# 2022–23 Wellington Phoenix FC season

The 2022–23 season is the 16th in the history of Wellington Phoenix Football Club. In addition to the domestic league, the club also participated in the Australia Cup for the eighth time.

## Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 3 | DF | NZL | Finn Surman |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Scott Wootton |
| 5 | MF | AUS | Steven Ugarkovic |
| 6 | DF | NZL | Tim Payne |
| 7 | FW | NZL | Kosta Barbarouses |
| 8 | MF | NZL | Ben Old |
| 9 | FW | POL | Oskar Zawada |
| 10 | FW | ENG | David Ball |
| 11 | MF | BUL | Bozhidar Kraev |
| 12 | DF | AUS | Lucas Mauragis (on loan from Newcastle Jets) |
| 13 | MF | AUS | Nicholas Pennington |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | MF | NZL | Alex Rufer (captain) |
| 15 | DF | NZL | Nikko Boxall |
| 17 | DF | NZL | Callan Elliot |
| 19 | MF | NZL | Sam Sutton |
| 20 | GK | NZL | Oliver Sail (vice-captain) |
| 21 | DF | AUS | Joshua Laws |
| 23 | MF | NZL | Clayton Lewis |
| 24 | FW | NZL | Oskar van Hattum |
| 31 | MF | BRA | Yan Sasse |
| 40 | GK | NZL | Alex Paulsen |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Type/fee | Contract length | Date |
| 5 | MF | Steven Ugarkovic | Unattached | Free transfer | 1 year | 3 June 2022 |
| 7 | FW | Kosta Barbarouses | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 21 June 2022 |
| 12 | DF | Lucas Mauragis | Newcastle Jets | Loan | 1 year | 30 June 2022 |
| 11 | MF | Bozhidar Kraev | Midtjylland | Free transfer | 2 years | 22 July 2022 |
| 31 | MF | Yan Sasse | América Mineiro | Free transfer | 1 year | 13 August 2022 |
| 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 30 August 2022 |
| 15 | DF | Nikko Boxall | Auckland City | Free transfer | 6 months | 7 February 2023 |

### Transfers out

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Type/fee | Date |
| 88 | FW | Gary Hooper | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 25 March 2022 |
| 16 | DF | Louis Fenton | Retired | Retired | 20 May 2022 |
| 3 | DF | Matthew Bozinovski | Melbourne Victory | End of loan | 23 May 2022 |
| 5 | DF | James McGarry | Unattached | End of contract | 23 May 2022 |
| 7 | MF | Gael Sandoval | Guadalajara | End of loan | 23 May 2022 |
| 11 | FW | Jaushua Sotirio | Unattached | End of contract | 23 May 2022 |
| 31 | DF | Kurtis Mogg | Unattached | End of contract | 23 May 2022 |
| 32 | FW | George Ott | Unattached | End of contract | 23 May 2022 |
| 10 | FW | Reno Piscopo | Newcastle Jets | End of contract | 24 May 2022 |
| 18 | FW | Ben Waine | Plymouth Argyle | Undisclosed | 30 December 2022 |

### Contract extensions

| No. | Player | Position | Duration | Date | Notes | Ref. |
| 10 | David Ball | Striker | 2 years | 26 May 2022 | Contract extended from end of 2022–23 until end of 2024–25. | |
| 14 | Alex Rufer | Defensive midfielder | 3 years | 29 March 2023 | Contract extended from end of 2022–23 until end of 2025–26. | |

## Technical staff

| Role | Name |
| Head coach | Ufuk Talay |
| Assistant coach | Giancarlo Italiano |
| Assistant coach | Chris Greenacre |
| Goalkeeping coach | Ruben Parker |
| Football operations and facilities coordinator | Shaun Gill |
| Head of football conditioning | Weijie Lim |
| Head physiotherapist | Ben Venn |
| Assistant physiotherapist | Cory Glover |
| Equipment manager | Jack Mapp |
| Team analyst | Logan Hughes |

## Competitions

Win  Draw  Loss  Cancelled or postponed

### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| A-League Men | 9 October 2022 | 29 April 2023 | Matchday 1 | 6th | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 39 | 45 | −6 | 034.62 |
| A-League Finals | 5 May 2023 | 5 May 2023 | Elimination-finals | Elimination-finals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 000.00 |
| Australia Cup | 3 August 2022 | 31 August 2022 | Round of 32 | Quarter-final | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 066.67 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 45 | 50 | −5 | 036.67 |
Last updated: 5 May 2023 Source: Soccerway

### A-League Men
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 4 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 43 | 27 | +16 | 41 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 5 | Sydney FC | 26 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 40 | 39 | +1 | 38 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 6 | Wellington Phoenix | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 39 | 45 | −6 | 35 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 7 | Western United | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 34 | 47 | −13 | 32 | |
| 8 | Brisbane Roar | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 26 | 33 | −7 | 30 | |
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for Asian Football Confederation competitions as they are based in New Zealand, which is under the Oceania Football Confederation.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 29 April 2023. Source: ultimatealeague.com

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Ground | H | H | A | A | H | H | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A |
| Result | D | D | L | D | W | L | D | W | D | L | W | W | W | D | L | L | W | D | W | W | L | L | L | D | L | W |
| Position | 5 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Points | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 24 | 25 | 28 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 35 |

#### Finals series
### Australia Cup
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

    As of 5 May 2023
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | A-League Men | A-League Men | A-League Finals | A-League Finals | Australia Cup | Australia Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers: ||||||||||||
| 20 | GK | NZL | Oliver Sail | 30 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 40 | GK | NZL | Alex Paulsen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders: ||||||||||||
| 3 | DF | NZL | Finn Surman | 4 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Scott Wootton | 24 | 0 | 19+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | NZL | Tim Payne | 26 | 0 | 22+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | AUS | Lucas Mauragis | 20 | 0 | 17+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | NZL | Nikko Boxall | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | NZL | Callan Elliot | 28 | 1 | 20+4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | NZL | Sam Sutton | 18 | 1 | 9+6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | AUS | Joshua Laws | 24 | 0 | 15+6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 39 | DF | NZL | Marco Lorenz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Midfielders: ||||||||||||
| 5 | MF | AUS | Steven Ugarkovic | 27 | 1 | 22+4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | NZL | Ben Old | 19 | 1 | 3+14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | BUL | Bozhidar Kraev | 29 | 8 | 22+3 | 7 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 1 |
| 13 | MF | AUS | Nicholas Pennington | 17 | 0 | 2+12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | NZL | Alex Rufer | 19 | 2 | 14+4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | NZL | Clayton Lewis | 23 | 1 | 14+5 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | BRA | Yan Sasse | 25 | 3 | 18+4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 34 | MF | NZL | Jackson Manuel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Forwards: ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | NZL | Kosta Barbarouses | 27 | 3 | 14+9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | POL | Oskar Zawada | 26 | 15 | 24+1 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | ENG | David Ball | 24 | 1 | 20+3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | FW | NZL | Oskar van Hattum | 15 | 1 | 0+11 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+2 | 1 |
| 35 | FW | NZL | Noah Karunaratne | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Players who left during the season but made an appearance ||||||||||||
| 18 | FW | NZL | Ben Waine | 11 | 6 | 3+5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 36 | FW | NZL | Riley Bidois | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
* Source: Wellington Phoenix

### Disciplinary record

Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total cards are equal. Players with no cards not included in the list.
    As of 5 May 2023
| Rank | No. | Pos. | Name | A-League Men | A-League Men | A-League Men | A-League Finals | A-League Finals | A-League Finals | Australia Cup | Australia Cup | Australia Cup | Total | Total | Total |
| 1 | 17 | DF | Callan Elliot | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 11 | MF | Bozhidar Kraev | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | 10 | FW | David Ball | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 6 | DF | Tim Payne | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 13 | MF | Nicholas Pennington | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 31 | FW | Yan Sasse | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 4 | DF | Scott Wootton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 14 | MF | Alex Rufer | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 21 | DF | Joshua Laws | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | 5 | DF | Steven Ugarkovic | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 12 | DF | Lucas Mauragis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 20 | GK | Oliver Sail | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 23 | MF | Clayton Lewis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 24 | FW | Oskar van Hattum | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 3 | DF | Finn Surman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 8 | MF | Ben Old | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 19 | MF | Sam Sutton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Player(s) transferred out but featured this season |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 18 | FW | Ben Waine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |

### Clean sheets

    As of 5 May 2023
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by squad number when total clean sheets are equal.
| Rank | No. | Player | A-League Men | A-League Finals | Australia Cup | Total |
| 1 | 20 | Oli Sail | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |

## Awards
### Players

| No. | Pos. | Player | Award |
| 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | A-League Men Player of the Month (January) |
| 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | Wellington Phoenix Player of the Year |
| 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | Wellington Phoenix Players' Player of the Year |
| 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | Wellington Phoenix Members' Player of the Year |
| 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | Wellington Phoenix Media Player of the Year |
| 9 | FW | Oskar Zawada | A-League Men Fan Player of the Year |
| 17 | DF | Callan Elliot | Wellington Phoenix Under-23 Player of the Year |
| 23 | MF | Clayton Lewis | Wellington Phoenix Goal of the Year |
| 35 | FW | Noah Karunaratne | Wellington Phoenix Academy Player of the Year |

### Manager

| Manager | Award | Source |
| Ufuk Talay | A-League Coach of the Month (January) | |