The PFA Player Pathway Study Supporting the PlayeRs Building the Game From the Chief Executive The 2017 PFA Player Pathway Study (PPS) represents the most Secondly, everybody’s football journey is different. Aaron Mooy detailed analysis of the careers of Australian male footballers in the made different decisions to Trent Sainsbury who made different history of the sport in this country. decisions to Tim Cahill. In Australia, we don’t have the luxury of churning through players in the hope that the cream will rise to the It concludes 12 months’ work where the PFA tracked every top. We don’t have the critical mass, the volume. We need to nurture, professional minute played by an Australian footballer from 2002 to monitor and manage the talent we have. This is labour intensive and 2016. It provides a rich depository of information that we can use to often expensive, but it is necessary if we hope to keep up, let alone, help shape the decision making of current and future players. surpass those football nations with more players, more money or more coaches. This PPS is a starting point. It did not set out to prove or disprove a theory. It did not set out to unearth the formula that takes you Thirdly, the link between the volume of match minutes between from one of the thousands in the suburban crowd to the top of the 18 to 21 and a successful career is profound. We need to create footballing tree. That already exists. It’s called hard work, sacrifice, opportunities for players to blossom in those key developmental support and a touch of fortune. years to increase our chances of being consistently successful at an international level and to increase the value of our players in the Instead, it was about trying to find the starting point for future global market. discussion. Football is fertile ground for opinion and that’s part of its attraction; we all have different views on the decisions that players Unlike other sports, football does not have the luxury of insularity. need to make to reach to their goals. We hope that this PPS can help The sport’s practices and talent are challenged on a weekly basis inform those opinions and lead to more considered decision making somewhere around the world. This scrutiny dictates that we cannot from parents, players, agents, and coaches. afford misalignment or being at cross-purposes at different levels of the sport. Because it means players will fall through the gaps. The PPS has demonstrated a few things to us: Because it means teams will be beaten on the international Firstly, Australia’s international competitiveness is under stage. threat. Performances like those against Chile in the 2017 FIFA Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou has a single- Confederations Cup demonstrate that the gap between Australian minded focus on building an Australian way players and the very best players in the world is not a chasm. Yet, of playing football and winning football. The since 2005, the amount of time that Australian players have played in players believe this is possible. The starting the “Big 5” leagues of Europe has fallen by around 80%. point is collectively designing a solution to the challenge the data tells us is right in front of us. John Didulica 2 3 CONTENTS About the Report 6 Overview 8 The A-League 10 Overseas 12 Asia 14 After Asia 16 Youth 18 ‘Right’ Time to Go 20 A-League Springboard 22 Socceroos Benchmarks 24 Weighted Appearance Model 26 Retirement and Transition 30 4 5 ABOUT THE REPORT The PFA has catalogued and analysed The report is not perfect; some players’ every professional league minute played by careers are only partly captured because Australian males between the 2002/03 and a cut-off had to be chosen and this 2015/16 seasons. is mentioned where relevant. But its conclusions are no less informative. The scope of this project gives us unprecedented perspective on Australian The PFA believes a better informed game players’ career pathways; where and how leads to more impactful football education, much they’ve played, where and when analysis and decision-making. they’ve moved, and what factors increase the likelihood of a successful career. The result is a helpful guide for current and future PFA members seeking hard data to inform their career decisions, and a valuable tool for all stakeholders across the game. Note: For leagues played inside the calendar year (e.g. J.League), take the second year listed i.e. 2010/11 indicates A-League 2010/11 and J.League 2011. 6 7 OVERVIEW Total minutes played by Australians 400,000 300,000 626 3,478,146 200,000 professional minutes played by professional Australian Australian players from 100 ,000 players covered 2002 to 2016 by this study 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 A-League Overseas The end of the NSL prompted a boost remained steady, dipping in 2010/11 in total professional minutes played when the A-League expanded to 11 by Australians as formerly semi-pro teams, then dropped off recently. domestic players rushed overseas to find football in lower tier professional leagues. Total minutes peaked in 2010/11 but have declined every year since due to In the A-League era, opportunities for the combination of a decline in overseas Australian players have grown and fallen minutes and an increase in the share of in line with the number of teams and A-League minutes played by visa players. length of the season. Overseas minutes 8 9 Domestic minutes and number of players 250,000 200 200,000 160 number of players 150,000 120 100,000 80 minutes played minutes 50,000 40 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 Average minutes played per player 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 The number of teams and rounds, increased minutes various seasons in which ten matches in the A-League played by Australian players teams participated. One extra have dictated the major (184,565) by nearly half from the team made a big difference. changes in both the number of previous season (127,240). players getting a professional Even as the league structure opportunity and the average The jump to 11 teams and 30 has settled, there has been minutes played by each player. rounds in the 2010/11 season a recent drop in minutes by saw only 11 extra Australians Australians because there has The increase from eight to ten feature but each played on been an increase in the share of teams for the 2009/10 season, average 1,183 minutes, which minutes played by visa players and the lengthening of the was over 20% more than the in the past few seasons. The A-League regular season from 21 to 27 average minutes (980) across the 10 11 Surprisingly, the inception of the global marketplace but it could also be A-League didn’t cut into the number a sign that the improving A-League of Australians playing overseas, which has gradually attracted many of our has remained steady between 83 and best players back home. 107 since the end of the NSL. The expansion of the A-League around The total number of Australians 2009 to 2011 did seem to eat into the playing overseas was no different pool of overseas talent, which then in 2016 than during the peak of the rose again as the league contracted golden generation so we need to look back to ten teams in 2011/12. at where those players are playing: The recent decline of total minutes played raises questions about the competitiveness of our players in the Minutes played by Australians in the ‘Big 5’ 20,000 18,000 Overseas 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 Minutes played by Australians and 8,000 6,000 number of Australian players overseas 4,000 2,000 180,000 120 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 150,000 100 Germany Spain England France Italy 120,000 80 number of players 90,000 60 minutes played minutes At the start of our records in 2002, allowed their clubs to acquire an ever 60,000 40 Australians had some representation increasing share of the best talent in each of Europe’s ‘Big 5’ leagues from other European and global but this collapsed first in France, leagues, it nevertheless reveals a 30 ,000 20 then Spain, Italy and England. Only concerning decrease in Australians’ in the German Bundesliga have we ability to perform at the most maintained our level of presence. competitive levels, at least relative to 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 other nations. While this trend might also be explained by a concentration of wealth in these leagues that has 12 13 Asia Minutes played by Australians in AFC and UEFA 180,000 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 AFC UEFA China has been the most prolific market for Australian players; more than one third of total minutes played by Australians in Asia (210,098) were played in China (83,088).