Dominic Joseph Foley (born 7 July 1976 in Cork) is an Irish football player who plays as striker. He is currently playing for Cercle Brugge in Belgium, after having played for a large number of clubs in England, Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

[edit] Career

Foley was signed in 1995 by English First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers from Irish club St. James's Gate. He made his Wolves debut on 18 November 1995 as a substitute in a 1-3 defeat to Oldham, but never managed to stake a claim to a regular place though, and appeared in just 27 games in total over four seasons at Molineux.

To gain playing time, he was loaned out to Watford, Notts County and Greek club Ethnikos Piraeus during 1998 and 1999. He eventually moved to Watford, signed by Graham Taylor who had originally brought him to Wolves, in a permanent deal in July 1999 on a free transfer. He got the opportunity to play Premier League football - scoring once - in his first full season with the Hornets, a year that also saw him called-up into the Republic of Ireland national team.

He won six caps in total for Ireland, all during 2000. His debut came on 30 May 2000 in a 1-2 friendly defeat to Scotland. Five days later, his second cap (against Mexico), saw him score the first of his two international goals.

By the 2001/02 season, he again found his opportunities of first team football limited, so again spent loan spells away from his parent club, this time at Queens Park Rangers (two spells), Swindon Town, Southend United and Oxford United.

He left England in 2003 for Portuguese club Sporting Braga, where he spent the season before returning to his native Ireland with Bohemians. He impressed in Bohs' Intertoto Cup game versus Belgian side KAA Gent, who signed him soon afterwards.

In Gent Foley soon became one of the key players in the team. In his first season he played 25 games, and scored six goals. In his second season he helped Gent reach the semi-finals of the Belgian Cup, and played 30 games in which he scored 10 goals.

At the beginning of his third season playing for Gent he was appointed captain of the team. In this season he scored 11 goals in 30 games. He also helped Gent qualify for the Belgian Cup final against RSC Anderlecht. In this final he opened the score after 6 minutes, however Gent went on to lose the final 2-3. The next season however, new coach Michel Preud'homme rarely used Foley in his starting eleven and with his contract ending that season, he was sold during the winter break to Cercle Brugge.

[edit] Transfer Controversies

Foley caused controversy in 2005 when he successfully had his contract with Bohemians terminated over the failure of payment by the club of "bonuses". He then immediately signed for Belgian club Gent, who Bohs had played only a few weeks previously in the Intertoto Cup, sparking rumours of secret meetings between player and management after the game.

In 2009 Gent accused rivals Cercle Brugge of secret meetings with Foley before he was allowed speak to clubs. With his contract due to expire at the end of the 2009 season, he was allowed speak to clubs from 1st January but Gent general manager Michel Louwagie claimed Foley had discussed a contract before this date, saying: "I don't at all appreciate the way Cercle have behaved in relation to Foley. It is against the rules." But on January 21, Cercle Bruges announced that Foley has signed a 3-year contract with them starting from June, 2009. On January 27 however, AA Gent and Cercle came to an agreement on an immediate transfer, during the winter transfer window. On 2nd May, AA Gent won the duel with 2-1.

[edit] External links

• Dominic Foley career stats at Soccerbase