# 2021–22 Wellington Phoenix FC season

The 2021–22 season was the Wellington Phoenix's 15th season since its establishment in 2007. The club participated in the A-League for the 15th time and in the FFA Cup for the 7th time.
This season was the Phoenix's third season fully or partially based in Australia, starting towards the end of the 2019–20 season. This season was Ufuk Talay's third in charge; in May 2021 he renewed his contract until 2023.

## Pre-season

The Phoenix finished 7th in the 2020–21 A-League season, one point short of finals series. On 21 May, the Phoenix announced that head coach Ufuk Talay had signed a 2-year contract extension with the club.

### June

On 9 June, the Phoenix confirmed the departure of captain Ulises Dávila in spite of the club's record-setting efforts to retain him. He would later sign for Macarthur FC. On 10 June, the departure of Stefan Marinovic was confirmed by the Phoenix after he had signed with Israeli club Hapoel Nof HaGalil. On 15 June, the Phoenix announced the return of Gary Hooper on a two-year deal. On 23 June, the Phoenix re-signed Joshua Laws on a two-year contract. Following the conclusion of the 2020-21 A-League season, on 25 June, the Phoenix confirmed the departure of Cameron Devlin, Liam McGing, Luke DeVere, Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Matthew Ridenton, Charles Lokolingoy, and Mirza Muratovic. On 30 June, it was announced that left-back James McGarry signed a one-year contract extension.

### July

On 10 July, it was announced that Tomer Hemed would not be re-signing with the club for the 2021-22 A-League season. Hemed had finished as the Phoenix's top goal-scorer with 11 goals. He would later sign for Western Sydney Wanderers. On 29 July, it was announced that defender Callan Elliot, who had previously played for the club, had returned on a two-year deal. On 30 July, the Phoenix announced the signing of Australian midfielder Nicholas Pennington on a two-year deal.

### September

On 13 September, the Phoenix announced that academy players Ben Old and Alex Paulsen had signed three-year professional contracts with the club. On 27 September, Steven Taylor announced his shock retirement just days after being named captain.

### October

On 13 October, the Phoenix bolstered their defensive stocks by securing a season-long loan deal for 20-year-old Melbourne Victory centre-back Matthew Bozinovski. On 18 October, the Phoenix announced the signing of Olyroo Luka Prso on a one-year deal. On 22 October, the Phoenix signed reserve team players George Ott and Kurtis Mogg on one-year scholarship contracts ahead of the A-League Men season.

### November

In November the Phoenix played their last three preseason matches. They won against the Central Coast Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers 1–0 and 2–1, respectively. The Phoenix would lose their last preseason match against Sydney by a 1–0 margin.

## Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 3 | DF | MKD | Matthew Bozinovski (on loan from Melbourne Victory) |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Scott Wootton |
| 5 | DF | NZL | James McGarry |
| 6 | DF | NZL | Tim Payne |
| 7 | MF | MEX | Gael Sandoval (on loan from Guadalajara) |
| 8 | MF | NZL | Ben Old |
| 9 | FW | ENG | David Ball |
| 10 | FW | AUS | Reno Piscopo |
| 11 | MF | AUS | Jaushua Sotirio |
| 13 | MF | AUS | Nicholas Pennington |
| 14 | MF | NZL | Alex Rufer (captain) |
| 16 | DF | NZL | Louis Fenton |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | NZL | Callan Elliot |
| 18 | FW | NZL | Ben Waine |
| 19 | MF | NZL | Sam Sutton |
| 20 | GK | NZL | Oliver Sail (vice-captain) |
| 21 | DF | AUS | Joshua Laws |
| 23 | MF | NZL | Clayton Lewis |
| 31 | DF | ENG | Kurtis Mogg (scholarship) |
| 32 | FW | NZL | George Ott (scholarship) |
| 33 | DF | NZL | Finn Surman (scholarship) |
| 40 | GK | NZL | Alex Paulsen |
| 43 | FW | NZL | Oskar van Hattum (scholarship) |
| 88 | FW | ENG | Gary Hooper |
Other players with first-team appearances
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 30 | GK | NZL | Henry Gray |
| 34 | MF | NZL | Jackson Manuel |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 36 | FW | NZL | Riley Bidois |
| 38 | MF | NZL | Luis Toomey |

## Transfers
### From youth squad

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | Notes |
| 8 | MF | Ben Old | 19 | 3-year senior contract |
| 40 | GK | Alex Paulsen | 19 | 3-year senior contract |
| 31 | DF | Kurtis Mogg | 20 | 1-year scholarship contract |
| 32 | FW | George Ott | 20 | 1-year scholarship contract |
| 33 | DF | Finn Surman | 18 | 4 month scholarship contract to be upgraded to a 3-year senior contract |
| 43 | FW | Oskar van Hattum | 19 | 4 month scholarship contract to be upgraded to a 3-year senior contract |
| 36 | FW | Riley Bidois | 20 | Short-term signing |
| 38 | MF | Luis Toomey | 20 | Short-term signing |

### Transfers in

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Type/fee | Contract length | Date |
| 88 | FW | Gary Hooper | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 15 June 2021 |
| 17 | DF | Callan Elliot | Xanthi | Free transfer | 2 years | 29 July 2021 |
| 13 | MF | Nicholas Pennington | Olbia | Free transfer | 2 years | 30 July 2021 |
| 3 | DF | Matthew Bozinovski | Melbourne Victory | Loan | 1 year | 13 October 2021 |
| 12 | MF | Luka Prso | Osijek | Free transfer | 1 year | 18 October 2021 |
| 7 | MF | Gael Sandoval | Guadalajara | Loan | 1 year | 21 December 2021 |
| 4 | DF | Scott Wootton | Morecambe | Free transfer | 5 months | 7 January 2022 |

### Transfers out

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Type/fee | Date |
| 10 | MF | Ulises Dávila | Macarthur FC | End of contract | 20 May 2021 |
| 1 | GK | Stefan Marinovic | Hapoel Nof HaGalil | End of contract | 31 May 2021 |
| 2 | DF | Liam McGing | Unattached | End of contract | 25 June 2021 |
| 3 | DF | Luke DeVere | Unattached | End of contract | 25 June 2021 |
| 4 | DF | Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 25 June 2021 |
| 8 | MF | Cameron Devlin | Unattached | End of contract | 25 June 2021 |
| 12 | MF | Matthew Ridenton | Unattached | End of contract | 25 June 2021 |
| 13 | FW | Charles Lokolingoy | Unattached | End of contract | 25 June 2021 |
| 15 | MF | Mirza Muratovic | Unattached | End of contract | 25 June 2021 |
| 17 | FW | Tomer Hemed | Western Sydney Wanderers | End of contract | 11 July 2021 |
| 27 | DF | Steven Taylor | Retired | Retired | 27 September 2021 |
| 12 | MF | Luka Prso | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 10 January 2022 |

### Contract extensions

| No. | Name | Position | Duration | Date |
| 21 | Joshua Laws | Centre-back | 2 years | 23 June 2021 |
| 5 | James McGarry | Left-back | 1 year | 30 June 2021 |
| 6 | Tim Payne | Defender | 3 years | 22 February 2022 |
| 19 | Sam Sutton | Midfielder / left-back | 2 years | 21 March 2022 |
| 4 | Scott Wootton | Centre-back | 3 years | 24 March 2022 |

## Technical staff

| Position | Name |
| Head coach | Ufuk Talay |
| Assistant coach | Chris Greenacre |
| Assistant coach/Head analyst | Giancarlo Italiano |
| Goalkeeping coach | Paul Gothard |
| Head physiotherapist | Ben Venn |
| Strength & conditioning coach | Aidan Wivell |

## 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 | 21 November 2021 | 9 May 2022 | Matchday 1 | 6th | 26 | 12 | 3 | 11 | 34 | 49 | −15 | 046.15 |
| A-League Finals | 14 May 2022 | 14 May 2022 | Elimination final | Elimination final | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 000.00 |
| FFA Cup | 7 December 2021 | 29 January 2022 | Round of 32 | Semi-final | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 31 | 14 | 4 | 13 | 40 | 55 | −15 | 045.16 |
Last updated: end of season. Source: Competitions

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 4 | Adelaide United | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 38 | 31 | +7 | 43 | Qualification for finals series |
| 5 | Central Coast Mariners | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 49 | 35 | +14 | 42 | Qualification for finals series |
| 6 | Wellington Phoenix | 26 | 12 | 3 | 11 | 34 | 49 | −15 | 39 | Qualification for finals series |
| 7 | Macarthur FC | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 38 | 47 | −9 | 33 | |
| 8 | Sydney FC | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 37 | 44 | −7 | 31 | |
* ↑ Excluding the Round 12 match on 9 February 2022 at home against Melbourne Victory as the match was played behind closed doors.
* ↑ 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: end of season. Source: ultimatealeague.com

#### Results by matchday

| Game Week | 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 | A | H | H | A | A | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | A |
| Result | D | W | L | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | | L | L | W | L | W | W | L | W | L |
| Position | 7 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 |

#### Finals series
### FFA Cup
## Squad statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | A-League | A-League | A-League Finals | A-League Finals | FFA Cup | FFA Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers: ||||||||||||
| 20 | GK | NZL | Oli Sail | 26 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | NZL | Henry Gray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | GK | NZL | Alex Paulsen | 6 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Defenders: ||||||||||||
| 3 | DF | MKD | Matthew Bozinovski | 4 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Scott Wootton | 19 | 2 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | NZL | James McGarry | 17 | 0 | 10+5 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | NZL | Tim Payne | 25 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | NZL | Louis Fenton | 26 | 0 | 9+13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | NZL | Callan Elliot | 15 | 0 | 8+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | AUS | Joshua Laws | 18 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | ENG | Kurtis Mogg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | NZL | Finn Surman | 18 | 0 | 11+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| Midfielders: ||||||||||||
| 7 | MF | MEX | Gael Sandoval | 21 | 6 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | NZL | Ben Old | 26 | 1 | 10+13 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | AUS | Jaushua Sotirio | 24 | 8 | 15+4 | 6 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+2 | 2 |
| 13 | MF | AUS | Nicholas Pennington | 27 | 1 | 12+10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | NZL | Alex Rufer | 17 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | NZL | Sam Sutton | 27 | 1 | 20+2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | NZL | Clayton Lewis | 20 | 0 | 15+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 34 | MF | NZL | Jackson Manuel | 5 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | MF | NZL | Luis Toomey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards: ||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | ENG | David Ball | 28 | 2 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | AUS | Reno Piscopo | 24 | 4 | 17+4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | NZL | Ben Waine | 29 | 8 | 14+10 | 6 | 0+1 | 0 | 3+1 | 2 |
| 32 | FW | NZL | George Ott | 3 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | NZL | Riley Bidois | 5 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | FW | NZL | Oskar van Hattum | 10 | 0 | 0+8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 88 | FW | ENG | Gary Hooper | 16 | 5 | 9+5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Players that have left the club: ||||||||||||
| 12 | MF | AUS | Luka Prso | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 |
* Source: Wellington Phoenix

### Clean sheets

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by squad number when total clean sheets are equal.
| Rank | Pos. | No. | Player | A-League | A-League Finals | FFA Cup | Total |
| 1 | GK | 20 | Oli Sail | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | GK | 40 | Alex Paulsen | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

### Disciplinary records

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by squad number when total disciplinary records are equal.
| Pos. | No. | Name | A-League | A-League | A-League Finals | A-League Finals | FFA Cup | FFA Cup | Total | Total |
| FW | 9 | David Ball | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| MF | 13 | Nicholas Pennington | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| MF | 14 | Alex Rufer | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | 16 | Louis Fenton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | 17 | Callan Elliot | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | 19 | Sam Sutton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | 21 | Joshua Laws | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | 23 | Clayton Lewis | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | 4 | Scott Wootton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | 6 | Tim Payne | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | 7 | Gael Sandoval | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | 10 | Reno Piscopo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | 18 | Ben Waine | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | 20 | Oli Sail | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | 5 | James McGarry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | 8 | Ben Old | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | 11 | Jaushua Sotirio | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | 33 | Finn Surman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | 43 | Oskar van Hattum | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | 88 | Gary Hooper | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |