Irvine and Catley voted 2024 Austraffic PFA Footballers of the Year

Matilda Steph Catley and Socceroo Jackson Irvine have been voted by their peers as the 2024 Austraffic PFA Footballers of the Year.

Irvine and Catley join Mary Fowler and Alex Paulsen, who were revealed as the Austraffic PFA Young Footballers of the Year last week, as winners of the PFA’s major football-related awards for 2024.

Irvine received the highest number of votes from players overseas, the Socceroos, and in the A-Leagues, following a PFA member-vote, edging out fellow nominees Mat Ryan, Cam Burgess, Massimo Luongo, Adam Taggart, Josh Nisbet, Brian Kaltak and Tolgay Arslan.

It marks the first time Irvine has won the award, while Catley takes home the player-voted award for the second time, having won the accolade in 2020.

Catley won the vote of the PFA’s female members, finishing ahead of a star-studded line-up of nominees, including Matildas teammates Mackenzie Arnold, Ellie Carpenter, Caitlin Foord, Michelle Heyman, Clare Hunt and Fowler. Fowler was nominated in both the Women’s and Young Women’s categories.

The awards consider the performances of any professional playing in the A-Leagues and any Australian players plying their trade overseas between June 2023 and June 2024. They recognise, reward, and celebrate Australia’s most outstanding players through peer recognition.

Austraffic PFA Men’s Footballer of the Year: Jackson Irvine

Irvine becomes the 11th player to win the PFA Men’s Footballer of the Year award.

The Socceroo midfielder and St.Pauli captain helped his Hamburg-based club achieve promotion from 2. Bundesliga to the German topflight last season, with the midfielder scoring six goals and tallying nine assists in a historic year for ‘Die Kiezkicker’.

Irvine also represented the Socceroos at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup (played in January and February 2024), where he scored goals against India and Syria, and featured in important 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the national team.

“It was a little bit of a surprise,” Irvine said in reaction to winning the award.

“We had so many players that had such incredible seasons last year, who achieved amazing things, promotions and trophies and some amazing individual seasons as well.

“Anything voted for by your peers is particularly special and it’s a huge reward for what has been an amazing year for myself.

“The things we achieved as a club were special, but also, I think my performances for the national team through the Asian Cup and the last 12 months have been some of the best football of my career.

“I’m very proud of the progress I’ve made in my own career, as well as the help that has been given to me by my teammates and coaches I’ve worked with, and it has led to me being able to achieve something like this.”

Irvine was presented the award in a recent Socceroos camp by former Socceroo Aaron Mooy, who also won the award three years in a row between 2016 – 2018.

Austraffic PFA Women’s Footballer of the Year: Steph Catley

Catley was one of Australia’s standout performers across the 2023-24 season, starring for English Women’s Super League (WSL) side Arsenal, and leading the Matildas at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 30-year-old defender registered another brilliant campaign during her fourth season with the Gunners, leading them to the FA Women’s League Cup and a third-place finish on the WSL ladder.

“Receiving this award is a massive honour. I think it’s one of the greatest you can receive as a player because it is peer voted,” Catley said.

“I feel like this award reflects my development mostly from looking back at last year, I think it was a big year for our team in general, but for me personally there were many new experiences and new challenges.

“Going into the [FIFA Women’s] World Cup, I was thrown into the captaincy and leading the team at the last minute, which was massive.

“It made me have to think about more things than just my performance and I think that elevated how I was playing, and the responsibility I was taking on the field.”