2019–20 W-League

The 2019–20 W-League season was the twelfth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition. Nine teams competed in the league, with most of the players from Australia but 33 of them from 11 other countries.^[1]

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 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 medication during the matches.^[2]

The grand final was played behind closed doors, due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[3]

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 moving to Chelsea, Hayley Raso to Everton, Caitlin Foord to Arsenal and Chloe Logarzo to Bristol City.^[4]

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturers	Kit sponsors
Adelaide United	Ivan Karlović	Amber Brooks[5]	Macron[6]	SA Power Networks[7]
Brisbane Roar	Jake Goodship	Clare Polkinghorne[8]	Umbro[9][10]	Brisbane Airport[11]
Canberra United	Heather Garriock	Nikola Orgill Karly Roestbakken[12]	Viva Teamwear[13][14]	University of Canberra[15][16] Drake International[note 1][17]
Melbourne City	Rado Vidošić	Steph Catley[18]	Puma[19]	Etihad Airways[20]
Melbourne Victory	Jeff Hopkins	Natasha Dowie[21]	Adidas[22]	Back in Motion[23]
Newcastle Jets	Ashley Wilson	Cassidy Davis Gema Simon Clare Wheeler[24]	Viva Teamwear[25]	Greater Bank[26] City of Newcastle[note 2][27]
Perth Glory	Bobby Despotovski	Natasha Rigby[28]	Macron[29]	BHP[30]
Sydney FC	Ante Juric	Teresa Polias[31]	Under Armour[32]	The Star[33]
Western Sydney Wanderers	Dean Heffernan	Erica Halloway[34]	Nike[35]	Intermain[36]

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Position on table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Ref.
Western Sydney Wanderers	Dan Barrett	End of contract	Pre-season	Dean Heffernan	24 April 2019	[37]
Brisbane Roar	Melissa Andreatta	Quit		Jake Goodship	3 September 2019	[38]
Newcastle Jets	Craig Deans	Assigned caretaker of men's squad	7th 8th	Ashley Wilson (interim) (full-time)	13 January 2020 22 February 2020	[39] [40]

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Non-Visa foreigner(s)	Former player(s)
Adelaide United	Lais Araujo	Julia Ashley	Amber Brooks	Mallory Weber
Brisbane Roar	Rylee Baisden	Celeste Boureille	Shea Connors	Carson Pickett
Canberra United	Camila	Simone Charley	Kaleigh Kurtz	Katie Stengel	Elise ThorsnesR
Melbourne City	Yukari Kinga	Claire Emslie	Milica Mijatović	Lauren Barnes	Rebekah StottA Ally WattG
Melbourne Victory	Natasha Dowie	Haley Hanson	Darian Jenkins	Emily Menges	Annalie LongoA
Newcastle Jets
Perth Glory	Arianna Romero	Celia Jiménez Delgado	Morgan Andrews	Crystal Thomas	Stacey CavillA
Sydney FC	Lindsay Agnew	Aubrey Bledsoe	Sofia Huerta	Veronica Latsko
Western Sydney Wanderers	Kristen Hamilton	Abby Smith	Sam Staab			Denise O'SullivanG Lynn Williams

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

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.

Melbourne City v Canberra United

9 January 2020	Melbourne City	4–0	Canberra United	Melbourne
	Simon 5', 45+4' Emslie 33' van Egmond 76'	Report		Stadium: ABD Stadium Attendance: 747 Referee: Kate Jacewicz

The grand final was played behind closed doors, due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[43]

Melbourne City v Sydney FC

21 March 2020	Melbourne City	1–0	Sydney FC	Melbourne
15:30 AEDT	Catley 15'	Report		Stadium: AAMI Park Attendance: 0 (behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia)[44] Referee: Rebecca Durcau

As of 29 February 2020^[45]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Morgan Andrews	Perth Glory	7
	Natasha Dowie	Melbourne Victory
	Kristen Hamilton	Western Sydney Wanderers
	Remy Siemsen	Sydney FC
5	Emily van Egmond	Melbourne City	6
6	Tara Andrews	Newcastle Jets	5
	Simone Charley	Canberra United
	Darian Jenkins	Melbourne Victory
	Milica Mijatović	Melbourne City
10	Kyra Cooney-Cross	Western Sydney Wanderers	4
	Claire Emslie	Melbourne City
	Hayley Raso	Brisbane Roar
	Kyah Simon	Melbourne City
	Mallory Weber	Adelaide United
	Lynn Williams	Western Sydney Wanderers

Player	Club	Against	Round
Kaitlyn Torpey	Brisbane Roar	Melbourne Victory	2
Amber Brooks	Adelaide United	Sydney FC	7
Isabella Wallhead	Perth Glory	Western Sydney Wanderers	10
Lais Araujo	Adelaide United	Western Sydney Wanderers	11
Kim Carroll	Perth Glory	Sydney FC	13
Cassidy Davis	Newcastle Jets	Melbourne Victory	13

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Kristen Hamilton	Western Sydney Wanderers	Brisbane Roar	3–1	28 November 2019	[46]

As of 23 February 2020^{[citation needed]}

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Lydia Williams	Melbourne City	8
2	Aubrey Bledsoe	Sydney FC	7
3	Casey Dumont	Melbourne Victory	5
4	Mackenzie Arnold	Brisbane Roar	4
5	Abby Smith	Western Sydney Wanderers	3
6	Sham Khamis	Canberra United	1
	Claire Coelho	Newcastle Jets

Month	Player of the month		Coach of the month		Young player of the month
	Name	Club	Name	Club	Name	Club
November 2019	Remy Siemsen[47]	Sydney FC	Dean Heffernan[48]	Western Sydney Wanderers	Kyra Cooney-Cross[49]	Western Sydney Wanderers
December 2019	Denise O'Sullivan[50]	Western Sydney Wanderers	Dean Heffernan[51]	Western Sydney Wanderers	Indiah-Paige Riley[52]	Brisbane Roar
January 2020	Natasha Dowie[53]	Melbourne Victory	Rado Vidošić[54]	Melbourne City	Ellie Carpenter[55]	Melbourne City
February 2020	Morgan Andrews[56]	Perth Glory	Jeff Hopkins[57]	Melbourne Victory	Hollie Palmer[58]	Brisbane Roar

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2019–20 Dolan Warren Awards night on 23 July 2020.^[59]

• Julie Dolan Medal – Kristen Hamilton (Western Sydney Wanderers)
• NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Ellie Carpenter (Melbourne City)
• Golden Boot Award – Morgan Andrews (Perth Glory), Kristen Hamilton (Western Sydney Wanderers), Remy Siemsen (Sydney FC), and Natasha Dowie (Melbourne Victory) (7 goals)
• Goalkeeper of the Year – Aubrey Bledsoe (Sydney FC) and Lydia Williams (Melbourne City)
• Coach of the Year – Rado Vidošić (Melbourne City)
• Fair Play Award – Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets, and Perth Glory
• Referee of the Year – Rebecca Durcau
• Goal of the Year – Amy Jackson (Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory, 28 December 2019)

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, South Korea.^[60] Melbourne Victory were invited to participate in the tournament, as the Premiers of the 2018–19 season.^[61] 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.