The A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year is an annual

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

award given to the player aged 23 or under at the start of the season who has been judged to have had the best season of any young player in the

A-League Men A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. 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 Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

midfielder Nick Ward. As of 2017,

Mathew Ryan Mathew David Ryan (born 8 April 1992) is an Australian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Danish club F.C. Copenhagen and captains the Australia men's national soccer t ...

and

Jamie Maclaren Jamie Maclaren (born 29 July 1993) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a striker for A-League club Melbourne City. He has also previously played for Darmstadt 98, Perth Glory, Brisbane Roar and Hibernian. Maclaren initial ...

are the only players to have won the award on more than one occasion.

Marco Rojas Marco Rodrigo Rojas (born 5 November 1991) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a forward for Chilean side Colo-Colo and the New Zealand national team. During his time in the A-League with Melbourne Victory, Rojas was dubbed ...

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 The Johnny Warren Medal is awarded to the best player of the Australian national soccer club competition. It was first awarded in the National Soccer League in 1990, and upon the NSL's demise in November 2004, was carried forward into the new na ...

, 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.

Winners

The award has been presented on 18 occasions as of 2023, with 16 different winners.

Breakdown of winners

By nationality

By club

References

{{A-League A-League Men trophies and awards Australian soccer trophies and awards Association football young player of the year awards Rookie player awards

Winners

Breakdown of winners

By nationality

By club

See also

References