The 2019–20 W-League season was the twelfth season of the W-League, the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n national women's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

competition. Nine teams competed in the league, with most of the players from Australia but 33 of them from 11 other countries. Melbourne City was undefeated through the regular season, the third time this has occurred in the W-League and the second time it has been achieved by Melbourne City. The

2019–20 Australian bushfire season The 201920 Australian bushfire season commenced with serious uncontrolled fires in June 2019. , fires this season have burned an estimated , destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. An estimated o ...

has had a significant impact on the season. Apart from the need to defer a few matches, there were a number of matches that were played in a smoke haze, with some players requiring

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

medication during the matches. The grand final was played behind closed doors, due to the impacts from the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Aust ...

. The season was also notable for the number of high-profile players who left the W-League to join English teams. This included

Sam Kerr Samantha May Kerr (born 10 September 1993) is an Australian professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Women's Super League club Chelsea F.C. Women, Chelsea, and the Australia ...

moving to Chelsea, Hayley Raso to Everton,

Caitlin Foord Caitlin Jade Foord (born 11 November 1994) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Women's Super League club Arsenal W.F.C., Arsenal and the Australian women's national soccer team, ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and Chloe Logarzo to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

Clubs

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Transfers

Foreign players

The following do not fill a Visa position:
^A Australian citizens who have chosen to represent another national team;
^G Guest Players;
^R Injury Replacement Players, or National Team Replacement Players

Regular season

The regular season runs from 14 November 2019 to 1 March 2020, including a two-week break at the end of January and beginning of February. The season consists of 12 matches per team, 6 home and 6 away, usually with one match per week for each team. Because the league has an odd number of teams, at least one team each week does not play. In most weeks, the league has scheduled one match on Thursday and the remaining matches on Saturday and Sunday. To date, two matches have had to be rescheduled due to bushfires, either because of direct fire threat or because of smoke.

League table

Results

Fixtures

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Finals series

The grand final was played behind closed doors, due to the impacts from the

Semi-finals

Grand final

Regular season statistics

Top scorers

Own goals

Hat-tricks

Clean sheets

Monthly awards

End-of-season awards

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2019–20 Dolan Warren Awards night on 23 July 2020. *

Julie Dolan Medal The Julie Dolan Medal is awarded annually to the player voted to be the best player in the highest women's soccer league in Australia. The medal has been presented to players in the W-League (retitled A-League Women) and previously in the Women's ...

– Kristen Hamilton (

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

) * NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Ellie Carpenter ( Melbourne City) * Golden Boot Award – Morgan Andrews (

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

), Kristen Hamilton (

), Remy Siemsen (

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

), and

Natasha Dowie Natasha Khalila Dowie (born 30 June 1988) is an English former Association football, footballer. She represented the England women's national football team at the youth level before making her senior international debut in 2009. Dowie played fo ...

(

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

) (7 goals) * Goalkeeper of the Year – Aubrey Bledsoe (

) and Lydia Williams ( Melbourne City) * Coach of the Year –

Rado Vidošić Rado Vidošić (born 4 April 1961) is a Croatian Australian soccer manager. He is currently Head of Women's and Girl's coaching at WSL club Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. Managerial career Brisbane Roar Vidošić had served as the assistant co ...

( Melbourne City) * Fair Play Award –

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

, and

* Referee of the Year – Rebecca Durcau * Goal of the Year –

Amy Jackson Amy Louise Jackson Westwick (née Jackson; born 31 January 1992) is a British actress and model known for her work in Indian films. She predominantly works in Tamil films but has appeared in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and English films. Jackson's ...

(

, 28 December 2019)

International competition

The W-League was represented in the first edition of the AFC Women's Club Championship, which took place from 26 to 30 November 2019 in

Yongin Yongin (; ) is a city in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, the largest in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. With a population over 1 million, the city has developed rapidly since the 21st century, recording the highest population growth of any city in th ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

were invited to participate in the tournament, as the Premiers of the 2018–19 season. They finished in last place with one point from their 3 matches. As Premiers in 2019–20, Melbourne City qualify to the 2020 AFC Women's Club Championship.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 W-League A-League Women seasons W-League W-League