page_title: A-League Young Footballer of the Year
section_title: Winners
hierarchical_section_title: A-League Young Footballer of the Year / Winners
caption_attribution_description: English: Adrian Leijer playing for Melbourne Victory FC in Round 1 of the 2010-11 A-League against Sydney FC.
context_page_description: The A-League Young Footballer of the Year is an annual soccer award given to the player aged 23 or under at the start of the season who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in the A-League. It is currently called the NAB Young Footballer of the Year for sponsorship purposes. The award has been presented since the 2005–06 season and the winner is chosen by a panel of experts and media representatives. In 2014, the age for eligibility was lifted from 21 to 23. The first winner of the award was Perth Glory midfielder Nick Ward. The current holder is Chris Ikonomidis.
  As of 2017, Mathew Ryan and Jamie Maclaren are the only players to have won the award on more than one occasion. Marco Rojas is the only non-Australian winner of the trophy. Players aged 23 or under at the start of the season remain eligible to win the Johnny Warren Medal, and in 2013 Rojas won both awards.
  Since 2009, one player has been awarded a nomination for the award each month of the season, with the eventual winner then selected from the nominees.
context_section_description: The award has been presented on 14 occasions as of 2019, with 12 different winners.
caption: Adrian Leijer was the second-ever recipient of the award.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1D Mark III", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:08 14:46:45", "Image ExifOffset": "174", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "S", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[33, 53, 52467/2500]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[151, 13, 20172/625]", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[11, 10, 29]", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSDate": "2010:08:08", "Image GPSInfo": "588", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "876", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "13864", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "3200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:08:08 20:21:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:08:08 20:21:25", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1165241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "4294967295", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "79", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "79", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "144000/41", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/23", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}