# 2016–17 Melbourne City FC season

The 2016–17 season was the seventh in the history of Melbourne City Football Club. In addition to the domestic league, the club competed in the FFA Cup for the third time.
The club won the FFA Cup, its first ever silverware as a senior men's team. On 3 January 2017, manager John van 't Schip resigned from his position to return to the Netherlands and help care for his terminally-ill father. Michael Valkanis was subsequently appointed manager for the remainder of the season.

## 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 |
| 1 | GK | DEN | Thomas Sørensen |
| 2 | DF | MLT | Manny Muscat |
| 3 | DF | AUS | Joshua Rose |
| 5 | DF | AUS | Ivan Franjic |
| 6 | DF | AUS | Osama Malik |
| 7 | FW | AUS | Corey Gameiro |
| 8 | MF | AUS | Neil Kilkenny |
| 9 | MF | ARG | Nicolás Colazo (on loan from Boca Juniors) |
| 10 | MF | AUS | Anthony Cáceres (on loan from Manchester City) |
| 11 | MF | AUS | Bruce Kamau |
| 12 | FW | AUS | Nick Fitzgerald |
| 14 | FW | AUS | Daniel Arzani |
| 17 | FW | AUS | Tim Cahill |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | DF | AUS | Paulo Retre |
| 20 | GK | AUS | Dean Bouzanis |
| 21 | DF | AUS | Ruon Tongyik |
| 22 | DF | DEN | Michael Jakobsen |
| 23 | FW | URU | Bruno Fornaroli (captain) |
| 26 | MF | AUS | Luke Brattan (on loan from Manchester City) |
| 27 | MF | ARG | Fernando Brandán (on loan from Temperley) |
| 28 | FW | AUS | Steve Kuzmanovski |
| 29 | FW | AUS | Braedyn Crowley |
| 34 | MF | AUS | Denis Genreau |
| 36 | DF | AUS | Dylan Pierias |
| 42 | GK | AUS | James Delianov |

## Transfers
### From youth squad

| N | Pos. | Name | Age |
| 34 | MF | Denis Genreau | 17 |
| 36 | DF | Dylan Pierias | 17 |
| 42 | GK | James Delianov | 17 |

### Transfers in

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Type/fee | Contract length | Date |
| 2 | DF | Manny Muscat | Wellington Phoenix | Free transfer | 2 years | 3 March 2016 |
| 11 | MF | Bruce Kamau | Adelaide United | Free transfer | 2 years | 6 May 2016 |
| 14 | FW | Daniel Arzani | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 10 June 2016 |
| 26 | MF | Luke Brattan | Manchester City | Loan | 1 year | 29 June 2016 |
| 21 | DF | Ruon Tongyik | Adelaide United | Undisclosed Fee | 2 years | 8 July 2016 |
| 8 | MF | Neil Kilkenny | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 19 July 2016 |
| 27 | MF | Fernando Brandán | Temperley | Loan | 2 years | 26 July 2016 |
| 17 | FW | Tim Cahill | Unattached | Free transfer | 3 years | 11 August 2016 |
| 3 | DF | Joshua Rose | Central Coast Mariners | Free transfer | 1 year | 12 August 2016 |
| 22 | DF | Michael Jakobsen | Esbjerg fB | Free transfer | 2 years | 1 September 2016 |
| 29 | FW | Braedyn Crowley | Northcote City | Free transfer | 2 years | 6 September 2016 |
| 9 | MF | Nicolás Colazo | Boca Juniors | Loan | 1 year | 20 September 2016 |

### Transfers out

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Type/fee | Date |
| 2 | DF | Alex Wilkinson | Sydney FC | Free transfer | 26 April 2016 |
| 3 | DF | Aaron Hughes | Unattached | Free transfer | 26 April 2016 |
| 14 | MF | James Brown | Unattached | Free transfer | 28 April 2016 |
| 16 | MF | Jason Trifiro | Unattached | Free transfer | 28 April 2016 |
| 17 | FW | Wade Dekker | Unattached | Free transfer | 28 April 2016 |
| 26 | FW | Marc Marino | Unattached | Free transfer | 28 April 2016 |
| 24 | DF | Patrick Kisnorbo | Retired | Retired | 1 May 2016 |
| 11 | DF | Michael Zullo | Sydney FC | Free transfer | 12 May 2016 |
| 19 | DF | Ben Garuccio | Adelaide United | Free transfer | 16 June 2016 |
| 9 | FW | Harry Novillo | Manisaspor | $500,000 | 22 June 2016 |
| 8 | MF | Aaron Mooy | Manchester City | Free transfer | 29 June 2016 |
| 22 | DF | Jack Clisby | Western Sydney Wanderers | Free transfer | 12 August 2016 |
| 25 | MF | Jacob Melling | Western Sydney Wanderers | Free transfer | 12 August 2016 |
| 34 | FW | Stefan Zinni | South Melbourne | Undisclosed Fee | 18 December 2016 |
| 4 | DF | Connor Chapman | Incheon United | Undisclosed Fee | 23 January 2017 |

### Contract extensions

| Name | Position | Duration | Contract Expiry |
| Nick Fitzgerald | Attacking midfielder | 2 years | 2018 |
| Anthony Cáceres | Central midfielder | 1 year | 2017 |
| Bruno Fornaroli | Central striker | 3 years | 2019 |
| Dean Bouzanis | Goalkeeper | 3 years | 2020 |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss

## Competitions
### Overall record

| 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 | 8 October 2016 | 16 April 2017 | Matchday 1 | 4th | 27 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 040.74 |
| A-League Finals | 23 April 2017 | 23 April 2017 | Elimination-finals | Elimination-finals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 000.00 |
| FFA Cup | 2 August 2016 | 30 November 2016 | Round of 32 | Winners | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 100.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 33 | 16 | 6 | 11 | 60 | 49 | +11 | 048.48 |
Source: Soccerway

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sydney FC (C) | 27 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 55 | 12 | +43 | 66 | Qualification for 2018 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 2 | Melbourne Victory | 27 | 15 | 4 | 8 | 49 | 31 | +18 | 49 | Qualification for 2018 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 3 | Brisbane Roar | 27 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 43 | 37 | +6 | 42 | Qualification for 2018 AFC Champions League second preliminary round and Finals series |
| 4 | Melbourne City | 27 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 39 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 5 | Perth Glory | 27 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 53 | 53 | 0 | 39 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 6 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 27 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 36 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 7 | Wellington Phoenix | 27 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 30 | |
| 8 | Central Coast Mariners | 27 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 31 | 52 | −21 | 23 | |
| 9 | Adelaide United | 27 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 25 | 46 | −21 | 23 | |
| 10 | Newcastle Jets | 27 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 28 | 53 | −25 | 22 | |
* ↑ Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
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 | 27 |
| Ground | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | L | W | L | W | D | W | D | D | L | D | D | W | L | W | L | L | D | W | L | W | W | L | L | W | L |
| Position | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Points | 3 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 30 | 30 | 33 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 39 | 39 |

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

Includes all competitions. Players with no appearances not included in the list.
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | A-League | A-League | FFA Cup | FFA Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | | Thomas Sørensen | 7(1) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | | Manny Muscat | 12(2) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | | Josh Rose | 23 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | | Ivan Franjic | 20(1) | 1 | 1(1) | 0 | 23 | 1 |
| 6 | MF | | Osama Malik | 15(3) | 0 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | | Neil Kilkenny | 25 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 2 |
| 9 | MF | | Nicolás Colazo | 18(4) | 4 | 1(1) | 0 | 24 | 4 |
| 10 | MF | | Anthony Caceres | 16(11) | 2 | 3(1) | 1 | 31 | 3 |
| 11 | FW | | Bruce Kamau | 19(7) | 1 | 4 | 0 | 30 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | | Nick Fitzgerald | 9(14) | 4 | 3(2) | 1 | 28 | 5 |
| 14 | FW | | Daniel Arzani | 0(6) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | | Tim Cahill | 18(4) | 11 | 3(1) | 2 | 26 | 13 |
| 18 | MF | | Paulo Retre | 4(7) | 0 | 1(2) | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 20 | GK | | Dean Bouzanis | 21(1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | | Ruon Tongyik | 13(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | | Michael Jakobsen | 17 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 1 |
| 23 | FW | | Bruno Fornaroli | 27 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 32 | 20 |
| 26 | MF | | Luke Brattan | 24(2) | 1 | 5 | 1 | 31 | 2 |
| 27 | MF | | Fernando Brandán | 13(6) | 3 | 3(2) | 2 | 24 | 5 |
| 28 | MF | | Steve Kuzmanovski | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | FW | | Braedyn Crowley | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 | MF | | Denis Genreau | 2(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | | Christian Cavallo | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | | Dylan Pierias | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | DF | | Bradley Clarke | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Player(s) transferred out but featured this season ||||||||||
| 4 | MF | | Connor Chapman | 4(1) | 0 | 3(1) | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | | Jack Clisby | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

### 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.
| Rank | No. | Pos. | Name | A-League | A-League | A-League | FFA Cup | FFA Cup | FFA Cup | Total | Total | Total |
| 1 | 27 | MF | Fernando Brandán | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 17 | FW | Tim Cahill | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | GK | Thomas Sørensen | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 2 | DF | Manny Muscat | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 8 | MF | Neil Kilkenny | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | MF | Osama Malik | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 26 | MF | Luke Brattan | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 3 | DF | Josh Rose | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 23 | FW | Bruno Fornaroli | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 10 | MF | Anthony Caceres | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 21 | DF | Ruon Tongyik | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 22 | DF | Michael Jakobsen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 9 | MF | Nicolás Colazo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 18 | MF | Paulo Retre | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 20 | GK | Dean Bouzanis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 5 | DF | Ivan Franjic | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 12 | FW | Nick Fitzgerald | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 34 | MF | Denis Genreau | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | 4 | MF | Connor Chapman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | 11 | FW | Bruce Kamau | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |

### Clean sheets

Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total clean sheets are equal. Numbers in parentheses represent games where both goalkeepers participated and both kept a clean sheet; the number in parentheses is awarded to the goalkeeper who was substituted on, whilst a full clean sheet is awarded to the goalkeeper who was on the field at the start of play. Goalkeepers with no clean sheets not included in the list.
| Rank | No. | Nat. | Goalkeeper | A-League | FFA Cup | Total |
| 1 | 20 | | Dean Bouzanis | 2 (1) | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | 1 | | Thomas Sørensen | 1 (1) | 0 | 2 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 5 | 2 | 7 |