Central Coast Mariners winger Mikael Doka has claimed the 2023-24 Isuzu UTE A-League Fan Player of the Month award for April, after a fan vote.
The Brazilian wide-man has enjoyed a stellar back-half of the season, breaking into the starting lineup and becoming a key cog in Mark Jackson’s side as the Mariners surged to clinch this season’s Premiership.
It’s been a dream week for Doka, who helped the Mariners win the Isuzu UTE A-League Premiership in a 2-0 win over Adelaide United on the final night of the regular season. The Mariners then travelled to Muscat, Oman where they defeated Al Ahed 1-0 to win the 2023-24 AFC Cup title. Doka was named Player of the Tournament after the AFC Cup Final.
Get your tickets to this weekend’s Semi-Finals!
Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix
Sydney FC v Central Coast Mariners
Each month the 10-player shortlist of nominees for Player of the Month is selected via the Opta Index. Doka earned a nomination for the April Player of the Month award with the second-highest Opta Index value of any eligible player throughout the month (83.2).
Doka was nominated alongside Hiroshi Ibusuki, Adam Taggart, Joe Lolley, Danny Vukovic, Henry Hore, Jamie Young, Max Balard, Matthew Grimaldi and Corey Brown; the voting for the winner occurred via A-Leagues social media channels, and Doka’s comfortable victory broke a six-month streak of wins for Wellington Phoenix players.
Alex Paulsen took out the honours in the joint October/November vote. Kosta Barbarouses then went back-to-back from December to January. Young Phoenix defender Isaac Hughes claimed the February award before Paulsen took March honours in his second win of the season.
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The Opta Index is based on totals in a variety of statistics for each player. The index score uses subcomponents (such as shooting, passing, defending), corresponding to different qualitative aspects of a player’s performance.
These component scores are combined to create an overall rating for each player. The formula that works out the overall match rating have been developed by Opta’s own team of data scientists in conjunction with our award-winning Data Editorial team.
After winning the 2024 AFC Cup Final against Al Ahed on Monday morning, Doka and the Mariners return to Isuzu UTE A-League action in Friday night’s Semi-Final against Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
The first leg of the Semi-Final on Friday, May 10 precedes the return leg at Industree Group Stadium on Saturday, May 18.
Get tickets to the first leg at Allianz Stadium
Get tickets to the return leg at Industree Group Stadium
