# 2024 Australia men's national under-17 soccer team season

This page summarises the Australia men's national under-17 soccer team fixtures and results in 2024.

## Season summary
### AIS training camp

Brad Maloney and Football Australia named the first squad for the under-17 team in April 2024. The training camp, which followed after 12 months of scouting from Maloney and Football Australia, was in preparation for a squad to participate in the 2025 AFC U-17 Asian Cup and 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup. 24 players were named, five of whom were based in Europe, to train at the training centre of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Varese, Italy. Two matches were scheduled during the camp, a friendly each against the Switzerland national under-16 team and Inter Milan under-17 team. Quinn MacNicol, the youngest debutant and goalscorer for Brisbane Roar, featured in the squad as well as Marcus Neill, the son of Lucas Neill, and Gianluca Okon, the son of Paul Okon. The squad will feature players born in 2008 and 2009 for the forthcoming competitions.
The Joeys played their first match against the Swiss under-16s on 11 April which contained four 30-minute halves in Locarno, Switzerland. Australia won 4–3 over the Swiss with a brace from MacNicol and a goal apiece by Amlani Tatu and David Bolongi, the latter scoring late in the 107th minute of the game. The line-up for Australia changed three times during the four halves. In the second and final match on 16 April, the Joeys played an unofficial friendly against Inter Milan which ended in a 4–2 defeat at the Angelo Moratti Sports Centre in Milan, Italy. MacNicol opened the score, his third goal during the camp, with Christian Pullella netting the second goal for Australia.

### ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship

In June 2024, Australia competed in the ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship, hosted in Surakarta, Indonesia. Australia has participated nine times in the competition and won twice in 2008 and 2016. The Joeys were drawn in May in a group with Malaysia, Thailand, and East Timor. Maloney selected a final 23-player squad that featured a majority of players from the A-League Men. Alexander Garbowski from BK Häcken in Sweden and Noah Slunjski from Hajduk Split in Croatia were the only players called up from Europe. The squad arrived in Jakarta for their first training session, within a week prior to the first match of the group stage.
After a goalless draw against Thailand in their opening match, Australia won 2–0 over Malaysia in their second group match. Amlani Tatu scored the first goal for his nation, from long-range towards the top corner of the goal, in additional time in the first half. Rhys Williams, who was brought on from the bench, scored the second goal from a quick counter-attack play. Captain Jayden Necovski was suspended for receiving a yellow card, his second of the competition, during the match. Alex Garbowski was named captain in the next game against East Timor, where the Joeys won 12–0 and topped the group due to goal difference; Australia needed to win by six goals or more to do so. Both Quinn MacNicol and Anthony Didulica scored four goals each while James Houridis netted a brace, with his first goal opening the score. Australia progressed to the semi-final as a result.
Australia won 5–3 in the semi-final against hosts Indonesia on 1 July. Tatu and Didulica scored braces, the latter's sixth goal in two games, with MacNicol netting his fifth goal of the tournament in the match. Finalists Thailand won 2–1 in their semi-final match against Vietnam and contested the Joeys in the final on 3 July. Australia won the final from a 8–7 penalty shoot-out over the Thai after a 1–1 draw in regular time. Necovski scored the winning penalty to lift the cup trophy at Manahan Stadium. As it was the third final win of the competition, it was also the first silverware won by an Australian men's national team since 2019. Didulica and MacNicol, who scored the only goal for Australia in the match, were awarded the Golden Boot as joint top goalscorers of the ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship with six goals.

### PacificAus Sports Football Tour

In July, a 24-player squad was selected to participate in a three-match friendly against the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu national under-17 teams hosted in Honiara, Solomon Islands and Port Vila, Vanuatu. The matches were scheduled in August as an opportunity to prepare for the Asian Cup qualifiers campaign.

### AFC U-17 Asian Cup

The preliminary group draw for the 2025 AFC U-17 Asian Cup was in June 2024. Australia was placed in Group G with Indonesia, Kuwait and Northern Mariana Islands. Kuwait was named host of the group for being the highest-ranking team from the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup. The team that finished first in the group automatically qualified for the Asian Cup. In addition to this, the top eight highest-ranked teams in the Asian Cup will also compete in the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup, hosted in Qatar.

## Competitions
### 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 % |
| Friendly | – | – | – | – | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 033.33 |
| ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship | 23 June 2024 | 3 July 2024 | Group stage | Winners | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 4 | +16 | 060.00 |
| AFC U-17 Asian Cup | 23 October 2024 | – | Qualifiers | TBD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 11 | +15 | 050.00 |
Source:

### Matches
#### AFC U-17 Asian Cup
## Player statistics

Caps and goals correct as of the game against Thailand on 3 July 2024.
Note: Substitutes are unknown in the games against Thailand (21 June 2024) and Indonesia (1 July 2024). As a result, substitute appearances are not counted from the aforementioned matches in this section unless the player has scored or was listed on a line-up by an official source.
| N | Pos. | Fed. | Name | Friendlies | Friendlies | ASEAN U-16 Championship | ASEAN U-16 Championship | AFC U-17 Asian Cup | AFC U-17 Asian Cup | Total | Total |
| N | Pos. | Fed. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | NSW | Jai Ajanovic | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | QLD | Jonty Benfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | GK | SA | Noah Ellul | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| – | GK | VIC | Oskar von Schrenk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | SA | Malual Nichola | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | QLD | Charlie Parkin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | VIC | Jayden Necovski (C) | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | WA | Christian Pullella | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | VIC | Besian Kutleshi | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | WA | Alexander Garbowski | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | NSW | Marco Santangelo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| – | DF | SA | Feyzo Kasumovic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| – | DF | WA | Hayden Thomas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 6 | MF | WA | Alex Bolton | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | NSW | Haine Eames | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | NSW | Nickolas Alfaro | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 16 | MF | VIC | James Houridis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 | MF | VIC | Alexander Houridis | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | NSW | Jay Maltz | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | VIC | Anthony Didulica | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| 21 | MF | QLD | Rhys Williams | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 22 | MF | QLD | Quinn MacNicol | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| – | MF | NSW | Gianluca Okon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| – | MF | NSW | Danilo Treffiletti | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | NSW | Noah Slunjski | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | NSW | Jordan Graoroski | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | SA | Amlani Tatu | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 |
| 23 | FW | QLD | David Bolongi | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| – | FW | NSW | Max Anastasio | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| – | FW | NSW | Antonio Arena | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| – | FW | ENG | Marcus Neill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| – | FW | VIC | Aaron Cartwright | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |