In 2025, young Australian footballers are scattered across Europe, Asia and the Americas – and for a large majority, their respective football journeys began in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
CommBank Socceroos Nestory Irankunda and Jordy Bos are the shining examples of a trend that has taken over Australian football of late: academy products from Isuzu UTE A-League clubs breaking through, and sealing moves abroad.
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Irankunda is bending free-kicks in for Watford in the English Championship, just as he did for Adelaide United. Bos is scoring and assisting goals from left-back for Dutch club Feyenoord, just as he did for Melbourne City.
Just last week, Bos was named the Eredivisie Player of the Month. He is the first Australian to have ever won the award.
Adrian Segecic is another making waves in Europe. The Sydney FC academy kid claimed an equal share of the Isuzu UTE A-League Golden Boot at 21 last season, then moved to Portsmouth in the English Championship. He’s made a big impact at Pompey so far; so much so that his omission from this month’s Socceroos squad made headlines both at home and in England.
Next weekend, the Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-26 season gets underway, and as 12 clubs vie for Championship glory, established academy guns – and new kids on the block – will have the chance to test themselves in the Australian top flight.
Irankunda, Segecic, and Bos have laid the template – and they aren’t alone in doing so. Last month, Irankunda started for Australia against New Zealand alongside fellow Adelaide United product Mohamed Toure, who now plays his club football for Danish club Randers.
Toure scored twice, Irankunda scored once, and an image was captured that perfectly summarised what a special time it is to be a young Australian footballer dreaming of making it to the world stage.
Two Isuzu UTE A-League products. One 19, one 21. Scoring goals for Australia, pushing each other onward in pursuit of a spot in the Socceroos’ 2026 FIFA World Cup spot.
Since the end of the Isuzu UTE A-League 2024-25 season, 10 young Australians have been sold to clubs in Europe and the United States for undisclosed transfer fees:
- Archie Goodwin (Adelaide United -> Charlotte FC): Undisclosed fee
- Lucas Herrington (Brisbane Roar -> Colorado Rapids): Club record fee (JANUARY 2026 MOVE)
- Kealey Adamson (Macarthur Bulls -> Queens Park Rovers): Undisclosed fee
- Kasey Bos (Melbourne Victory -> 1. FSV Mainz): Undisclosed fee
- Ryan Teague (Melbourne Victory -> KV Mechelen): Undisclosed fee
- Adrian Segecic (Sydney FC -> Portsmouth): Six-figure training compensation fee
- Nicolas Milanovic (Western Sydney Wanderers -> Aberdeen): Club record transfer fee
- Zac Sapsford (Western Sydney Wanderers -> Dundee United): Undisclosed fee
- Oscar Priestman (Western Sydney Wanderers -> Motherwell): Undisclosed fee
- Marcus Younis (Western Sydney Wanderers -> Brondby): Club record transfer fee
Three of those moves were club-record transfers, with Western Sydney Wanderers twice breaking their outbound transfer record with Johnny Warren Medalist Nicolas Milanovic’s move to Aberdeen, and Marcus Younis’ big-money switch to Danish giants Brøndby.
Now, attention turns to the next generation of youngsters at clubs around the Isuzu UTE A-League – and they’re coming through in droves.
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Here’s a statistic guaranteed to make you feel old: of the 300+ players currently signed to Isuzu UTE A-League clubs, more than 100 were born in 2005 or later – including 2010-born, 15-year-old Melbourne City academy product Akeem Gerald.
Gerald is one of several academy products to have graduated to a senior Isuzu UTE A-League squad in the off-season. Together, they’ll take their place in the production pipeline behind a cohort of teens who have already broken through in the Isuzu UTE A-League, and are ready to rise to another level in 2025-26, and follow the pathway trodden by Irankunda and Co.
Melbourne City striker Max Caputo (20) is a leading figure in that cohort; the Young Socceroo will lead the line for the Champions this season. Luke Jovanovic (20) is another Young Socceroo presented with a big chance of his own to make a starting No.9 spot his own, following the departure of fellow Adelaide United young gun Archie Goodwin to MLS.
Goodwin shared the Golden Boot with Sydney’s Segecic last season, and both young Australians earned moves abroad off the back of their respective goalscoring exploits. Jovanovic has been presented with the very same chance this season.
Fellow Reds forward Amlani Tatu (17) has generated plenty of excitement in the City of Churches throughout his academy journey and, despite having fleeting opportunities in the senior squad so far, could erupt onto the scene at any moment. Watch this space.
Melbourne City midfielder Lawrence Wong (18) became the club’s youngest-ever Isuzu UTE A-League goalscorer last year en route to clinching his first Championship title.
When Wong debuted in January, he became the first player to have come through the club’s entire player development pathway before debuting in the A-Leagues. Ten months later, five players now feature on that list.
In last year’s AFC Asian Champions League campaign, Central Coast Mariners product Haine Eames (17) became the club’s youngest-ever captain when he wore the armband against Kawaski Frontale. He’s also the club’s youngest ever debutant, starter and goalscorer; a prodigious talent.
In the off-season, Luke Brooke-Smith (17) became the second-youngest New Zealand international of all time and returns to Wellington Phoenix determined to become a key contributor under head coach Giancarlo Italiano. He can take inspiration from the likes of Ben Old, Ben Waine, Finn Surman and Alex Paulsen who have secured big moves abroad from the ‘Nix in recent years.
Brisbane Roar have 2008-born creative midfielder Quinn MacNicol (17) on their books and his continued development is an exciting story to follow; then, there’s Samuel Klein (21) who enjoyed a barnstorming run of form to end 2024-25 and could catapult himself into the upper echelon of Isuzu UTE A-League midfielders under new head coach Michael Valkanis this season.
In the West, Perth Glory will hope son of a gun Sebastian Despotovski (19) can make the jump from the club academy to follow in his father, Bobby’s footsteps at the club. Macarthur Bulls added Henrique Oliveira (16) to their ranks last season to join his 21-year-old brother Bernardo Oliveira, who is injury-free and capable of setting the league alight with a consistent run in head coach Mile Sterjovski’s starting XI.
There are young players everywhere you look as the Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-26 start date of October 17 draws near – and Sunday’s Hahn Australia Cup final served as the perfect precursor to what fans can expect from clubs around the league heading into the new campaign.
Newcastle Jets needed extra time to end Heidelberg United’s fairytale story but, despite the major scare from an NPL club that feared no one on their way to the final, eliminating three Isuzu UTE A-League clubs in the process, the Jets found enough to get over the line and the fingerprints of young players were all over the historic win.
Newcastle’s 17-year trophy drought ended when Oscar Fryer (19) and Ben Gibson (22) bagged extra-time goals to take the Jets out of sight.
Fryer joined the Jets in mid-2024 from Sydney FC but an ACL thwarted his first season at the club. Now, he’s an Australia Cup champion.
New Jets head coach Mark Milligan has made five scholarship signings this off-season; two of those players – Xavier Bertoncello and Max Cooper – have been at the club for a decade.
Bertoncello started the Australia Cup final – as did 18-year-old Will Dobson who, like Bertoncello and Cooper, has been at the club since he was a kid. Same goes for Alex Nunes, who came off the bench for the Jets in the final.
Newcastle’s young, exciting squad features several players who can go back into the archives and pull out photos of them representing the club when they were kids; just last week, they ended the club’s 17-year trophy drought. What comes next for them, and for rising stars around the Isuzu UTE A-League, is an exciting question to ponder.
Come October 17, and the start of season 2025-26, fans can tune in for a night of Isuzu UTE A-League and witness the next generation emerge, then switch channels to watch the likes of Irankunda, Bos, Toure, Segecic and several other exciting young Australians take on the world. That is going to be pretty special.
