq with an 83rd-minute header to secure a win and a spot in the World Cup finals.

[13] Nicknamed "Jesus" due to his former long haired aesthetic which many thought resembled traditional artistic representations of the Christian religious figure, many sections of the Australian media praised Kennedy as a "saviour" in their commentary during the World Cup Qualifying game against Iraq.

were amended as a result of complaints that largely focussed on religious insensitivity given that Iraq is a predominantly Muslim nation.