2017–18 Melbourne City FC season

Melbourne City FC 2017–18
Club information
Manager	Warren Joyce
League Season information
Highest position	1st
lowest position	4th
Points	43
Goals for	40
Goals against	31
Goals difference	+2
Cup placements
A-League	3rd
A-League Finals Series
FFA Cup	Quarter-finals
Season statistics
Matches played	29 (8 friendlies)
Top goalscorer	League: Ross McCormack (14 goals) All: Ross McCormack (14 goals)
Biggest home win	5–0 vs Adelaide United (21 January 2018)
Biggest away win	0–3 vs Newcastle Jets (1 April 2018)
Biggest home attendance	22,515 vs Melbourne Victory (23 December 2017)
Biggest away attendance	35,792 vs Melbourne Victory (14 October 2017)
← 2016–17	2018–19 →

The 2017–18 Melbourne City FC season is the club's eighth season since its establishment in 2009. The club will compete in the A-League for the eighth time and in the FFA Cup for the fourth time.

On 19 June 2017, Warren Joyce was appointed manager of the club, Joyce having previously managed the Manchester United Reserves, Royal Antwerp and Wigan Athletic.

Players

Squad information

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK Dean Bouzanis 2 DF Manny Muscat 3 DF Scott Jamieson 4 DF Harrison Delbridge 5 DF Bart Schenkeveld 6 DF Osama Malik 7 FW Nick Fitzgerald 8 MF Oliver Bozanic 10 MF Dario Vidošić 11 MF Bruce Kamau 13 MF Stefan Mauk (On loan from N.E.C.) 14 FW Daniel Arzani 15 MF Denis Genreau 18 GK Eugene Galekovic

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF Christian Cavallo 21 DF Ruon Tongyik 22 DF Michael Jakobsen 23 FW Bruno Fornaroli (Captain) 25 DF Iacopo La Rocca 26 MF Luke Brattan (On loan from Manchester City) 27 MF Marcin Budziński 30 FW Moudi Najjar (Scholarship) 34 MF Connor Metcalfe (Scholarship) 35 MF Ramy Najjarine (Scholarship) 36 DF Dylan Pierias 42 GK James Delianov (Scholarship)

Transfers in

No.	Position	Player	Transferred from	Type/fee	Contract length	Date
18	1 !GK	Galekovic, EugeneEugene Galekovic	Adelaide United	Free transfer	2 years	16 June 2017
3	2 !DF	Jamieson, ScottScott Jamieson	IFK Göteborg ! IFK Göteborg	Free transfer	4 years	3 July 2017
25	2 !DF	La Rocca, Iacopo ! Iacopo La Rocca	Adelaide United	Free transfer	2 years	15 July 2017
30	4 !FW	Roberts, JohnJohn Roberts	FFA Centre of Excellence ! FFA Centre of Excellence	Free transfer	2 years	18 July 2017
35	3 !MF	Najjarine, RamyRamy Najjarine	Western Sydney Wanderers	Free transfer	3 years	18 July 2017
13	3 !MF	Mauk, StefanStefan Mauk	N.E.C. ! N.E.C.	Loan	1 year	26 July 2017
5	3 !DF	Schenkeveld, BartBart Schenkeveld	N.E.C. ! PEC Zwolle	Transfer	3 years	21 August 2017
9	3 !MF	Carrusca, Marcelo ! Marcelo Carrusca	Adelaide United	Free transfer	1 year	12 September 2017
27	3 !MF	Budziński, Marcin ! Marcin Budziński	Cracovia ! Cracovia	Free transfer	2 years	18 September 2017
44	4 !FW	McCormack, Ross ! Ross McCormack	Aston Villa	Injury replacement loan		29 September 2017
4	2 !DF	Delbridge, HarrisonHarrison Delbridge	Cincinnati ! FC Cincinnati	Free transfer	3 years	28 November 2017
10	3 !MF	Vidošić, DarioDario Vidošić		Free trasnfer	1.5 years	29 December 2017
8	3 !MF	Bozanic, OliverOliver Bozanic		Free transfer	6 months	10 February 2018
30	4 !FW	Najjar, MoudiMoudi Najjar	Western Sydney Wanderers	Free transfer	2 years	13 February 2018

Transfers out

No.	Position	Player	Transferred to	Type/fee	Date
9	3 !MF	Colazo, Nicolás ! Nicolás Colazo	Boca Juniors ! Boca Juniors	Loan return	1 May 2017
3	2 !DF	Rose, JoshuaJoshua Rose	Unattached	End of contract	1 May 2017
7	4 !FW	Gameiro, CoreyCorey Gameiro	Unattached	End of contract	1 May 2017
28	4 !FW	Kuzmanovski, SteveSteve Kuzmanovski	Unattached	End of contract	1 May 2017
18	3 !MF	Retre, PauloPaulo Retre	Unattached	End of contract	16 June 2017
5	2 !DF	Franjic, IvanIvan Franjic	Daegu FC ! Daegu FC	Free transfer	19 July 2017
1	1 !GK	Sørensen, Thomas ! Thomas Sørensen	Retired		25 July 2017
10	3 !MF	Cáceres, AnthonyAnthony Cáceres	Manchester City ! Manchester City	Loan return	29 July 2017
17	4 !FW	Cahill, TimTim Cahill		Mutual contract termination	6 December 2017
10	3 !MF	Brandán, Fernando ! Fernando Brandán	Temperley ! Temperley	Loan return	18 December 2017
30	4 !FW	Roberts, JohnJohn Roberts	Western Sydney Wanderers	Mutual contract termination	4 January 2018
9	3 !MF	Carrusca, Marcelo ! Marcelo Carrusca	Western Sydney Wanderers	Mutual contract termination	11 January 2018
44	4 !FW	McCormack, Ross ! Ross McCormack	Aston Villa ! Aston Villa	Loan return	25 January 2018
12	4 !FW	Crowley, BraedynBraedyn Crowley		Mutual contract termination	13 February 2018

Contract extensions

No.	Name	Position	Duration	Date
10	Anthony Cáceres	Central midfielder	1 year	16 June 2017
26	Luke Brattan	Central midfielder	1 year	1 August 2017

Technical staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Warren Joyce
Assistant Coach	Michael Valkanis
Assistant Coach	Joe Montemurro
Goalkeeping Coach	Jess Vanstrattan
Head of Sport Science	Edward Leng
Club Physio	Belinda Pacella
Youth Team Manager	Joe Palatsides
Youth Team Assistant	Patrick Kisnorbo

Statistics

Squad statistics

N	P	Nat.	Name	Total					A-League					FFA Cup
				Apps	Goals				Apps	Goals				Apps	Goals
1	GK		Dean Bouzanis	16	0	1	0	0	14+0	0	1	0	0	2+0	0	0	0	0
2	DF		Manny Muscat	20	1	7	0	1	13+4	1	7	0	1	3+0	0	0	0	0
3	DF		Scott Jamieson	21	0	3	0	0	20+1	0	3	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
4	DF		Harrison Delbridge	8	0	1	0	1	5+3	0	1	0	1	0+0	0	0	0	0
5	DF		Bart Schenkeveld	22	0	6	1	0	20+0	0	6	1	0	2+0	0	0	0	0
6	DF		Osama Malik	18	0	1	1	1	16+0	0	1	1	1	2+0	0	0	0	0
7	FW		Nick Fitzgerald	23	1	2	0	0	16+4	0	2	0	0	3+0	1	0	0	0
8	MF		Oliver Bozanic	2	0	0	0	0	2+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
10	MF		Dario Vidošić	9	3	0	0	0	9+0	3	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
11	MF		Bruce Kamau	18	3	0	0	0	11+5	3	0	0	0	2+0	0	0	0	0
13	MF		Stefan Mauk	18	3	1	0	0	14+1	2	1	0	0	3+0	1	0	0	0
14	FW		Daniel Arzani	13	2	1	0	0	8+3	2	1	0	0	1+1	0	0	0	0
15	MF		Denis Genreau	2	1	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0+1	1	0	0	0
18	GK		Eugene Galekovic	9	0	0	0	0	8+0	0	0	0	0	1+0	0	0	0	0
19	DF		Christian Cavallo	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
21	DF		Ruon Tongyik	2	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	1+1	0	0	0	0
22	DF		Michael Jakobsen	25	1	4	0	0	22+0	0	4	0	0	3+0	1	0	0	0
23	FW		Bruno Fornaroli	5	2	0	0	0	1+2	1	0	0	0	2+0	1	0	0	0
25	DF		Iacopo La Rocca	13	0	2	0	0	12+0	0	2	0	0	1+0	0	0	0	0
26	MF		Luke Brattan	23	1	3	0	0	17+3	1	3	0	0	1+2	0	0	0	0
27	MF		Marcin Budziński	15	5	2	0	0	7+8	5	2	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
30	FW		Moudi Najjar†	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
34	MF		Connor Metcalfe†	1	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
35	MF		Ramy Najjarine†	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
36	DF		Dylan Pierias	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
37	MF		Nathaniel Atkinson	11	0	1	0	0	9+1	0	1	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0
38	MF		Joshua Cavallo	1	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0
39	MF		Anthony Lesiotis	1	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0
40	GK		Yaren Sozer†	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
42	GK		James Delianov†	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
Players no longer at the club:
8	MF		Neil Kilkenny	6	0	1	0	0	0+3	0	0	0	0	3+0	0	1	0	0
9	MF		Marcelo Carrusca	4	0	0	0	0	0+3	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0
10	FW		Fernando Brandán	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
12	FW		Braedyn Crowley	3	0	0	0	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0
17	FW		Tim Cahill	7	0	0	0	0	1+5	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0
30	FW		John Roberts	0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0
44	FW		Ross McCormack	17	14	2	0	0	14+3	14	2	0	0	0+0	0	0	0	0

Last updated: 2 March 2018 Source: au.soccerway.com = Number of bookings; = Number of sending offs after a second yellow card; = Number of sending offs by a direct red card.

† = Scholarship or NPL/NYL-listed player

Pre-season and friendlies

18 July 2017	Oakleigh Cannons	0–10	Melbourne City	Melbourne, Australia
19:30 AEST		Report	Fitzgerald  18', 67' Fornaroli  28', 35' (pen.), 43', 62', 69' Brattan  30' Genreau  66' Atkinson  90'	Stadium: Jack Edwards Reserve

25 July 2017	Bentleigh Greens	0–2	Melbourne City	Melbourne, Australia
19:30 AEST		Report	Fitzgerald  86', 90'	Stadium: Kingston Heath Soccer Complex

16 August 2017	Melbourne City	3–2	Central Coast Mariners	Melbourne, Australia
	Arzani  11' Fitzgerald  53' Fornaroli  61'	Report	Hoole  23', 55'	Stadium: City Football Academy Attendance: 0 (behind closed doors)

23 August 2017	Melbourne City	1–3	Newcastle Jets	Melbourne, Australia
	Jakobsen  56'	Report	Nabbout  22' O'Donovan  40' Champness  42'	Stadium: City Football Academy Attendance: 0 (behind closed doors)

5 September 2017	Melbourne City	1–2	Adelaide United	Melbourne, Australia
	Mauk  60'	Report	Blackwood  70' (pen.) O'Doherty  120'	Stadium: City Football Academy Attendance: 0 (behind closed doors)

22 September 2017	Melbourne City	1–0	Western Sydney Wanderers	Shepparton, Australia
19:30 AEST	Arzani  21' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: McEwen Reserve Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Jonathan Barreiro

29 September 2017	Adelaide United	0–2	Melbourne City	Adelaide, Australia
		Report	Fitzgerald  42' Mauk  55'	Stadium: Coopers Stadium Attendance: 0 (behind closed door)

6 February 2018	Melbourne City	1–4	Guangzhou R&F	Melbourne, Australia
17:00 AEDT	Fornaroli  15'	Report	Zahavi  25', 71' Urso  30' Lu  55'	Stadium: City Football Academy

Competitions

Overall

Competition	Started round	Current position / round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
A-League	—	4th		6 October 2017	14 April 2018
FFA Cup	Round of 32	—	Quarter-finals	1 August 2017	13 September 2017

A-League

Main article: 2017–18 A-League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Sydney FC	27	20	4	3	64	22	+42	64	Qualification to Champions League group stage and Finals series
2	Newcastle Jets	27	15	5	7	57	37	+20	50	Qualification to Champions League second preliminary round and Finals series
3	Melbourne City	27	13	4	10	41	33	+8	43	Qualification to Finals series
4	Melbourne Victory  (C)	27	12	5	10	43	37	+6	41	Qualification to Champions League group stage and Finals series
5	Adelaide United	27	11	6	10	36	38	−2	39	Qualification to Finals series
6	Brisbane Roar	27	10	5	12	33	39	−6	35
7	Western Sydney Wanderers	27	8	9	10	38	47	−9	33
8	Perth Glory	27	10	2	15	35	47	−12	32
9	Wellington Phoenix	27	5	6	16	31	55	−24	21
10	Central Coast Mariners	27	4	8	15	28	49	−21	20

Updated to games played on complete
Source: A-League
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
23	10	4	9	33	31	+2	34	5	2	5	16	15	+1	5	2	4	17	16	+1

Last updated: 16 March 2018
Source: ultimatealeague.com

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	W	W	W	W	L	D	L	L	W	W	L	L	L	W	W	D	W	D	W	L	L	L	D
Position	2	1	1	1	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4

Last updated: 18 March 2018.
Source: ultimatealeague.com
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Lose; W = Win; P = Postponed.
      Win       Draw       Loss

Matches

Source: Click here for Melbourne City FC 2017/18 fixtures

1 6 October 2017	Melbourne City	2–0	Brisbane Roar	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT	Muscat 21' Kamau  45', 74' McCormack 56'	Report	D'Agostino 23' Khalfallah 47'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 9,589 Referee: Jarred Gillett

2 14 October 2017	Melbourne Victory	1–2	Melbourne City	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT	George  55'	Report	Budziński  45+3' Kamau  64'	Stadium: Etihad Stadium Attendance: 35,792 Referee: Peter Green

3 21 October 2017	Melbourne City	1–0	Wellington Phoenix	Melbourne
17:35 AEDT	McCormack  69'	Report		Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 9,091 Referee: Jonathan Barreiro

4 28 October 2017	Adelaide United	0–2	Melbourne City	Adelaide
19:20 ACDT		Report	McCormack  11' (pen.), 16'	Stadium: Coopers Stadium Attendance: 11,689 Referee: Kurt Ams

5 3 November 2017	Melbourne City	0–1	Sydney FC	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT		Report	Wilkshire  59'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 11,034 Referee: Jarred Gillett

6 12 November 2017	Melbourne City	1–1	Western Sydney Wanderers	Melbourne
19:00 AEDT	McCormack  55'		Sotirio  19'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 7,516 Referee: Jonathan Barreiro

7 17 November 2017	Brisbane Roar	3–1	Melbourne City	Brisbane
18:50 AEST	Papadopoulos  5', 70' Bauthéac  43'	Report	Mauk  54'	Stadium: Suncorp Stadium Attendance: 9,285 Referee: Chris Beath

8 24 November 2017	Melbourne City	1–3	Perth Glory	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT	McCormack  31'	Report	Nichols  12' Torres  43' Mallia  83'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 6,963 Referee: Daniel Elder

9 2 December 2017	Newcastle Jets	1–2	Melbourne City	Newcastle
19:50 AEDT	Nabbout  32'	Report	McCormack  40' (pen.) Muscat  86'	Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium Attendance: 8,108 Referee: Shaun Evans

10 10 December 2017	Melbourne City	1–0	Central Coast Mariners	Melbourne
19:00 AEDT	McCormack  59'	Report		Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 7,170 Referee: Jarred Gillett

11 15 December 2017	Sydney FC	3–1	Melbourne City	Sydney
19:50 AEDT	Mierzejewski  44' Bobô  45+3' Brosque  90+6'	Report	Brattan  36'	Stadium: Allianz Stadium Attendance: 10,668 Referee: Shaun Evans

12 23 December 2017	Melbourne City	0–1	Melbourne Victory	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT		Report	Milligan  90+5' (pen.)	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 22,515 Referee: Jarred Gillett

13 1 January 2018	Western Sydney Wanderers	2–1	Melbourne City	Sydney
19:50 AEDT	Riera  30' Bridge  32'	Report	McCormack  25'	Stadium: ANZ Stadium Attendance: 11,628 Referee: Peter Green

14 6 January 2018	Melbourne City	2–1	Wellington Phoenix	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT	McCormack  72', 80'	Report	Krishna  42'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 5,207 Referee: Adam Kersey

15 9 January 2018	Perth Glory	0–2	Melbourne City	Perth
19:00 AWST		Report	McCormack  9', 38' (pen.)	Stadium: nib Stadium Attendance: 8,016 Referee: Jarred Gillett

16 14 January 2018	Central Coast Mariners	2–2	Melbourne City	Gosford
17:00 AEDT	Baró  13' McGing  50'	Report	McCormack  42' Budziński  86'	Stadium: Central Coast Stadium Attendance: 6,263 Referee: Adam Kersey

17 25 January 2018	Melbourne City	5–0	Adelaide United	Melbourne
19:00 AEDT	Budziński  30', 35' Vidošić  90+2' McCormack  90+6'	Report		Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 8,103 Referee: Adam Fielding

18 21 January 2018	Melbourne City	2–2	Newcastle Jets	Melbourne
19:00 AEDT	Arzani  43' (pen.) Vidošić  82'	Report	Topor-Stanley  3' Hoffman  70'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 7,790 Referee: Kurt Ams

19 4 February 2018	Brisbane Roar	1–2	Melbourne City	Brisbane
18:00 AEST	Maccarone  14'	Report	Budziński  19' Mauk  66'	Stadium: Suncorp Stadium Attendance: 9,150 Referee: Jonathan Barreiro

20 10 February 2018	Melbourne City	0–4	Sydney FC	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT		Report	Bobô  32' (pen.), 65' Ninković  43' Mierzejewski  79'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 8,587 Referee: Kurt Ams

21 24 February 2018	Perth Glory	2–1	Melbourne City	Perth
19:00 AWST	Kilkenny  85' Taggart  90+7'	Report	Arzani  44'	Stadium: nib Stadium Attendance: 8,029 Referee: Shaun Evans

22 2 March 2018	Melbourne City	1–2	Melbourne Victory	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT	Fornaroli  54' (pen.)	Report	Barbarouses  12' George  62'	Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 20,083 Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones

23 16 March 2018	Adelaide United	1–1	Melbourne City	Adelaide
19:20 ACDT	Absalonsen  45+1'	Report	Mauk  53'	Stadium: Coopers Stadium Attendance: 7,668 Referee: Chris Beath

24 24 March 2018	Melbourne City	v	Western Sydney Wanderers	Melbourne
19:50 AEDT				Stadium: AAMI Park

25 1 April 2018	Newcastle Jets	v	Melbourne City	Newcastle
17:00 AEST				Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium

26 7 April 2018	Melbourne City	v	Central Coast Mariners	Melbourne
19:50 AEST				Stadium: AAMI Park

27 14 April 2018	Wellington Phoenix	v	Melbourne City	Wellington
19:35 NZST				Stadium: Westpac Stadium

FFA Cup

Main article: 2017 FFA Cup

Round of 32 1 August 2017	Peninsula Power	0–2	Melbourne City	Brisbane
19:30 AEST		Report	Mauk  45+1' Fornaroli  90+1'	Stadium: Dolphin Oval Attendance: 4,017 Referee: Lara Lee

Round of 16 29 August 2017	Hakoah Sydney City East	2–3	Melbourne City	Sydney
19:30 AEST	De Jong  10' Green  90+2'	Report	Jakobsen  8' Fitzgerald  13' Genreau  62'	Stadium: Leichhardt Oval Attendance: 2,915 Referee: Adrian Arndt

Quarter-finals 13 September 2017	Sydney FC	2–0	Melbourne City	Sydney
19:30 AEST	Buijs  7' Brosque  51'	Report		Stadium: Leichhardt Oval Attendance: 4,102 Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones

External links

• Official Website

Melbourne City FC seasons

2010–11 · 2011-12 · 2012-13 · 2013-14 · 2014-15 · 2015-16 · 2016-17 · 2017-18 ·

2017–18 in Australian football
Domestic leagues
A-League · National Premier Leagues ('17, '18) · FFA Cup ('17, '18) (Preliminary Rounds ('17, '18) * Final ('17, '18)) · Australian Capital Territory ('17, '18) · New South Wales ('17, '18) · Northern NSW ('17, '18) · Queensland ('17, '18) · South Australia ('17, '18) · Tasmania ('17, '18) · Victoria ('17, '18) · Western Australia ('17, '18)
European competitions
Champions League ('17, '18)
Club seasons
Adelaide United · Brisbane Roar · Melbourne City · Melbourne Victory · Newcastle Jets · Perth Glory · Sydney · Wellington Phoenix · Western Sydney Wanderers
2016–17                                                        2018–19