2017–18 A-League

The 2017–18 A-League was the 41st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 13th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 6 October 2017 and ended with the Grand Final on 5 May 2018.^[1]

A-League

Season	2017–18
Dates	6 October 2017 – 5 May 2018
Champions	Melbourne Victory (4th title)
Premiers	Sydney FC (3rd title)
Champions League	Sydney FC Melbourne Victory Newcastle Jets
Matches played	135
Goals scored	398 (2.95 per match)
Top goalscorer	Bobô (27 goals)
Biggest home win	Sydney FC 6–0 Perth Glory (30 December 2017)
Biggest away win	Central Coast Mariners 2–8 Newcastle Jets (14 April 2018)
Highest scoring	Central Coast Mariners 2–8 Newcastle Jets (14 April 2018)
Longest winning run	Sydney FC (7 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Sydney FC (15 games)
Longest winless run	Central Coast Mariners (11 games)
Longest losing run	Central Coast Mariners (6 games)
Highest attendance	36,433 Western Sydney Wanderers vs. Sydney FC (9 December 2017)
Lowest attendance	4,312 Wellington Phoenix vs. Melbourne City (14 April 2018)
Average attendance	10,671 ( 1,623)
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Sydney FC won the A-League minor premiership, while Melbourne Victory won the Championship after defeating the Newcastle Jets 1–0 in the Grand Final on 5 May 2018; this marked the first time in A-League history in which the Championship was won by a team which finished outside the top 2.^[2]

Clubs

Adelaide United

Brisbane Roar

Central Coast Mariners

Melbourne City

Melbourne Victory

Newcastle Jets

Perth Glory

Sydney FC

Wellington Phoenix

Western Sydney Wanderers

Further information: A-League § Clubs

Team	City	Home Ground	Capacity
Adelaide United	Adelaide	Coopers Stadium Adelaide Oval	17,000 53,583
Brisbane Roar	Brisbane	Suncorp Stadium	52,500
Central Coast Mariners	Gosford	Central Coast Stadium	20,119
Melbourne City	Melbourne	AAMI Park	30,050
Melbourne Victory	Melbourne	Etihad Stadium AAMI Park	56,347 30,050
Newcastle Jets	Newcastle	McDonald Jones Stadium	33,000
Perth Glory	Perth	nib Stadium	20,500
Sydney FC	Sydney	Allianz Stadium	45,500
Wellington Phoenix	Wellington	Westpac Stadium	34,500
Western Sydney Wanderers	Sydney	ANZ Stadium Spotless Stadium	84,000 24,000

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Kit sponsor
Adelaide United	Marco Kurz	Isaías	Macron[3]	IGA
Brisbane Roar	John Aloisi	Matt McKay	Umbro[4]	Central Home Loans
Central Coast Mariners	Wayne O'Sullivan	Alan Baró	Umbro[5]	Masterfoods
Melbourne City	Warren Joyce	Michael Jakobsen	Nike	Etihad Airways
Melbourne Victory	Kevin Muscat	Carl Valeri	Adidas[6]	Optislim & Optivite
Newcastle Jets	Ernie Merrick	Nigel Boogaard	Viva Sports[7]	Ledman Group
Perth Glory	Kenny Lowe	Andy Keogh	Macron[8]	QBE Insurance
Sydney FC	Graham Arnold	Alex Brosque	Puma	The Star
Wellington Phoenix	Chris Greenacre	Andrew Durante	Adidas	Huawei Century 21
Western Sydney Wanderers	Josep Gombau	Mark Bridge	Nike[9]	NRMA Insurance

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position on table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Newcastle Jets	Mark Jones	Sacked[10]	16 April 2017	Pre-season	Ernie Merrick[11]	9 May 2017
Adelaide United	Guillermo Amor	Resigned[12]	10 May 2017		Marco Kurz[13]	16 June 2017
Melbourne City	Michael Valkanis	End of contract[14]	10 May 2017		Warren Joyce[15]	19 June 2017
Wellington Phoenix	Des Buckingham	End of contract[16]	19 May 2017		Darije Kalezić[17]	7 June 2017
Western Sydney Wanderers	Tony Popovic	Resigned[18]	1 October 2017		Hayden Foxe (caretaker)[19]	3 October 2017
Western Sydney Wanderers	Hayden Foxe (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	1 November 2017	4th	Josep Gombau[20]	1 November 2017
Wellington Phoenix	Darije Kalezić	Sacked[21]	7 March 2018	10th	Chris Greenacre (caretaker)[21]	7 March 2018
Central Coast Mariners	Paul Okon	Resigned[22]	20 March 2018	9th	Wayne O'Sullivan (caretaker)[22]	20 March 2018

Transfers

Further information: A-League transfers for 2017–18 season

Foreign players

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Visa 5	Non-Visa foreigner(s)	Former player(s)
Adelaide United	Johan Absalonsen	Daniel Adlung	Baba Diawara	Džengis Čavušević	Isaías	Ersan Gülüm2	Karim Matmour
Brisbane Roar	Thomas Kristensen	Éric Bauthéac	Massimo Maccarone	Fahid Ben Khalfallah		Henrique1 Jamie Young2 Avraam Papadopoulos2 Dane Ingham2 Jack Hingert2
Central Coast Mariners	Wout Brama	Tom Hiariej	Alan Baró			Storm Roux2	Kwabena Appiah2 Asdrúbal
Melbourne City	Michael Jakobsen	Bart Schenkeveld	Marcin Budziński	Bruno Fornaroli		Iacopo La Rocca1 Manny Muscat2	Fernando Brandán Marcelo Carrusca1 Ross McCormack
Melbourne Victory	Matías Sánchez	Besart Berisha	Leroy George	Kosta Barbarouses		Jai Ingham2 Kenny Athiu2
Newcastle Jets	Wayne Brown	Roy O'Donovan	Ronald Vargas			Patito Rodríguez3 Ivan Vujica2 Daniel Georgievski2 Glen Moss2
Perth Glory	Joseph Mills	Andy Keogh	Andreu	Diego Castro	Xavi Torres
Sydney FC	Bobô	Jordy Buijs	Adrian Mierzejewski	Miloš Ninković	Fábio Ferreira
Wellington Phoenix	Goran Paracki	Roy Krishna	Marco Rossi	Andrija Kaluđerović	Matija Ljujić		Guilherme Finkler Ali Abbas1
Western Sydney Wanderers	Roly Bonevacia	Álvaro Cejudo	Raúl Llorente	Oriol Riera		Marcelo Carrusca1	Jumpei Kusukami

The following do not fill a Visa position:
¹Those players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained Australian citizenship (and New Zealand citizenship, in the case of Wellington Phoenix);^[23]
2Australian citizens (and New Zealand citizens, in the case of Wellington Phoenix) who have chosen to represent another national team;
³Injury Replacement Players, or National Team Replacement Players;
⁴Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of fourteen games)

Salary cap exemptions and captains

Club	First Marquee	Second Marquee	Mature Age Rookie	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	Baba Diawara[24]	None	None	Isaías[25]	Jordan Elsey[citation needed]
Brisbane Roar	Brett Holman[26]	Massimo Maccarone[27]	Brendan White[28]	Matt McKay[29]	Jade North[30]
Central Coast Mariners	Daniel De Silva[31][32]	None	None	Alan Baró[33]	None
Melbourne City	Bruno Fornaroli[34]	Marcin Budziński[35]	None	Michael Jakobsen[36]	None
Melbourne Victory	Besart Berisha[37]	None	None	Carl Valeri[38]	Leigh Broxham[38]
Newcastle Jets	Ronald Vargas[39]	None	None	Nigel Boogaard[40]	None
Perth Glory	Diego Castro[41]	None	None	Andy Keogh[42]	None
Sydney FC	Bobô[43]	Miloš Ninković[44]	None	Alex Brosque[45]	Alex Wilkinson[46]
Wellington Phoenix	None	None	None	Andrew Durante[47]	None
Western Sydney Wanderers	Oriol Riera[48]	Álvaro Cejudo[49]	None	Mark Bridge[50]	None

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sydney FC	27	20	4	3	64	22	+42	64	Qualification for 2019 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series
2	Newcastle Jets	27	15	5	7	57	37	+20	50	Qualification for 2019 AFC Champions League second preliminary round and Finals series
3	Melbourne City	27	13	4	10	41	33	+8	43	Qualification for Finals series
4	Melbourne Victory (C)	27	12	5	10	43	37	+6	41	Qualification for 2019 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series
5	Adelaide United	27	11	6	10	36	38	−2	39	Qualification for Finals series
6	Brisbane Roar	27	10	5	12	33	40	−7	35
7	Western Sydney Wanderers	27	8	9	10	38	47	−9	33
8	Perth Glory	27	10	2	15	37	50	−13	32
9	Wellington Phoenix[a]	27	5	6	16	31	55	−24	21
10	Central Coast Mariners	27	4	8	15	28	49	−21	20

Source: A-Leagues
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Results

Home \ Away	ADE	BRI	CCM	MCY	MVC	NEW	PER	SYD	WEL	WSW	ADE	BRI	CCM	MCY	MVC	NEW	PER	SYD	WEL	WSW
Adelaide United		1–2	1–0	0–2	2–2	1–2	2–1	0–1	3–1	2–0			2–2	1–1		5–2		0–0
Brisbane Roar	1–2		0–0	3–1	1–2	1–2	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–2	1–0		1–0	1–2		0–1	3–2
Central Coast Mariners	1–2	1–2		2–2	1–1	1–5	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–2						2–8		1–2	1–0	1–2
Melbourne City	5–0	2–0	1–0		0–1	2–2	1–3	0–1	1–0	1–1			1–0		1–2			0–4	2–1	3–0
Melbourne Victory	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–2		2–1	3–2	0–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	1–2	5–2					1–3		3–1
Newcastle Jets	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–2	4–1		2–2	2–1	3–0	1–1				0–3	2–0		0–2		2–3	2–2
Perth Glory	1–0	2–3	2–1	0–2	0–2	1–2		2–3	1–0	3–1	0–3		3–1	2–1	1–0
Sydney FC	3–0	3–1	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–0		3–2	2–2		1–2				2–2	6–0		4–0	3–1
Wellington Phoenix	1–1	3–3	1–4	2–1	2–3	0–1	5–2	1–4		1–1	0–1	2–2			2–1		2–1
Western Sydney Wanderers	1–1	0–2	2–2	2–1	0–3	2–2	2–1	0–5	4–0		2–3	3–0					1–1		4–1

Updated to match(es) played on 15 April 2018. Source: aleague.com.au
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Finals series

	Elimination-finals				Semi-finals				Grand Final
					Sydney FC	2
	Melbourne Victory	2			Melbourne Victory (a.e.t.)	3
	Adelaide United	1							Newcastle Jets	0
									Melbourne Victory	1
					Newcastle Jets	2
	Melbourne City	2			Melbourne City	1
	Brisbane Roar	0

Elimination-finals

Melbourne City v Brisbane Roar

20 April 2018	Melbourne City	2−0	Brisbane Roar	Melbourne
19:50 AEST	Mauk 59' Fitzgerald 90+1'	Report		Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 7,757 Referee: Jarred Gillett

Melbourne Victory v Adelaide United

22 April 2018	Melbourne Victory	2−1	Adelaide United	Melbourne
18:00 AEST	George 63' Berisha 89'	Report	Mileusnic 57'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 15,502 Referee: Chris Beath

Semi-finals

Newcastle Jets v Melbourne City

27 April 2018	Newcastle Jets	2−1	Melbourne City	Newcastle
19:50 AEST	McGree 56' Hoffman 74'	Report	Topor-Stanley 13' (o.g.)	Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium Attendance: 19,131 Referee: Shaun Evans

Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory

28 April 2018	Sydney FC	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Melbourne Victory	Sydney
19:50 AEST	Nigro 24' (o.g.) Antonis 90+5' (o.g.)	Report	Barbarouses 31' Troisi 47' Antonis 117'	Stadium: Allianz Stadium Attendance: 17,775 Referee: Kurt Ams

Grand Final

See also: 2018 A-League Grand Final

Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory

5 May 2018	Newcastle Jets	0−1	Melbourne Victory	Newcastle
19:50 AEST		Report	Barbarouses 9'	Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium Attendance: 29,410 Referee: Jarred Gillett

Statistics

Attendances

By club

These are the attendance records of each of the teams at the end of the home and away season. The table does not include finals series attendances.

As of matches played on 15 April 2018.

Team	Hosted	Average	High	Low	Total
Melbourne Victory	14	17,631	35,792	8,370	246,832
Sydney FC	14	14,593	34,810	9,110	204,304
Western Sydney Wanderers	13	11,924	36,433	6,612	155,017
Newcastle Jets	14	11,016	18,156	6,258	154,218
Melbourne City	14	9,868	22,515	5,207	138,158
Adelaide United	13	9,830	19,416	7,021	127,790
Perth Glory	13	9,186	13,565	7,277	119,419
Brisbane Roar	14	9,093	11,485	5,192	127,299
Central Coast Mariners	13	7,194	12,044	4,973	93,525
Wellington Phoenix	13	5,694	8,154	4,312	74,022
{{{T11}}}	0	0	0	0	0
{{{T12}}}	0	0	0	0	0
League total	135	10,671	36,433	4,312	1,440,584

By round

2017–18 A-League Attendance

Round	Total	Games	Avg. Per Game
Round 1	66,814	5	13,363
Round 2	86,537	5	17,307
Round 3	85,558	5	17,118
Round 4	45,757	5	9,151
Round 5	61,403	5	12,281
Round 6	48,008	5	9,602
Round 7	46,569	5	9,314
Round 8	39,323	5	7,865
Round 9	37,224	5	7,445
Round 10	73,636	5	14,727
Round 11	44,008	5	8,802
Round 12	55,153	5	11,031
Round 13	59,479	5	11,896
Round 14	51,890	5	10,378
Round 15	44,845	5	8,969
Round 16	48,325	5	9,665
Round 17	50,613	5	10,123
Round 18	50,514	5	10,103
Round 19	45,865	5	9,173
Round 20	46,316	5	9,263
Round 21	59,729	5	11,946
Round 22	60,794	5	12,159
Round 23	43,918	5	8,784
Round 24	33,053	5	6,611
Round 25	58,202	5	11,640
Round 26	47,837	5	9,567
Round 27	49,184	5	9,837
Elimination Final	23,259	2	11,630
Semi Final	36,906	2	18,453
Grand Final	29,410	1	29,410

Club membership

2017–18 A-League membership figures

Club	Members
Adelaide United	6,906
Brisbane Roar	9,345
Central Coast Mariners	7,124
Melbourne City	11,255
Melbourne Victory	26,095
Newcastle Jets	9,195
Perth Glory	9,368
Sydney FC	14,834
Wellington Phoenix	5,289
Western Sydney Wanderers	19,007
Total	118,418
Average	11,841

Last updated: 15 April 2018.
Source: a-league.com.au

Player stats

Top scorers

As of matches played on 15 April 2018^[51]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bobô	Sydney FC	27
2	Oriol Riera	Western Sydney Wanderers	15
3	Ross McCormack	Melbourne City	14
4	Besart Berisha	Melbourne Victory	13
	Adrian Mierzejewski	Sydney FC
6	Andrew Nabbout	Newcastle Jets	10
	Dimitri Petratos	Newcastle Jets
8	Andrija Kaluđerović	Wellington Phoenix	9
	Massimo Maccarone	Brisbane Roar
	Roy O'Donovan	Newcastle Jets
	Dario Vidošić	Wellington Phoenix Melbourne City

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of A-League hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Roy O'Donovan	Newcastle Jets	Central Coast Mariners	5–1	7 October 2017	[52]
Bobô	Sydney FC	Wellington Phoenix	1–4	23 December 2017	[53]
Bobô	Sydney FC	Perth Glory	6–0	30 December 2017	[54]
Besart Berisha	Melbourne Victory	Central Coast Mariners	5–2	18 March 2018	[55]
Riley McGree	Newcastle Jets	Central Coast Mariners	2–8	14 April 2018	[56]

Own goals

As of matches played on 15 April 2018

Player	Club	Against	Round
Thomas Deng	Melbourne Victory	Sydney FC	1
Brendan Hamill	Western Sydney Wanderers	Perth Glory	1
Nigel Boogaard	Newcastle Jets	Brisbane Roar	3
Andrija Kaluđerović	Wellington Phoenix	Central Coast Mariners	8
Goran Paracki	Wellington Phoenix	Melbourne Victory	9
Lachlan Scott	Western Sydney Wanderers	Sydney FC	10
Jeremy Walker	Perth Glory	Newcastle Jets	10
Mark Milligan	Melbourne Victory	Wellington Phoenix	15
Dino Djulbic	Perth Glory	Adelaide United	19
Shane Lowry	Perth Glory	Wellington Phoenix	20
Ryan Strain	Adelaide United	Central Coast Mariners	20
Taylor Regan	Adelaide United	Melbourne Victory	21
Leigh Broxham	Melbourne Victory	Wellington Phoenix	26
Jacob Pepper	Brisbane Roar	Perth Glory	27

Clean sheets

As of matches played on 15 April 2018^[57]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Andrew Redmayne	Sydney FC	12
2	Dean Bouzanis	Melbourne City	6
3	Ben Kennedy	Central Coast Mariners	5
	Jamie Young	Brisbane Roar
5	Jack Duncan	Newcastle Jets	4
	Vedran Janjetović	Western Sydney Wanderers
	Liam Reddy	Perth Glory
8	Eugene Galekovic	Melbourne City	3
	Paul Izzo	Adelaide United
	Glen Moss	Newcastle Jets
	Lawrence Thomas	Melbourne Victory

Discipline

During the season each club is given fair play points based on the number of cards they received in games. A yellow card is worth 1 point, a second yellow card is worth 2 points, and a red card is worth 3 points. At the annual awards night, the club with the fewest points wins the Fair Play Award.^[58]

Club				FP Pts
Sydney FC	38	0	1	41
Newcastle Jets	51	1	1	56
Wellington Phoenix	54	0	1	57
Melbourne City	44	2	3	57
Perth Glory	59	0	1	62
Adelaide United	51	2	3	64
Central Coast Mariners	50	3	3	65
Melbourne Victory	53	2	3	66
Brisbane Roar	62	0	2	68
Western Sydney Wanderers	61	3	2	73
League total	523	13	20

Last updated: 15 April 2018.
Source: ultimatealeague.com

Awards

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2017–18 Dolan Warren Awards night on 30 April 2018.^[59]

• Johnny Warren Medal – Adrian Mierzejewski, Sydney FC
• NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Daniel Arzani, Melbourne City
• Nike Golden Boot Award – Bobô, Sydney FC (27 goals)
• Goalkeeper of the Year – Jamie Young, Brisbane Roar
• Coach of the Year – Graham Arnold, Sydney FC
• Fair Play Award – Sydney FC
• Referee of the Year – Jarred Gillett
• Goal of the Year – Andrew Nabbout, Newcastle Jets (Western Sydney Wanderers v Newcastle Jets, 16 February 2018)

See also

• 2017–18 Adelaide United FC season
• 2017–18 Brisbane Roar FC season
• 2017–18 Central Coast Mariners FC season
• 2017–18 Melbourne City FC season
• 2017–18 Melbourne Victory FC season
• 2017–18 Newcastle Jets FC season
• 2017–18 Perth Glory FC season
• 2017–18 Sydney FC season
• 2017–18 Wellington Phoenix FC season
• 2017–18 Western Sydney Wanderers FC season