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A-League

Season	2015–16
Dates	8 October 2015 – 1 May 2016
Champions	Adelaide United (1st title)
Premiers	Adelaide United (2nd title)
Champions League	Adelaide United Western Sydney Wanderers Brisbane Roar
Matches played	135
Goals scored	421 (3.12 per match)
Top goalscorer	Bruno Fornaroli (25 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Thomas Sørensen
Biggest home win	Brisbane Roar 5–0 Melbourne Victory (12 March 2016)
Biggest away win	Newcastle Jets 1–6 Perth Glory (24 January 2016)
Highest scoring	Perth Glory 6–3 Brisbane Roar (20 February 2016)
Longest winning run	Western Sydney Wanderers (7 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Adelaide United (14 games)
Longest winless run	Central Coast Mariners Sydney FC (11 games)
Longest losing run	Central Coast Mariners (6 games)
Highest attendance	40,539 Sydney FC vs. Western Sydney Wanderers (24 October 2015)
Lowest attendance	4,514 Central Coast Mariners vs. Melbourne City (3 December 2015)
Average attendance	12,309 ( 205)
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 A-League was the 39th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 11th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. Melbourne Victory were both the defending A-League Premiers and Champions. The regular season schedule was released on 29 June 2015. The season commenced on 8 October 2015 and concluded on 10 April 2016. The finals series commenced on 15 April 2016 and concluded with the 2016 Grand Final, held on 1 May 2016.

The 2016 Grand Final took place on 1 May 2016, with Adelaide United claiming their first Championship with a 3–1 win against Western Sydney Wanderers.

Clubs

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Kit partner
Adelaide United	Guillermo Amor	Eugene Galekovic	Kappa	Veolia
Brisbane Roar	John Aloisi	Matt McKay	Umbro	Steadfast
Central Coast Mariners	Tony Walmsley	Nick Montgomery	Kappa	Masterfoods
Melbourne City	John van 't Schip	Patrick Kisnorbo	Nike	Etihad
Melbourne Victory	Kevin Muscat	Carl Valeri	Adidas	Community Training Initiatives (h) Oliana Foods (a)
Newcastle Jets	Scott Miller	Nigel Boogaard	BLK	Beechwood Homes (h) Inspirations Paints (a)
Perth Glory	Kenny Lowe	Richard Garcia	Macron	QBE Insurance
Sydney FC	Graham Arnold	Alex Brosque	Puma	The Star
Wellington Phoenix	Ernie Merrick	Andrew Durante	Adidas	Huawei
Western Sydney Wanderers	Tony Popovic	Nikolai Topor-Stanley	Nike	NRMA Insurance

• Additionally, referee kits are made by Umbro.

Transfers

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Brisbane Roar	Frans Thijssen	Resigned	26 May 2015	Pre-season	John Aloisi	26 May 2015
Newcastle Jets	Phil Stubbins	Sacked	26 May 2015		Scott Miller	18 June 2015
Adelaide United	Josep Gombau	Resigned	24 July 2015		Guillermo Amor	24 July 2015

Foreign players

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Visa 5	Non-Visa foreigner(s)	Former player(s)
Adelaide United	Marcelo Carrusca	Iacopo La Rocca	Sergio Cirio	Isaías	Pablo Sánchez
Brisbane Roar	Jean Carlos Solórzano	Thomas Broich	Jérome Polenz	Corona	Javier Hervás	Henrique Jamie Young Jack Hingert
Central Coast Mariners	Daniel Heffernan	Roy O'Donovan	Fábio Ferreira	Nick Montgomery	Luis García	Mitch Austin Storm Roux Brad McDonald
Melbourne City	Thomas Sørensen	Harry Novillo	Aaron Hughes	Bruno Fornaroli		Wade Dekker	Robert Koren
Melbourne Victory	Besart Berisha	Guilherme Finkler	Matthieu Delpierre	Kosta Barbarouses	Fahid Ben Khalfallah	Daniel Georgievski
Newcastle Jets	Leonardo	Mateo Poljak	Morten Nordstrand	Enver Alivodić			Miloš Trifunović Lee Ki-je
Perth Glory	György Sándor	Andy Keogh	Nebojša Marinković	Diego Castro		Krisztián Vadócz	Sidnei Guyon Fernandez
Sydney FC	Jacques Faty	Mickaël Tavares	Miloš Dimitrijević	Miloš Ninković	Filip Hološko	Vedran Janjetović Ali Abbas Shane Smeltz
Wellington Phoenix	Roly Bonevacia	Roy Krishna	Albert Riera	Alex Rodriguez		Manny Muscat	Jeffrey Sarpong
Western Sydney Wanderers	Federico Piovaccari	Romeo Castelen	Alberto	Andreu	Dimas

The following do not fill a Visa position:
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);
Australian citizens (and New Zealand citizens, in the case of Wellington Phoenix) who have chosen to represent another national team;
Injury Replacement Players, or National Team Replacement Players;
Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of fourteen games)

Salary cap exemptions and captains

Club	First Marquee	Second Marquee	Mature Age Rookie	Loyalty Players	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	Eugene Galekovic	Marcelo Carrusca	None	None	Eugene Galekovic	Bruce Djite
Brisbane Roar	Matt McKay	Thomas Broich	None	None	Matt McKay	Shane Stefanutto
Central Coast Mariners	Luis García	None	None	None	Nick Montgomery	None
Melbourne City	Aaron Mooy	None	Wade Dekker	None	Patrick Kisnorbo	None
Melbourne Victory	Oliver Bozanic	Besart Berisha	Jai Ingham	Archie Thompson	Carl Valeri	Leigh Broxham
Newcastle Jets	None	None	None	None	Nigel Boogaard	Mateo Poljak
Perth Glory	Diego Castro	Michael Thwaite	None	None	Richard Garcia	None
Sydney FC	Alex Brosque	Filip Hološko	Alex Mullen	None	Alex Brosque	Shane Smeltz Jacques Faty
Wellington Phoenix	None	None	Troy Danaskos	None	Andrew Durante	Ben Sigmund
Western Sydney Wanderers	Dario Vidošić	Federico Piovaccari	None	None	Nikolai Topor-Stanley	Mark Bridge

The following concessions to the salary cap were introduced for this season:

• A Loyalty allowance on a sliding scale for players who have played 5 years at the same club. Maximum $200,000 for 10 years.
• A Mature Aged Rookie over the age of 21 who has not played in a fully professional league for the last 18 months and last played football in Australia.
• Each Club can pay three players who started their careers with the club outside the Salary Cap. This season the total has been lifted from $150,000 to $200,000.
• The two Marquee Players (which sit outside the Salary Cap) can be two foreigners.
• Salary Cap Banking will allow clubs to carry over money not spent inside the Salary Cap in the previous two seasons to the following season, up to 105% of the Salary Cap in the relevant contract year.

Regular season

League table

1. Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Results

Finals series

The Grand Final winner (Champion) qualified for the 2017 AFC Champions League group stage

Elimination-finals

15 April 2016	Brisbane Roar	2–1	Melbourne Victory	Brisbane
19:30 AEST	McKay 88' Broich 90+3'	Report	Berisha 86'	Stadium: Suncorp Stadium Attendance: 20,157 Referee: Jarred Gillett

Semi-finals

22 April 2016	Adelaide United	4–1	Melbourne City	Adelaide
19:00 ACST	Djite 48', 60' (pen.) McGowan 88' Sánchez 90+4'	Report	Fitzgerald 72'	Stadium: Coopers Stadium Attendance: 15,489 Referee: Strebre Delovski

24 April 2016	Western Sydney Wanderers	5–4 (a.e.t.)	Brisbane Roar	Parramatta
16:30 AEST	Castelen 26', 53', 59' Šantalab 39' Vidošić 102'	Report	D. Petratos 16' (pen.) Andreu 20' (o.g.) Maclaren 23', 81'	Stadium: Pirtek Stadium Attendance: 20,084 Referee: Peter Green

Grand Final

1 May 2016	Adelaide United	3–1	Western Sydney Wanderers	Adelaide
15:30 ACST	Kamau 21' Isaías 32' Sánchez 89'	Report	Neville 58'	Stadium: Adelaide Oval Attendance: 50,119 Referee: Jarred Gillett Man of the Match: Isaías

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 10 April 2016.

By round

Source:

Club membership

Last updated: 10 April 2016.
Source: aleague.com.au

Player stats

Top scorers

As of matches played on 10 April 2016

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bruno Fornaroli	Melbourne City	23
2	Jamie Maclaren	Brisbane Roar	18
3	Besart Berisha	Melbourne Victory	17
4	Diego Castro	Perth Glory	13
5	Aaron Mooy	Melbourne City	11
6	Filip Hološko	Sydney FC	10
	Andy Keogh	Perth Glory
	Mitch Nichols	Western Sydney Wanderers
	Harry Novillo	Melbourne City
	Brendon Šantalab	Western Sydney Wanderers

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Blake Powell	Wellington Phoenix	Western Sydney Wanderers	5–2	14 February 2016
Bruno Fornaroli	Melbourne City	Sydney FC	3–0	5 March 2016
Jamie Maclaren	Brisbane Roar	Melbourne Victory	5–0	12 March 2016
Romeo Castelen	Western Sydney Wanderers	Brisbane Roar	5–4	24 April 2016

Note

Player scored 4 goals

Own goals

As of matches played on 10 April 2016

Player	Club	Against	Round
Lee Ki-je	Newcastle Jets	Wellington Phoenix	1
Andreu	Western Sydney Wanderers	Adelaide United	2
Diogo Ferreira	Perth Glory	Adelaide United	3
Andrew Durante	Wellington Phoenix	Melbourne Victory	4
Manny Muscat	Wellington Phoenix	Adelaide United	12
Jake McGing	Central Coast Mariners	Sydney FC	12
Patrick Kisnorbo	Melbourne City	Brisbane Roar	12
Aaron Hughes	Melbourne City	Western Sydney Wanderers	14
Tarek Elrich	Adelaide United	Perth Glory	14
Corey Brown	Brisbane Roar	Adelaide United	16
Daniel Mullen	Newcastle Jets	Perth Glory	16
Matthew Jurman	Sydney FC	Melbourne Victory	16
Corona	Brisbane Roar	Sydney FC	17
Enver Alivodić	Newcastle Jets	Brisbane Roar	19
Andrew Durante	Wellington Phoenix	Newcastle Jets	20
Scott Jamieson	Western Sydney Wanderers	Sydney FC	20

Clean sheets

As of matches played on 10 April 2016

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Eugene Galekovic	Adelaide United	12
2	Vedran Janjetović	Sydney FC	8
3	Andrew Redmayne	Western Sydney Wanderers	7
	Danny Vukovic	Melbourne Victory
	Jamie Young	Brisbane Roar
6	Ante Covic	Perth Glory	5
7	Thomas Sørensen	Melbourne City	4
8	Mark Birighitti	Newcastle Jets	3
	Glen Moss	Wellington Phoenix
10	Liam Reddy	Western Sydney Wanderers	2

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
Brisbane Roar	45	1	0	47
Perth Glory	56	4	1	67
Adelaide United	70	0	0	70
Newcastle Jets	57	5	1	70
Sydney FC	64	1	2	72
Wellington Phoenix	68	3	0	74
Western Sydney Wanderers	69	0	2	75
Melbourne City	72	2	1	79
Central Coast Mariners	58	6	3	80
Melbourne Victory	73	1	2	81
League total	632	23	12

Last updated: 9 April 2016.
Source: ultimatealeague.com

End-of-season awards

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2015–16 Dolan Warren Awards night held at the Carriageworks in Sydney on 26 April 2016.

• Johnny Warren Medal – Diego Castro, Perth Glory
• NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Jamie Maclaren, Brisbane Roar
• Nike Golden Boot Award – Bruno Fornaroli, Melbourne City (23 goals)
• Goalkeeper of the Year – Thomas Sørensen, Melbourne City
• Coach of the Year – Guillermo Amor, Adelaide United
• Fair Play Award – Brisbane Roar
• Referee of the Year – Jarred Gillett
• Goal of the Year – Roy O'Donovan, Central Coast Mariners (Adelaide United v Central Coast Mariners, 27 March 2016)

See also

• 2015–16 Adelaide United FC season
• 2015–16 Brisbane Roar FC season
• 2015–16 Central Coast Mariners FC season
• 2015–16 Melbourne City FC season
• 2015–16 Melbourne Victory FC season
• 2015–16 Newcastle Jets FC season
• 2015–16 Perth Glory FC season
• 2015–16 Sydney FC season
• 2015–16 Wellington Phoenix FC season
• 2015–16 Western Sydney Wanderers FC season

References

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• 2015–16 A-League season
• A-League Men seasons
• 2015–16 in Asian association football leagues
• 2015–16 in Australian men's soccer