| Club: | Western United |
| Season: | 2020–21 |
| Chairman: | Jason Sourasis |
| Manager: | Marko Rudan |
| Stadium: | GMHBA Stadium AAMI Park Mars Stadium UTAS Stadium |
| League: | A-League |
| League Result: | 10th |
| Cup1: | A-League Finals |
| Cup1 Result: | DNQ |
| Cup2: | FFA Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Cancelled |
| League Topscorer: | Besart Berisha (7) |
| Season Topscorer: | Besart Berisha (7) |
| Highest Attendance: | 7,016 vs. Melbourne Victory (30 January 2021) A-League |
| Lowest Attendance: | 990 vs. Newcastle Jets (26 April 2021) A-League |
| Average Attendance: | |
| Largest Win: | 4–1 vs. Macarthur FC (H) (20 February 2021) A-League |
| Largest Loss: | 0–5 A-League 1–6 vs. Melbourne Victory (H) (28 May 2021) A-League |
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| Prevseason: | 2019–20 |
| Nextseason: | 2021–22 |
The 2020–21 season was the second in the history of Western United Football Club. The club only participated in the A-League after the 2020 FFA Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[1]
Western United finished tenth in their A-League season, forcing them to play in an FFA Cup play-off in the 2021–22 season.
Western United's inaugural campaign had seen the team finish 5th and advance to the 2020 A-League Finals series, where they won the elimination-final against Brisbane Roar with the only goal from a free kick from Alessandro Diamanti. They advanced to the semi-final where they lost 2–0 against Melbourne City.[2]
The club confirmed four player departures on 31 August 2020 which included Valentino Yuel, Thiel Iradukunda, Oskar Dillon, and Patrick Antelmi.[3] The club's first transfer of the season came on 2 October, when Western United signed former Melbourne City winger Lachlan Wales on a two-year deal.[4] In the span of two days on 6–7 December, two players Tomoki Imai and Andrew Durante both extended their contracts by one-year.[5] [6]
On 21 October, Jonathan Aspropotamitis departed the club to join Perth Glory and continue their AFC Champions League campaign.[7] As the club returned to training ahead of the 2020–21 A-League campaign, they signed a sponsorship with Strapit Sports Tape for two A-League seasons.[8] On 11 November, the club confirmed the departure of James Delianov who was injured throughout Western United's entire inaugural season as he signed for Adelaide United the same day.[9] [10] The day after, the club officially announced their kits for the 2020–21 season designed by Kappa.[11]
On 27 November, the club signed Spanish midfielder Víctor Sánchez who made over 300 appearances in Spain's top-flight La Liga including a spell at Barcelona for three years.[12] Western United played their first friendly on 28 November against local A-League rivals Melbourne City where they lost 2–1 in Melbourne in a behind closed doors match.[13]
Western United kicked off their season in the A-League for their second campaign against Adelaide United where the match resulted in a 0–0 draw.[14] Their new players included Víctor Sánchez, Lachlan Wales, Nicolas Milanovic, and Ayom Majok.
| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Type/fee | Contract length | Date | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 2 October 2020 | [15] | |||
| 20 | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 27 November 2020 | [16] | |||
| 29 | Scholarship | 2 years | 3 December 2020 | [17] | ||||
| 12 | Injury replacement | 2 months | 27 December 2020 | [18] | ||||
| 34 | Unattached | Free transfer | 6 months | 14 January 2021 | [19] | |||
| 9 | Unattached | Free transfer | 4 months | 26 February 2021 | [20] | |||
| 17 | Loan | 4 months | 12 March 2021 | [21] | ||||
| 12 | Dalibor Markovic | Melbourne Victory | Free transfer | 12 April 2021 | [22] |
| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Type/fee | Date | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | End of contract | 31 August 2020 | [23] [24] | ||||
| 7 | Unattached | End of contract | 1 September 2020 | ||||
| 24 | Unattached | End of contract | 1 September 2020 | ||||
| 28 | Unattached | End of contract | 1 September 2020 | ||||
| 15 | Perth Glory | Mutual contract termination | 21 October 2020 | [25] [26] | |||
| 20 | Adelaide United | Mutual contract termination | 11 November 2020 | [27] [28] | |||
| 33 | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 25 January 2021 | [29] | |||
| 17 | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 10 February 2021 | [30] | |||
| 12 | End of contract | 27 February 2021 | [31] |
| No. | Name | Position | Duration | Date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Defender | 1 year | 6 October 2020 | [32] | ||
| 4 | Centre-back | 1 year | 7 October 2020 | [33] | ||
| 5 | Right-back | 2 years | 4 May 2021 | [34] | ||
| 11 | Winger | 2 years | 10 May 2021 | [35] | ||
| 30 | Goalkeeper | 2 years | 20 May 2021 | [36] | ||
| 26 | Midfielder | 2 years | 1 June 2021 | [37] |
Supplier: Kappa / Sponsor: Simonds & Tasman Logistics / Sleeve sponsor: Victoria University
Players with no appearances not included in the list.
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | A-League | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||||
| 1 | GK | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |||
| 2 | DF | 15(3) | 0 | 15(3) | 0 | |||
| 3 | DF | 9(6) | 0 | 9(6) | 0 | |||
| 4 | DF | 17(2) | 0 | 17(2) | 0 | |||
| 5 | DF | 20(6) | 6 | 20(6) | 6 | |||
| 6 | DF | 26 | 1 | 26 | 1 | |||
| 7 | FW | 20(3) | 7 | 20(3) | 7 | |||
| 8 | FW | 14(10) | 4 | 14(10) | 4 | |||
| 9 | FW | 0(7) | 0 | 0(7) | 0 | |||
| 10 | MF | 14(6) | 1 | 14(6) | 1 | |||
| 11 | FW | 25(1) | 1 | 25(1) | 1 | |||
| 12 | DF | 1(2) | 0 | 1(2) | 0 | |||
| 13 | DF | 5(7) | 1 | 5(7) | 1 | |||
| 14 | MF | 0(1) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | |||
| 17 | MF | 0(5) | 0 | 0(5) | 0 | |||
| 19 | DF | 2(1) | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | |||
| 20 | MF | 18 | 3 | 18 | 3 | |||
| 21 | MF | 2(4) | 0 | 2(4) | 0 | |||
| 22 | DF | 23 | 1 | 23 | 1 | |||
| 23 | MF | 20(4) | 1 | 20(4) | 1 | |||
| 25 | MF | 8(5) | 0 | 8(5) | 0 | |||
| 26 | MF | 0(10) | 0 | 0(10) | 0 | |||
| 27 | MF | 3(7) | 0 | 3(7) | 0 | |||
| 29 | MF | 0(1) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | |||
| 30 | GK | 18(1) | 0 | 18(1) | 0 | |||
| 31 | MF | 1(3) | 0 | 1(3) | 0 | |||
| 32 | FW | 0(2) | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | |||
| 34 | FW | 17(5) | 3 | 17(5) | 3 | |||
| width=15 | width=15 | width=15 | width=15 | width=145 | Name | width=120 | A-League | width=120 | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | FW | Besart Berisha | 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 2 | 5 | DF | Dylan Pierias | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 3 | 8 | FW | Lachlan Wales | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 4 | 20 | MF | Víctor Sánchez | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 34 | FW | Iker Guarrotxena | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| 6 | 6 | DF | Tomoki Imai | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 10 | MF | Steven Lustica | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 11 | FW | Connor Pain | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 13 | FW | Ivan Vujica | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 22 | DF | Tomislav Uskok | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 23 | MF | Alessandro Diamanti | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Own Goals | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Totals | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
The list is sorted by squad number when total cards are equal. Players with no cards not included in the list.
| Rank | Name | A-League | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | DF |  | < | --A-League--> | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 20 | MF |  | < | --A-League--> | 9 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | DF |  | < | --A-League--> | 9 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 | 3 | DF | | < | --A-League--> | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 10 | MF | | < | --A-League--> | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | DF |  | < | --A-League--> | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | < | --A-League--> | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 25 | MF | | < | --A-League--> | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| 34 | FW | | < | --A-League--> | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | 2 | DF | | < | --A-League--> | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | | < | --A-League--> | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | FW | | < | --A-League--> | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | FW | | < | --A-League--> | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 13 | DF | | < | --A-League--> | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 23 | MF |  | < | --A-League--> | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 30 | GK | | < | --A-League--> | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 17 | 12 | DF | | < | --A-League--> | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | | < | --A-League--> | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 26 | FW | | < | --A-League--> | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 27 | MF | | < | --A-League--> | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 29 | MF | | < | --A-League--> | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| width=15 | width=15 | width=15 | width=15 | width=145 | Name | width=120 | A-League | width=120 | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 | GK | Ryan Scott | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 2 | 1 | GK | Filip Kurto | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Total | 8 | 8 | |||||||||||