The outstanding season of Brisbane Roar has been honoured with five of their Premiership and Championship winning players amongst the PFA A-League Team of the Season announced today at the Alex Tobin OAM Medal Awards at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Voted on by all A-League players the Roar stars were joined in the 16-man squad by representatives from seven A-League clubs. Whilst the Roar dominated the squad Adelaide United also featured heavily with three Reds making the players’ team, followed by Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory who each had two players included.

Having become just the third coach to win the A-League Premiership and Championship double in the same season Roar boss Mike Mulvey added to the Brisbane flavour by edging out last season’s coach Tony Popovic and JosepGombau as the coach of the Team of the Season.

Captained by Eugene Galekovic, who equals Archie Thompson’s record of four appearances in the PFA A-League Team of the Season, the Adelaide United shot-stopper was selected in the squad alongside four of his fellow Socceroos, who are currently in camp ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

PFA A-League Team of the Season

Goalkeeper: Eugene Galekovic (c) (Adelaide United)

Defenders: AdamaTraore (Melbourne Victory), Matt Smith (Brisbane Roar), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Ivan Franjic (Brisbane Roar).

Midfielders: Luke Brattan (Brisbane Roar), Thomas Broich (Brisbane Roar), Marcelo Carrusca (Adelaide United).

Forwards: Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets), BesartBerisha (Brisbane Roar), David Williams (Melbourne Heart).

Substitutes: Osama Malik (Adelaide United), Danny Vukovic (Perth Glory), Carlos Hernandez (Wellington Phoenix), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), Stein Huysegems (Wellington Phoenix).

Coach: Mike Mulvey (Brisbane Roar)

Referee: StrebreDelovski

PFA Vice President Ante Covic said the members of the 16-man squad should be extremely proud of their achievements in a season where the competition for places has never been higher.

“Once again we have seen the level of the A-League continue to rise and nowhere is this more evident than in the Socceroos where 10 A-League players are present in the 30-man preliminary World Cup squad,” said Covic.

“It is equally encouraging to see the emergence of young stars like Adam Taggart and Osama Malik and to see their performances recognised by the players. It points to a very bright future for Australian football.”

Eugene Galekovic said it was an honour to be chosen as the skipper and to equal the Team of the Season appearance record.

“As any player will tell you, recognition from your peers is something that is extremely special and I feel privileged to have equaled Archie’s record and to be named as captain just tops it off.”

For Referee of the Season StrebreDelovski it was the fifth time in six seasons that the whistleblower has been acknowledged by the players as the A-League’s best.

The outstanding playing surface at Central Coast Stadium, the home of the Mariners, was voted by the players as the best in the competition, narrowly beating last season’s winner AAMI Park to top the PFA Pitch Ratings.

It caps a remarkable improvement in the playing surface at Gosford, which was previously ranked amongst the worst in the league. The improvement at Central Coast Stadium was also reflected across the league with the overall pitch ratings slightly up on last season’s average.

The Atmosphere was also shown to be on the rise narrowly up from last season’s average of 3.46 to 3.48 out of a possible five. Topping the Atmosphere ratings was the Red and Black Bloc (RBB), who was acknowledged by the players as the best in the competition.

Western Sydney Wanderers keeper Ante Covic said the recognition for the RBB was just reward for their efforts in creating an electric atmosphere at all home games.

“Despite our short history our fans have quickly set about becoming the bench mark for the competition,” Covic said. “It has been privilege to play in front of them for the past two seasons.”