# 2016–17 A-League

The 2016–17 A-League was the 40th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 12th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 7 October 2016.
Adelaide United were both the defending A-League Premiers and Champions. The 2017 Grand Final took place on 7 May 2017, with Sydney FC claiming their third Championship with a 1–1 (4–2 on penalties) win against Melbourne Victory. Sydney FC also claimed the premiership for the 2016–17 regular season, their second in club history.

## Clubs

| Team | City | Home Ground | Capacity |
| Adelaide United | Adelaide | Coopers Stadium | 17,000 |
| Brisbane Roar | Brisbane | Suncorp Stadium | 52,500 |
| Central Coast Mariners | Gosford | Central Coast Stadium | 20,119 |
| Melbourne City | Melbourne | AAMI Park | 30,050 |
| Melbourne Victory | Melbourne | Etihad Stadium | 56,347 |
| Melbourne Victory | Melbourne | AAMI Park | 30,050 |
| Newcastle Jets | Newcastle | McDonald Jones Stadium | 33,000 |
| Perth Glory | Perth | nib Stadium | 20,500 |
| Sydney FC | Sydney | Allianz Stadium | 45,500 |
| Wellington Phoenix | Wellington | Westpac Stadium | 34,500 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Sydney | ANZ Stadium | 84,000 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Sydney | Spotless Stadium | 24,000 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Kit partner |
| Adelaide United | Guillermo Amor | Eugene Galekovic | Macron | IGA |
| Brisbane Roar | John Aloisi | Matt McKay | Umbro | Steadfast |
| Central Coast Mariners | Paul Okon | Nick Montgomery | Umbro | Masterfoods |
| Melbourne City | Michael Valkanis | Bruno Fornaroli | Nike | Etihad |
| Melbourne Victory | Kevin Muscat | Carl Valeri | Adidas | Optislim |
| Newcastle Jets | Mark Jones | Nigel Boogaard | BLK | Ledman |
| Perth Glory | Kenny Lowe | Rostyn Griffiths | Macron | QBE |
| Sydney FC | Graham Arnold | Alex Brosque | Puma | Webjet |
| Wellington Phoenix | Des Buckingham | Andrew Durante | Adidas | Huawei |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Tony Popovic | Dimas | Nike | NRMA Insurance |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position on table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Central Coast Mariners | Tony Walmsley | Sacked | 8 August 2016 | Pre-season | Paul Okon | 29 August 2016 |
| Newcastle Jets | Scott Miller | Sacked | 7 September 2016 | Pre-season | Mark Jones | 23 September 2016 |
| Wellington Phoenix | Ernie Merrick | Resigned | 5 December 2016 | 10th | Des Buckingham | 5 December 2016 |
| Melbourne City | John van 't Schip | Resigned | 3 January 2017 | 4th | Michael Valkanis | 3 January 2017 |

### Foreign players

| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Visa 3 | Visa 4 | Visa 5 | Non-Visa foreigner(s) | Former player(s) |
| Adelaide United | Marcelo Carrusca | Baba Diawara | Sergio Cirio | Isaías | Kim Jae-sung | Iacopo La Rocca$^1$ | Henrique$^1$ Danny Choi$^3$ Sergi Guardiola |
| Brisbane Roar | Thomas Kristensen | Thomas Broich | Manuel Arana | | | Jamie Young$^2$ Avraam Papadopoulos$^2$ Dane Ingham$^2$ Jack Hingert$^2$ | |
| Central Coast Mariners | Roy O'Donovan | Fábio Ferreira | Jacques Faty | Mickaël Tavares | | Nick Montgomery$^1$ Kwabena Appiah$^2$ Storm Roux$^2$ | Brad McDonald$^2$ |
| Melbourne City | Fernando Brandán | Nicolás Colazo | Michael Jakobsen | Thomas Sørensen | Bruno Fornaroli | Manny Muscat$^2$ | |
| Melbourne Victory | Besart Berisha | Marco Rojas | Alan Baró | Fahid Ben Khalfallah | | Daniel Georgievski$^2$ Jai Ingham$^2$ | Maximilian Beister |
| Newcastle Jets | Ma Leilei | Mateo Poljak | Morten Nordstrand | Wayne Brown | Aleksandr Kokko | Ivan Vujica$^2$ | |
| Perth Glory | Joseph Mills | Andy Keogh | Lucian Goian | Nebojša Marinković | Diego Castro | | Milan Smiljanić |
| Sydney FC | Bobô | Jordy Buijs | Miloš Dimitrijević | Miloš Ninković | Filip Hološko | Nicola Kuleski$^2$ | |
| Wellington Phoenix | Guilherme Finkler | Roly Bonevacia | Roy Krishna | Marco Rossi | Alex Rodriguez | | |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Nicolás Martínez | Jumpei Kusukami | Aritz Borda | Dimas | Bruno Piñatares | | |
The following do not fill a Visa position: $^1$Those 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); $^2$Australian citizens (and New Zealand citizens, in the case of Wellington Phoenix) who have chosen to represent another national team; $^3$Injury Replacement Players, or National Team Replacement Players; $^4$Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of fourteen games)

### Salary cap exemptions and captains

| Club | First Marquee | Second Marquee | Guest Marquee | Mature Age Rookie | Captain | Vice-Captain |
| Adelaide United | Eugene Galekovic | Marcelo Carrusca | None | None | Eugene Galekovic | Marcelo Carrusca |
| Brisbane Roar | Matt McKay | Thomas Broich | None | None | Matt McKay | Jade North |
| Central Coast Mariners | None | None | None | None | Nick Montgomery | None |
| Melbourne City | Bruno Fornaroli | Nicolás Colazo | Tim Cahill | None | Bruno Fornaroli | None |
| Melbourne Victory | Oliver Bozanic | Besart Berisha | None | None | Carl Valeri | Leigh Broxham |
| Newcastle Jets | None | None | None | Joel Allwright | Nigel Boogaard | Mateo Poljak |
| Perth Glory | Diego Castro | None | None | None | Rostyn Griffiths | Andy Keogh |
| Sydney FC | Filip Hološko | Bobô | None | None | Alex Brosque | Alex Wilkinson |
| Wellington Phoenix | Kosta Barbarouses | Guilherme Finkler | None | None | Andrew Durante | None |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | Nicolás Martínez | None | None | None | Dimas | Mitch Nichols |

## Regular season
### 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

| Home \ Away | ADE | BRI | CCM | MBC | MVC | NEW | PER | SYD | WEL | WSW | ADE | BRI | CCM | MBC | MVC | NEW | PER | SYD | WEL | WSW |
| Adelaide United | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–5 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 1–2 | | 2–1 | | | 0–2 | | 1–1 | | 2–2 | 2–2 |
| Brisbane Roar | 4–0 | | 5–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | | | | | 1–0 | | | 0–0 | 4–3 | 2–1 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 2–1 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 1–2 | | 2–3 | | | 2–0 | | | |
| Melbourne City | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | | | | 4–0 | 3–3 | | | |
| Melbourne Victory | 2–1 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 1–4 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 6–1 | 3–0 | | | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 4–2 | 4–1 | | 0–3 | |
| Newcastle Jets | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 2–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | | | | | 0–2 | | |
| Perth Glory | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 5–4 | 2–1 | 1–2 | | 1–4 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 3–1 | | | | 3–2 | | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Sydney FC | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | | | | | |
| Wellington Phoenix | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | | | 1–0 | 1–5 | | 5–0 | | 1–1 | | 1–3 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 3–1 | | | | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | | |

## Finals series

| Elimination-finals | Elimination-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| | | Sydney FC | 3 | | |
| Melbourne City | 0 | Perth Glory | 0 | | |
| Perth Glory | 2 | | | Sydney FC (p) | 1 (4) |
| | | | | Melbourne Victory | 1 (2) |
| | | Melbourne Victory | 1 | | |
| Brisbane Roar (p) | 1 (6) | Brisbane Roar | 0 | | |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 (5) | | | | |

### Grand Final
## 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 16 April 2017.
| Team | Hosted | Average | High | Low | Total |
| Melbourne Victory | 14 | 22,008 | 43,188 | 14,081 | 308,115 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 14 | 17,746 | 61,880 | 7,828 | 248,442 |
| Sydney FC | 13 | 16,001 | 40,143 | 8,380 | 208,008 |
| Brisbane Roar | 13 | 13,892 | 20,198 | 8,113 | 180,601 |
| Melbourne City | 13 | 10,593 | 24,706 | 7,745 | 137,709 |
| Perth Glory | 14 | 10,533 | 13,290 | 8,834 | 147,459 |
| Adelaide United | 14 | 9,565 | 14,908 | 6,642 | 133,905 |
| Newcastle Jets | 13 | 8,645 | 11,873 | 5,642 | 112,380 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 13 | 7,395 | 11,398 | 5,072 | 96,141 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 14 | 6,211 | 10,034 | 4,828 | 86,949 |
| {{{T11}}} | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| {{{T12}}} | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| League total | 135 | 12,294 | 61,880 | 4,828 | 1,659,709 |

#### By round

2016–17 A-League Attendance :
| Round | Total | Games | Avg. Per Game |
| Round 1 | 106,365 | 5 | 21,273 |
| Round 2 | 92,603 | 5 | 18,521 |
| Round 3 | 50,669 | 5 | 10,134 |
| Round 4 | 67,635 | 5 | 13,527 |
| Round 5 | 69,437 | 5 | 13,887 |
| Round 6 | 58,035 | 5 | 11,607 |
| Round 7 | 58,488 | 5 | 11,698 |
| Round 8 | 58,367 | 5 | 11,673 |
| Round 9 | 52,498 | 5 | 10,500 |
| Round 10 | 60,940 | 5 | 12,188 |
| Round 11 | 51,232 | 5 | 10,246 |
| Round 12 | 65,126 | 5 | 13,025 |
| Round 13 | 59,526 | 5 | 11,905 |
| Round 14 | 55,845 | 5 | 11,169 |
| Round 15 | 87,088 | 5 | 17,418 |
| Round 16 | 47,206 | 5 | 9,441 |
| Round 17 | 66,960 | 5 | 13,392 |
| Round 18 | 71,681 | 5 | 14,336 |
| Round 19 | 38,651 | 5 | 7,730 |
| Round 20 | 75,391 | 5 | 15,078 |
| Round 21 | 59,676 | 5 | 11,935 |
| Round 22 | 41,656 | 5 | 8,331 |
| Round 23 | 51,936 | 5 | 10,387 |
| Round 24 | 44,143 | 5 | 8,829 |
| Round 25 | 57,077 | 5 | 11,415 |
| Round 26 | 49,300 | 5 | 9,860 |
| Round 27 | 62,609 | 5 | 12,522 |
| Elimination Final | 27,474 | 2 | 13,737 |
| Semi Final | 42,140 | 2 | 21,070 |
| Grand Final | 41,546 | 1 | 41,546 |

### Club membership

2016–17 A-League membership figures :
| Club | Members |
| Adelaide United | 10,099 |
| Brisbane Roar | 7,050 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 6,265 |
| Melbourne City | 13,078 |
| Melbourne Victory | 26,251 |
| Newcastle Jets | 8,703 |
| Perth Glory | 8,644 |
| Sydney FC | 12,512 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 4,791 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 20,022 |
| Total | 117,415 |
| Average | 11,741 |
Last updated: 16 April 2017. Source: a-league.com.au

### Player stats
#### Top scorers

    As of matches played on 16 April 2017
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Besart Berisha | Melbourne Victory | 19 |
| 1 | Jamie Maclaren | Brisbane Roar | 19 |
| 3 | Bruno Fornaroli | Melbourne City | 17 |
| 4 | Bobô | Sydney FC | 15 |
| 5 | Brendon Santalab | Western Sydney Wanderers | 14 |
| 6 | Diego Castro | Perth Glory | 12 |
| 6 | Andy Keogh | Perth Glory | 12 |
| 6 | Roy Krishna | Wellington Phoenix | 12 |
| 6 | Marco Rojas | Melbourne Victory | 12 |
| 6 | Adam Taggart | Perth Glory | 12 |

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Andy Keogh | Perth Glory | Melbourne City | 3–2 | 21 October 2016 |
| Besart Berisha$^†$ | Melbourne Victory | Wellington Phoenix | 6–1 | 31 October 2016 |
| Besart Berisha$^†$ | Melbourne Victory | Western Sydney Wanderers | 3–0 | 10 December 2016 |
| Brendon Santalab | Western Sydney Wanderers | Melbourne City | 3–1 | 24 March 2017 |
| Jamie Maclaren | Brisbane Roar | Central Coast Mariners | 5–1 | 2 April 2017 |
† - On 24 March 2017 Besart Berisha switched nationalities from Albania to Kosovo.

#### Own goals

    As of matches played on 16 April 2017
| Player | Club | Against | Round |
| Liam Reddy | Perth Glory | Central Coast Mariners | 1 |
| Jack Hingert | Brisbane Roar | Newcastle Jets | 2 |
| Rhyan Grant | Sydney FC | Perth Glory | 6 |
| Neil Kilkenny | Melbourne City | Western Sydney Wanderers | 7 |
| Josh Risdon | Perth Glory | Adelaide United | 7 |
| Iain Fyfe | Newcastle Jets | Melbourne Victory | 8 |
| Jake McGing | Central Coast Mariners | Western Sydney Wanderers | 9 |
| Milan Smiljanić | Perth Glory | Newcastle Jets | 10 |
| Jake McGing | Central Coast Mariners | Melbourne Victory | 12 |
| Carl Valeri | Melbourne Victory | Newcastle Jets | 13 |
| James Donachie | Melbourne Victory | Brisbane Roar | 15 |
| Alan Baró | Melbourne Victory | Melbourne City | 18 |
| Manny Muscat | Melbourne City | Melbourne Victory | 18 |
| Iacopo La Rocca | Adelaide United | Perth Glory | 19 |
| Ryan Lowry | Wellington Phoenix | Melbourne City | 20 |
| Nick Montgomery | Central Coast Mariners | Melbourne City | 22 |
| Ruon Tongyik | Melbourne City | Central Coast Mariners | 22 |
| Jason Hoffman | Newcastle Jets | Wellington Phoenix | 24 |
| Lucian Goian | Perth Glory | Sydney FC | 24 |

#### Clean sheets

    As of matches played on 16 April 2017
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Danny Vukovic | Sydney FC | 15 |
| 2 | Lawrence Thomas | Melbourne Victory | 7 |
| 3 | Vedran Janjetović | Western Sydney Wanderers | 6 |
| 4 | Glen Moss | Wellington Phoenix | 5 |
| 5 | Paul Izzo | Central Coast Mariners | 4 |
| 5 | Michael Theo | Brisbane Roar | 4 |
| 7 | Eugene Galekovic | Adelaide United | 3 |
| 7 | Lewis Italiano | Wellington Phoenix | 3 |
| 7 | Liam Reddy | Perth Glory | 3 |
| 10 | Dean Bouzanis | Melbourne City | 2 |
| 10 | Jack Duncan | Newcastle Jets | 2 |
| 10 | Jamie Young | Brisbane Roar | 2 |
NB - An additional clean sheet was kept by Melbourne City, however this is not listed due to a goalkeeper substitution.

### 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.
| Club | | | | FP Pts |
| Central Coast Mariners | 44 | 1 | 2 | 52 |
| Adelaide United | 52 | 2 | 0 | 56 |
| Brisbane Roar | 51 | 1 | 1 | 56 |
| Newcastle Jets | 55 | 1 | 0 | 57 |
| Melbourne Victory | 56 | 1 | 2 | 64 |
| Sydney FC | 64 | 2 | 0 | 68 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 62 | 2 | 1 | 69 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 58 | 1 | 4 | 72 |
| Perth Glory | 67 | 1 | 2 | 75 |
| Melbourne City | 73 | 1 | 3 | 84 |
| League total | 582 | 13 | 15 | |
Last updated: 16 April 2017. Source: ultimatealeague.com

## End-of-season awards

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2016–17 Dolan Warren Awards night held at the Star Event Centre in Sydney on 1 May 2017.
* Johnny Warren Medal – Miloš Ninković, Sydney FC
* NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Jamie Maclaren, Brisbane Roar
* Nike Golden Boot Award – Besart Berisha, Melbourne Victory & Jamie Maclaren, Brisbane Roar (19 goals each)
* Goalkeeper of the Year – Danny Vukovic, Sydney FC
* Coach of the Year – Graham Arnold, Sydney FC
* Fair Play Award – Central Coast Mariners
* Referee of the Year – Jarred Gillett
* Goal of the Year – Tim Cahill, Melbourne City (Melbourne Victory v Melbourne City, 15 October 2016)