National Soccer League Coach of the Year

The National Soccer League Coach of the Year was an annual soccer award presented to coaches in Australia. It recognised the most outstanding manager in the National Soccer League each season. The award was established in the first NSL season, 1977.

National Soccer League Coach of the Year
Awarded for	The outstanding manager in each given NSL season
Country	Australia
First awarded	1977
Last awarded	2004
Most awards	Eddie Thomson (3)

In 1977, it was given to Rale Rasic who came second in the NSL season that year with Marconi.^[1] The last winner of the award was Mich d'Avray, who won the 2003–04 season with Perth Glory. Eddie Thomson won the award three times, the most for an NSL manager.^[2]

Winners

Season	Manager	Nationality	Club	Ref
1977	Rale Rasic	Australia,   Yugoslavia	Marconi	^[3]
1978	Jerry Haldi	Israel	Sydney City
1979	Les Scheinflug	Germany	Marconi
1980	John Margeritis	—	South Melbourne
1981	Eddie Thomson	Scotland	Sydney City
1982	Frank Arok	Australia,   Yugoslavia	St George
1983	Frank Arok (2)	Australia,   Yugoslavia	St George
1984	Eddie Thomson (2)	Scotland	Sydney City
1985	Eddie Thomson (3)	Scotland	Sydney City
1986	Dragoslav Šekularac	Yugoslavia	Melbourne City
1987	Rale Rasic (2)	Australia,   Yugoslavia	APIA
1988	Brian Garvey	England	South Melbourne
1989	Berti Mariani	Australia	Marconi
1989–90	Berti Mariani (2)	Australia	Marconi
1990–91	Zoran Matić	Yugoslavia	Adelaide City
1991–92	David Ratcliffe	Australia	Wollongong City
1992–93	Jim Pyrgolios	—	South Melbourne
1993–94	Mirko Bazic	—	Melbourne Knights
1994–95	Zoran Matić (2)	Yugoslavia	Adelaide City
1995–96	John Perin	Australia	Adelaide City
1996–97	Branko Culina	Australia,   Yugoslavia	Sydney United
1997–98	Ange Postecoglou	Australia	South Melbourne
1998–99	Dave Mitchell	Australia	Sydney United
1999–2000	Bernd Stange	Germany	Perth Glory
2000–01	Mike Petersen	Australia	South Melbourne
2001–02	Ian Crook	England	Newcastle United
2002–03	Lawrie McKinna	Scotland	Northern Spirit
2003–04	Mich d'Avray	England,   South Africa	Perth Glory

Multiple winners

Awards	Player	Team	Seasons
3	Eddie Thomson	Sydney City	1981, 1984, 1985
2	Frank Arok	St George	1982, 1983
2	Berti Mariani	Marconi	1989, 1989–90
2	Zoran Matić	Adelaide City	1990–91, 1994–95

Awards won by nationality

Country	Wins^a
Australia	12^b
Yugoslavia	7^b
Scotland	4
England	3
Germany	2
Israel	1
South Africa	1

^aOnly managers with a verifiable nationality are included

^bFrank Arok, Rale Rasic and Branko Culina are included in both totals

Awards won by club

Club	Wins
South Melbourne	5
Sydney City	4
Marconi	4
Adelaide City	3
St George	2
Sydney United	2
Perth Glory	2
Melbourne City	1
APIA	1
Wollongong City	1
Melbourne Knights	1
Newcastle United	1
Northern Spirit	1

References

1. "Rale Rasic". www.sahof.org.au. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
2. "Vale Eddie Thomson". The World Game. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
3. "The Australian National Soccer League". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 2020-03-09.