Australian football fans have been spoiled in the A-League Men’s preseason, with the marquee player signings of Douglas Costa and Juan Mata.
A-League team rosters are strictly governed by the salary cap, except for ‘designated’ and ‘marquee’ players. Marquee players are fully exempt from the salary cap and designated players are exempt however their salary cannot exceed $600k.
The intent of this marquee allowance is both to draw talent that teams could not otherwise afford and attract players who will increase views. Former APL CEO Danny Townsend described the intent of the scheme as attracting “bums on seat players”.
The value of the scheme has been closely scrutinised since its inception, due to the many failures as well as successes of the players signed under the scheme. Some have questioned whether the costs of signing ‘big names’ detracts from funding in other areas of Australian football.
Costa and Mata are two of the latest to join the league under the marquee exemptions allowing teams to afford star players.
While there are many with valid concerns, many view the scheme as delivering on its promise. To consider its success further, let’s look back to the achievements of five of the best marquees to ply their trade in the A-League.
1. Alessandro Del Piero – Sydney FC (2012 – 2014)
Legendary playmaker Alessandro Del Piero was a significant coup for the Sky Blue in 2012, starring for Juventus and Italy for over a decade prior. His arrival was so celebrated, the opening of ticket sales for the 2012/13 season was promoted as “Del Piero Day”.
Del Piero had many highlights for his individual brilliance in his tenure, claiming top goal scorer in the 2013/14 season for Sydney FC. The “sugar hit” Townsend referred to was more than evident in Del Piero’s tenure, with multiple TV and physical attendance records broken in his time in the league.
2. Archie Thompson – Melbourne Victory (2005 – 2014)
Scoring in the famous 22 – 0 win against Tonga, Australian star Thompson was the original marquee in the inaugural A-League season. Spending just over a decade at the Melbourne Victory, Thompson was also A-League’s longest serving marquee.
Thompson created several goal scoring records and milestones, including first ever regular-season goal scorer for the Victory, first player to score more than three goals in an A-League game and departed as the greatest individual goal scorer in the club’s history. Thompson was also awarded the Golden Boot and the Joe Marston Medal. Victory won the competition in both 2006/07 and 2014/15.
3. Alessandro Diamanti – Western United (2019 – 2023)
Diamanti went above and beyond as the Western United’s first marquee and was awarded the 2019/20 Johnny Warren Medallist and winning hearts for his unique personality along the way.
Diamanti’s impact on Australian football continues with the Italian commencing his coaching career with the Melbourne City youth team.
4. Besart Berisha – Melbourne Victory (2014 – 2018)
One of the more controversial figures in the A-League’s short history, Berisha first made his name at the Brisbane Roar. Berisha was offered nearly double the salary to join the Victory as a marquee being one of few players to convert. Berisha’s goal scoring record was one to be envied, once completing a hat-trick within six minutes.
Berisha finished his career as the A-League’s greatest ever goalscorer scoring 74 during his tenure with Melbourne Victory and regarded as the leagues greatest striker.
5. Jamie Maclaren – Melbourne City (2019 – 2024)
A-League Men’s goal scoring records can’t be mentioned without Maclaren who won the leagues Golden Boot award in four consecutive seasons. Maclaren scored 115 goals for City and was the first player to score more than 100 goals for a single club.
With a sense of poetry to finish off this list, Maclaren usurped Berisha to claim the title of the A-League Men’s greatest goal scorer before his departure to India.