The 2020–21 season was the eleventh in the history of Melbourne City Football Club. The club competed in the A-League for the eleventh time. The club was scheduled to play in the 2021 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs in June 2021, but withdrew from the competition on 4 June 2021.
Review
Background
On 26 June 2019, Melbourne City appointed Frenchman Erick Mombaerts as new head coach leading the club in being runners-up in the 2019–20 A-League regular season, 2020 A-League Grand Final and 2019 FFA Cup.
Pre-season The 2020 FFA Cup was cancelled on 3 July 2020.
Nathaniel Atkinson had departed the club for Perth Glory on 1 September 2020. Two days later, the club appointed former assistant coach Patrick Kisnorbo to the head manager position prior to the start of the season on 3 September, after previous coach Erick Mombaerts left the club to return to his native country France. Lachlan Wales was released following the end of his contract, while Aiden O'Neill joined for City's first signing of the season on 8 September.
City signed three youthful players, Taras Gomulka, Marco Tilio and Matt Sutton along with the departure of Gianluca Iannucci on 21 September. Nathaniel Atkinson would then only after 23 days after departing City, had returned within Joshua Brillante leaving two days later. The next day had Andrew Nabbout join City after his short stint with Perth Glory.
Joe Gauci left the club without a single appearance for City and joined Adelaide United on 7 October. The following day, Ramy Najjarine was loaned to Newcastle Jets and Moudi Najjar loaned to Macarthur FC. A week later, Ben Garuccio made a return signing on 16 October.
On 16 November, City played their first friendly of the season, against rivals Melbourne Victory in a game with three 45-minute halves at Marvel Stadium which resulted in a 3–3 draw with a goal by Curtis Good and two from Jamie Maclaren. City returned to the City Football Academy for their second friendly of the season against Western United on 28 November, with a 2–1 win via goals by Andrew Nabbout and Jamie Maclaren.
Players
Transfers
Transfers in No.PositionPlayerTransferred fromType/feeContract lengthDateRef 8 Free transfer3 years9 September 2020 16 Adelaide UnitedFree transfer3 years21 September 2020 23 Sydney FCFree transfer3 years21 September 2020 33 Melbourne VictoryFree transfer2 years21 September 2020 13 Perth GloryFree transfer2 years23 September 2020 15 Perth GloryFree transfer1 year24 September 2020 19 UnattachedFree transfer2 years16 October 2020 14 Loan1 year5 December 2020 4 Free transfer3 years18 January 2021 39 UnattachedScholarship3 months21 April 2021 5 Western Sydney WanderersInjury replacement3 months29 April 2021
Transfers out No.PositionPlayerTransferred toType/feeDateRef 17 Macarthur FCFree transfer28 July 2020 13 Perth GloryFree transfer1 September 2020 19 UnattachedEnd of contract9 September 2020 37 UnattachedEnd of contract21 September 2020 6 Mutual contract termination23 September 2020 46 Adelaide UnitedEnd of contract7 October 2020 21 Newcastle JetsLoan8 October 2020 30 Macarthur FCLoan8 October 2020 38 Adelaide UnitedFree transfer27 October 2020 40 UnattachedMutual contract termination2 December 2020 4 UnattachedEnd of contract5 January 2021 37 Adelaide UnitedMutual contract termination13 April 2021 5 UnattachedEnd of contract9 June 2021
From youth squad
Contract extensions No. Name Position Duration Date Notes 7 Rostyn Griffiths Defensive midfielder 2 years 23 September 2020 10 Florin Berenguer Attacking midfielder 1 year 23 September 2020 1 Tom Glover Goalkeeper 2 years 11 January 2021 22 Curtis Good Centre-back 3 years 11 January 2021 36 Kerrin Stokes Centre-back 2 years 21 April 2021 15 Andrew Nabbout Winger 3 years 10 June 2021
Kits Supplier: Puma / Sponsor: Etihad Airways / Sleeve sponsor: McDonald's
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overview
A-League
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches The league fixtures were announced on 24 November 2020.
Finals series
AFC Champions League
Qualifying play-offs
All three teams from Australia competing in the 2021 AFC Champions League (Sydney FC, Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar) withdrew from the competition after the draw.
Statistics
Appearances and goals Includes all competitions. Players with no appearances not included in the list.
|- class=sortbottom ! colspan="11" | Player(s) transferred out but featured this season |- class=sortbottom
Disciplinary record Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total cards are equal. Players with no cards not included in the list.
Awards
Melbourne City Player of the Month The winner of the award was chosen via a poll on Twitter. Month Player Votes Source December / January 43.6% February 48.9% March 46.3% April 55% May 45.8%
References