2018–19 A-League

The 2018–19 A-League was the 42nd season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 14th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The regular season commenced on 19 October 2018 and concluded on 28 April 2019. The play-offs began on 3 May 2019 and ended with the Grand Final on 19 May 2019. Sydney FC defeated Perth Glory in the Grand Final.

A-League

Season	2018–19
Dates	19 October 2018 – 19 May 2019
Champions	Sydney FC (4th title)
Premiers	Perth Glory (1st title)
Champions League	Perth Glory Sydney FC Melbourne Victory
Matches played	135
Goals scored	422 (3.13 per match)
Top goalscorer	Roy Krishna (18 goals)
Biggest home win	Melbourne City 5–0 Central Coast Mariners (26 April 2019) Perth Glory 5–0 Wellington Phoenix (28 April 2019)
Biggest away win	Central Coast Mariners 2–8 Wellington Phoenix (9 March 2019)
Highest scoring	Central Coast Mariners 2–8 Wellington Phoenix (9 March 2019)
Highest attendance	40,504 Melbourne Victory vs. Melbourne City (20 October 2018)
Lowest attendance	3,703 Central Coast Mariners vs. Wellington Phoenix (9 March 2019)
Average attendance	10,411 ( 260)
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

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	16,500
Brisbane Roar	Brisbane	Suncorp Stadium	52,500
Central Coast Mariners	Gosford	Central Coast Stadium	20,059
Melbourne City	Melbourne	AAMI Park	30,050
Melbourne Victory	Melbourne	Marvel Stadium AAMI Park GMHBA Stadium	56,347 30,050 36,000
Newcastle Jets	Newcastle	McDonald Jones Stadium	33,000
Perth Glory	Perth	HBF Park	20,500
Sydney FC	Sydney	Sydney Cricket Ground Jubilee Oval Leichhardt Oval	48,000 20,500 20,000
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[1]	IGA
Brisbane Roar	Darren Davies (caretaker)	Matt McKay	Umbro[2][3]	Actron Air
Central Coast Mariners	Alen Stajcic (caretaker)	Matt Simon	Umbro[4]	Masterfoods & State Road Constructions
Melbourne City	Warren Joyce	Scott Jamieson	Nike	Etihad Airways
Melbourne Victory	Kevin Muscat	Carl Valeri	Adidas[5]	Metricon
Newcastle Jets	Ernie Merrick	Nigel Boogaard	Viva Sports[6]	Ledman Group
Perth Glory	Tony Popovic	Diego Castro	Macron[7]	QBE Insurance
Sydney FC	Steve Corica	Alex Brosque	Puma	The Star
Wellington Phoenix	Marko Rudan	Andrew Durante	Adidas	Huawei
Western Sydney Wanderers	Markus Babbel	Brendan Hamill	Nike[8]	Centuria

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position on table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Sydney FC	Graham Arnold	Signed by Australia[9]	8 March 2018	Pre-season	Steve Corica[10]	16 May 2018
Central Coast Mariners	Wayne O'Sullivan (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	14 April 2018		Mike Mulvey[11]	July 2018
Western Sydney Wanderers	Josep Gombau	Sacked[12]	19 April 2018		Markus Babbel[13]	19 May 2018
Perth Glory	Kenny Lowe	Sacked[14]	20 April 2018		Tony Popovic[15]	11 May 2018
Wellington Phoenix	Chris Greenacre (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	30 May 2018		Marko Rudan[16]	30 May 2018
Brisbane Roar	John Aloisi	Resigned	28 December 2018	9th	Darren Davies (caretaker)[17]	28 December 2018
Central Coast Mariners	Mike Mulvey	Sacked[18]	9 March 2019	10th	Alen Stajcic (caretaker)[19]	12 March 2019

Foreign players

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Visa 5	Non-Visa foreigner(s)	Former player(s)
Adelaide United	Ken Ilsø	Michael Jakobsen	Mirko Boland	Jordy Thomassen	Baba Diawara	Isaías1
Brisbane Roar	Thomas Kristensen	Tobias Mikkelsen	Éric Bauthéac	Álex López		Henrique1 Jamie Young2 Dane Ingham2 Jack Hingert2	Avraam Papadopoulos2
Central Coast Mariners	Sam Graham	Stephen Mallon	Tom Hiariej	Michael McGlinchey	Jem Karacan		Kalifa Cissé Ross McCormack
Melbourne City	Ritchie De Laet	Shayon Harrison	Florin Berenguer	Bart Schenkeveld		Iacopo La Rocca1	Michael O'Halloran Bruno Fornaroli
Melbourne Victory	Georg Niedermeier	Keisuke Honda	Kosta Barbarouses	Raúl Baena	Ola Toivonen	Elvis Kamsoba2 Jai Ingham2 Storm Roux2 Kenny Athiu2
Newcastle Jets	Jair	Roy O'Donovan	Matthew Ridenton	Ronald Vargas		Kaine Sheppard1 Daniel Georgievski2 Kwabena Appiah2 Glen Moss2
Perth Glory	Andy Keogh	Diego Castro	Juande	Fábio Ferreira
Sydney FC	Adam Le Fondre	Reza Ghoochannejhad	Siem de Jong	Jop van der Linden	Miloš Ninković
Wellington Phoenix	Steven Taylor	Cillian Sheridan	Michał Kopczyński	Filip Kurto	Mandi	Roy Krishna1
Western Sydney Wanderers	Roly Bonevacia	Alexander Baumjohann	Patrick Ziegler	Raúl Llorente	Oriol Riera

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);^[20]
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	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	Baba Diawara[21]	None	Isaías[22]	None
Brisbane Roar	Éric Bauthéac[23]	None	Matt McKay[24]	None
Central Coast Mariners	Ross McCormack[25][note 1]	Daniel De Silva[27][note 2]	Matt Simon[30]	None
Melbourne City	Ritchie de Laet[31][32]	Bruno Fornaroli[33][note 3]	Scott Jamieson[35]	None
Melbourne Victory	Keisuke Honda[36][37]	James Troisi[38]	Carl Valeri[39]	Leigh Broxham[39]
Newcastle Jets	Ronald Vargas[40]	None	Nigel Boogaard[41]	Nikolai Topor-Stanley[42]
Perth Glory	Diego Castro[43][44]	None	Diego Castro[45]	None
Sydney FC	Miloš Ninković[46]	Siem de Jong[47]	Alex Brosque[48]	Alex Wilkinson[49]
Wellington Phoenix	None	None	Andrew Durante[50]	None
Western Sydney Wanderers	Oriol Riera[51]	None	Brendan Hamill[52]	None

Transfers

Further information: A-League transfers for 2018–19 season

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Perth Glory	27	18	6	3	56	23	+33	60	Qualification for 2020 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series[a]
2	Sydney FC (C)	27	16	4	7	43	29	+14	52
3	Melbourne Victory	27	15	5	7	50	32	+18	50	Qualification for 2020 AFC Champions League preliminary round 2 and Finals series[a]
4	Adelaide United	27	12	8	7	37	32	+5	44	Qualification for Finals series[a]
5	Melbourne City	27	11	7	9	39	32	+7	40
6	Wellington Phoenix[b]	27	11	7	9	46	43	+3	40
7	Newcastle Jets	27	10	5	12	40	36	+4	35
8	Western Sydney Wanderers	27	6	6	15	42	54	−12	24
9	Brisbane Roar	27	4	6	17	38	71	−33	18
10	Central Coast Mariners	27	3	4	20	31	70	−39	13

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

1. The top two teams enter the Finals series at the semi-finals, while the teams ranked third to sixth enter the Finals series at the elimination-finals.
2. 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		2–1	2–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–0	2–2		4–3			1–0		0–2		3–1	1–3
Brisbane Roar	3–5		1–1	2–0	2–4	1–6	2–4	2–1	0–0	2–2					0–5			1–3	2–1	1–4
Central Coast Mariners	0–3	1–1		1–1	2–3	1–2	1–4	1–2	2–8	3–1	0–1	3–5		2–1			0–3
Melbourne City	1–1	1–0	5–0		1–1	3–0	0–0	0–3	2–0	4–3	0–0	4–1				2–1	2–2
Melbourne Victory	2–0	2–1	4–1	1–2		2–1	2–3	2–1	1–1	4–0			2–1	1–1		0–2	1–2		3–3
Newcastle Jets	1–2	2–0	1–0	3–1	0–1		0–2	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–0	2–2	2–3					2–0
Perth Glory	0–0	2–1	3–2	1–0	0–2	2–0		1–2	3–0	1–1		4–0				1–0		3–1	5–0	4–3
Sydney FC	2–1	2–1	5–2	2–0	1–2	1–0	1–0		1–3	2–0	2–0		1–1	0–2	2–1
Wellington Phoenix	1–3	4–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–1		0–3			3–2	3–2		4–0		0–1		3–1
Western Sydney Wanderers	1–2	2–2	2–0	0–2	1–2	0–2	1–1	1–3	2–3				2–0	3–0	0–1	1–5		1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 28 April 2019. Source: A-League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Finals series

Main article: 2019 A-League finals series

	Elimination-finals					Semi-finals					Grand Final
						1	Perth Glory (pen.)	3 (5)
	4	Adelaide United (a.e.t.)	1			4	Adelaide United	3 (4)
	5	Melbourne City	0								1	Perth Glory	0 (1)
											2	Sydney FC (pen.)	0 (4)
						2	Sydney FC	6
	3	Melbourne Victory	3			3	Melbourne Victory	1
	6	Wellington Phoenix	1

Elimination-finals

Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix

3 May 2019	Melbourne Victory	3–1	Wellington Phoenix	Melbourne
19:50 AEST	Niedermeier 42' Barbarouses 53' Toivonen 71'	Report	Krishna 64'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 16,010 Referee: Shaun Evans

Adelaide United v Melbourne City

5 May 2019	Adelaide United	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Melbourne City	Adelaide
18:30 ACST	Halloran 119'	Report		Stadium: Coopers Stadium Attendance: 13,232 Referee: Kurt Ams

Semi-finals

Perth Glory v Adelaide United

10 May 2019	Perth Glory	3–3 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Adelaide United	Perth
18:30 AWST	Castro 29', 74' Neville 104'	Report	Diawara 81' Kitto 90+4' Marrone 115'	Stadium: HBF Park Attendance: 17,868 Referee: Alex King
	Penalties
	Juande Castro Santalab Reddy Brimmer Davidson Lowry Chianese		Goodwin Elsey Lia Isaías Halloran Diawara Mileusnic Konstandopoulos

Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory

12 May 2019	Sydney FC	6–1	Melbourne Victory	Sydney
19:00 AEST	Calver 3' Brosque 43' Broxham 45+2' (o.g.) Le Fondre 63' (pen.), 68' Ninkovic 88'	Report	Toivonen 90+1'	Stadium: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium Attendance: 12,141 Referee: Chris Beath

Grand Final

See also: 2019 A-League Grand Final

Perth Glory v Sydney FC

19 May 2019	Perth Glory	0–0 (a.e.t.) (1–4 p)	Sydney FC	Perth
16:30 AWST		Report		Stadium: Optus Stadium Attendance: 56,371 Referee: Shaun Evans
	Penalties
	Juande Keogh Santalab		Le Fondre O'Neill Grant Ghoochannejhad

Season 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 28 April 2019.

Team	Hosted	Average	High	Low	Total
Melbourne Victory	14	20,604	40,504	8,039	288,453
Sydney FC	13	13,566	30,588	6,261	176,357
Perth Glory	14	10,360	17,856	7,213	145,045
Brisbane Roar	13	9,632	15,129	6,084	125,222
Western Sydney Wanderers	14	9,191	21,984	5,067	128,670
Newcastle Jets	13	9,079	11,814	6,701	118,029
Adelaide United	14	9,013	12,866	7,071	126,188
Wellington Phoenix	14	8,533	23,648	4,829	119,455
Melbourne City	13	8,135	24,306	4,950	105,750
Central Coast Mariners	13	5,562	8,923	3,703	72,300
{{{T11}}}	0	0	0	0	0
{{{T12}}}	0	0	0	0	0
League total	135	10,411	40,504	3,703	1,405,469

By round

2018–19 A-League Attendance

Round	Total	Games	Avg. Per Game
Round 1	84,761	5	16,952
Round 2	77,986	5	15,597
Round 3	44,728	5	8,946
Round 4	49,105	5	9,821
Round 5	54,712	5	10,942
Round 6	46,789	5	9,358
Round 7	57,101	5	11,420
Round 8	50,507	5	10,101
Round 9	58,429	5	11,686
Round 10	55,700	5	11,140
Round 11	44,866	5	8,973
Round 12	41,546	5	8,309
Round 13	53,733	5	10,747
Round 14	48,849	5	9,770
Round 15	37,920	5	7,584
Round 16	57,050	5	11,410
Round 17	42,065	5	8,413
Round 18	52,669	5	10,534
Round 19	63,527	5	12,705
Round 20	57,812	5	11,562
Round 21	38,835	5	7,767
Round 22	46,329	5	9,266
Round 23	46,704	5	9,341
Round 24	40,205	5	8,041
Round 25	63,295	5	12,659
Round 26	45,431	5	9,086
Round 27	44,794	5	8,959
Elimination Final	29,242	2	14,621
Semi Final	30,009	2	15,004
Grand Final	56,371	1	56,371

Club membership

2018–19 A-League membership figures

Club	Members
Adelaide United	8,082
Brisbane Roar	11,524
Central Coast Mariners	6,843
Melbourne City	10,302
Melbourne Victory	26,478
Newcastle Jets	11,606
Perth Glory	10,460
Sydney FC	15,848
Wellington Phoenix	5,671
Western Sydney Wanderers	16,444
Total	123,258
Average	12,326

Last updated: 28 April 2019.
Source: a-league.com.au

Scoring

Top scorers

As of the end of the Regular Season, 28 April 2019^[53]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Roy Krishna	Wellington Phoenix	18
2	Adam Le Fondre	Sydney FC	16
3	Andy Keogh	Perth Glory	15
4	Kosta Barbarouses	Melbourne Victory	14
5	Ola Toivonen	Melbourne Victory	13
6	Roy O'Donovan	Newcastle Jets	11
	Adam Taggart	Brisbane Roar
	David Williams	Wellington Phoenix
9	Craig Goodwin	Adelaide United	10
	Oriol Riera	Western Sydney Wanderers

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of A-League hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Alex Brosque	Sydney FC	Central Coast Mariners	5–2	4 January 2019	[54]
Kosta Barbarouses	Melbourne Victory	Brisbane Roar	0–5	15 January 2019	[55]
David Williams	Wellington Phoenix	Newcastle Jets	4–1	31 March 2019	[56]
Roy Krishna	Wellington Phoenix	Melbourne City	3–2	21 April 2019	[57]

Own goals

As of the end of the Regular Season, 28 April 2019

Player	Club	Against	Round
Daniel Georgievski	Newcastle Jets	Wellington Phoenix	1
Connor O'Toole	Brisbane Roar	Perth Glory	3
Tom Doyle	Wellington Phoenix	Adelaide United	5
Tomislav Mrcela	Perth Glory	Central Coast Mariners	5
Ola Toivonen	Melbourne Victory	Brisbane Roar	8
Jordan Elsey	Adelaide United	Melbourne City	8
Avraam Papadopoulos	Brisbane Roar	Wellington Phoenix	9
Aaron Reardon	Brisbane Roar	Perth Glory	11
Nigel Boogaard	Newcastle Jets	Sydney FC	14
Ben Kennedy	Central Coast Mariners	Melbourne Victory	17
Sam Graham	Central Coast Mariners	Wellington Phoenix	21
Paulo Retre	Sydney FC	Melbourne City	22
Harrison Delbridge	Melbourne City	Brisbane Roar	24
Vedran Janjetović	Western Sydney Wanderers	Newcastle Jets	24

Clean sheets

As of the end of the Regular Season, 28 April 2019^[58]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Liam Reddy	Perth Glory	12
2	Eugene Galekovic	Melbourne City	8
	Paul Izzo	Adelaide United
	Andrew Redmayne	Sydney FC
5	Glen Moss	Newcastle Jets	6
6	Lawrence Thomas	Melbourne Victory	5
7	Vedran Janjetović	Western Sydney Wanderers	4
	Filip Kurto	Wellington Phoenix
9	Jamie Young	Brisbane Roar	2
10	Matt Acton	Melbourne Victory	1
	James Delianov	Melbourne City

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.^[59]

Player

• Most yellow cards: 11
  • Alex Rufer (Wellington Phoenix)
• Most red cards: 2
  • Éric Bauthéac (Brisbane Roar)
  • Kye Rowles (Central Coast Mariners)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 67
  • Wellington Phoenix
• Most red cards: 7
  • Central Coast Mariners

Fair Play Award

Club				FP Pts
Newcastle Jets	42	1	1	47
Sydney FC	49	0	0	49
Adelaide United	41	2	2	51
Perth Glory	50	0	1	53
Melbourne Victory	53	2	0	57
Western Sydney Wanderers	57	1	1	62
Melbourne City	61	2	0	65
Wellington Phoenix	59	1	2	67
Central Coast Mariners	58	5	2	74
Brisbane Roar	61	3	3	76
League total	532	17	12

Last updated: 28 April 2019.
Source: ultimatealeague.com

Awards

Monthly awards

The A-League Goal of the Month is an award that recognises the player who is deemed to have scored the best A-League goal each month of the season. The winner is chosen by an online public vote through the A-League website.

Month	Goal of the Month		Nominee for Young Footballer of the Year		Ref.
	Player	Club	Player	Club
October	Scott Galloway	Adelaide United	—		[60]
November	Terry Antonis	Melbourne Victory	Chris Ikonomidis	Perth Glory	[61][62]
December	David Williams	Wellington Phoenix	Sarpreet Singh	Wellington Phoenix	[63][64]
January	Jaushua Sotirio	Western Sydney Wanderers	Lachlan Wales	Melbourne City	[65][66]
February	Éric Bauthéac	Brisbane Roar	Thomas Deng	Melbourne Victory	[67][68]
March	Dylan Wenzel-Halls	Brisbane Roar	Keanu Baccus	Western Sydney Wanderers	[69][70]
April	Éric Bauthéac	Brisbane Roar	Riley McGree	Melbourne City	[71][72]
May	Diego Castro	Perth Glory	—		[73]

Annual awards

The NAB Young Footballer of the Year Award was awarded to the finest performance of an under-23 player from Australia or New Zealand throughout the season.^[74]

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2018–19 Dolan Warren Awards night on 13 May 2019.^[75][76]

• Johnny Warren Medal – Roy Krishna, Wellington Phoenix
• NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Chris Ikonomidis, Perth Glory
• Nike Golden Boot Award – Roy Krishna, Wellington Phoenix (18 goals)
• Goalkeeper of the Year – Filip Kurto, Wellington Phoenix
• Coach of the Year – Tony Popovic, Perth Glory
• Fair Play Award – Sydney FC
• Referee of the Year – Shaun Evans
• Goal of the Year – Éric Bauthéac, Brisbane Roar (Central Coast Mariners v Brisbane Roar, 22 February 2019)

Team of the Season[77]
Goalkeeper	Filip Kurto (Wellington Phoenix)
Defenders	Rhyan Grant (Sydney FC)			Bart Schenkeveld (Melbourne City)			Shane Lowry (Perth Glory)			Jason Davidson (Perth Glory)
Midfielders	Diego Castro (Perth Glory)				Neil Kilkenny (Perth Glory)				Brandon O'Neill (Sydney FC)
Forwards	Chris Ikonomidis (Perth Glory)				Roy Krishna (Wellington Phoenix)				Ola Toivonen (Melbourne Victory)
Substitutes	Michael Jakobsen (Adelaide United)		Isaías (Adelaide United)		Adam Le Fondre (Sydney FC)		Miloš Ninković (Sydney FC)		Liam Reddy (Perth Glory)

See also

• 2018–19 Adelaide United FC season
• 2018–19 Brisbane Roar FC season
• 2018–19 Central Coast Mariners FC season
• 2018–19 Melbourne City FC season
• 2018–19 Melbourne Victory FC season
• 2018–19 Newcastle Jets FC season
• 2018–19 Perth Glory FC season
• 2018–19 Sydney FC season
• 2018–19 Wellington Phoenix FC season
• 2018–19 Western Sydney Wanderers FC season

Notes

1. McCormack transferred out of Central Coast Mariners and his marquee deal part-way through on 5 January 2019.^[26]
2. De Silva is being paid marquee wages with Central Coast Mariners paying part and Roma paying most of it, while being on loan at Sydney FC.^[28][29]
3. Fornaroli was mutually released from his contract and marquee deal by Melbourne City part-way through on 26 February 2019.^[34]