Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) has announced its nominees for the PFA Footballer of the Year and PFA Harry Kewell Medal for the first part of the 2012/2013 season (August-December 2012).


The nominees, selected by the PFA Awards Committee, are chosen from players currently playing in the A-League and Australian players based overseas, and take into account performances for club and country.
The Nominees (alphabetical order):

PFA Footballer of the Year

• Mark Bresciano, Al Gharafa, (Qatar)
• Brett Holman, Aston Villa (England)
• Mile Jedinak, Crystal Palace (England)
• Robbie Kruse, Fortuna Dusseldorf (Germany)
• Mark Schwarzer, Fulham FC (England)
• Archie Thompson, Melbourne Victory (Australia)

PFA Harry Kewell Medal

• Chris Herd, Aston Villa (England)
• James Holland, Austria Wien, (Austria)
• Aaron Mooy, Western Sydney Wanderers (Australia)
• Tommy Oar, FC Utrecht (Netherlands)
• Tom Rogic, Central Coast Mariners (Australia)
• Marco Rojas, Melbourne Victory (Australia)

The final list of nominees for both the PFA Footballer of the Year and PFA Harry Kewell Medal is determined at the end of the season and up to 12 players can be nominated for each award.

The winners are determined through a vote from over 250 fellow professionals playing in the A-League and various leagues all over the world.

Brett Holman, the winner of the previous PFA Footballer of the Year Award during his time at AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, has continued his fine form in the English Premier League with Aston Villa, recently scoring his first goals for the club.  This is Holman’s 4th nomination in 5 years of the PFA awards, an outstanding achievement.

Mark Schwarzer, also a previous winner of the PFA Footballer of the Year in 2010, is nominated once again in a season that saw him earn his 100th Cap for the Socceroos- a remarkable milestone and symbolic of Schwarzer’s consistency and dedication to the game.

The strong performances of Robbie Kruse, the PFA Harry Kewell Medallist of 2011, in the highly competitive German Bundesliga, have warranted his nomination for the senior award, while Mile Jedinak’s efforts as captain of Championship club Crystal Palace have won over the Palace fans and see him firmly placed among the nominees.

Recent performances for their clubs, and notably the Socceroos, have undoubtedly gone towards Archie Thompson and Aaron Mooy meriting their nominations for PFA Footballer and Young Footballer of the Year respectively, while Chris Herd, who would have likely appeared for the Socceroos in 2012 if not for injury, has earned a nomination despite his setbacks and looks like only getting stronger as the season progresses, albeit in an Aston Villa team currently struggling to find form.

James Holland continues to be instrumental in the midfield of Austria Wien in the Austrian Bundesliga, helping lead them to a very healthy lead at the top of the table. Similarly, Tom Rogic’s contributions to the Central Coast Mariners so far this season see his club in a familiar position at the top of the pack and have attracted strong interest from a number of European clubs, including Scottish giants Celtic.

Tommy Oar and New Zealander Marco Rojas fittingly round out the nominations for the PFA Young Footballer of the Year, both being able to firmly establish themselves in their respective first-teams this season with consistently good performances and their attacking play continuing to worry opposition defenders and excite fans.

Previous Winners of the PFA Footballer of the Year Awards

PFA Footballer of the Year:

• Tim Cahill (2009)
• Mark Schwarzer (2010)
• Matt McKay (2011)
• Brett Holman (2012)

PFA Harry Kewell Medal:

• Nikita Rukavytsya (2009)
• Mitch Langerak (2010)
• Robbie Kruse (2011)
• Mathew Ryan (2012)