The 2025–26 season is Melbourne City Football Club's 15th season in the A-League Men; 11th since the club was taken over by the City Football Group. In addition to the domestic league, Melbourne City participated in this season's edition of the Australia Cup.
Review and events
Background Melbourne City's 2024–25 season saw them finish 2nd in the A-League Men regular season qualifying for the AFC Champions League Elite and won the Grand Final 1–0 against Melbourne Victory for their second A-League Men championship.
Pre-season On 6 June, Steven Ugarkovic departed City following the end of his two-year contract whilst Alessandro Lopane signed on for three seasons. The day after, Samuel Souprayen signed on for one season. Youth players Arion Sulemani and Harry Politidis departed following the conclusion of their contracts on 12 June. The day after, Max Caputo also signed a three-year contract extension whilst Callum Talbot departed following the conclusion of his contract. A week later, Harry Shillington signed a one-year contract extension.
City's Australia Cup Round of 32 opponents were confirmed on 26 June, to verse NPL NSW side APIA Leichhardt away in which it was confirmed to be played on 30 July at Leichhardt Oval; exactly one month until then. Two days later, Jimmy Jeggo announced his retirement from professional football. On 7 July, goalkeeper Patrick Beach also signed a three-year contract extension.
On 11 July, City's first new signing was Australian defender Liam Bonetig from Scottish side Celtic B on a three-year deal. A week later, City officially returned to training in preparations for the upcoming season. On 21 July, Marco Tilio's loan at City ended and returned to Celtic. Two days later, academy product Beckham Baker signed on a three-year deal for his first professional contract at City.
July/August City's season began with their Australia Cup Round of 32 clash against APIA Leichhardt on 30 July. City fielded a relatively youthful side of an average age of 17.6 and lost 2–0, exiting the cup in the first round. On 5 August, City signed Japanese attacker Takeshi Kanamori from J1 League side Avispa Fukuoka on a two-year deal. On 15 August, City's group stage opponents for the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite were confirmed to face Buriram United, Johor Darul Ta'zim, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Gangwon FC at home, and Ulsan HD, Vissel Kobe, FC Seoul and Machida Zelvia away. The following week, it was confirmed that Yonatan Cohen departed City following the end of his one-year contract. On 28 August, Beckham Baker was called up for the Australia under-17 squad for the International Youth Football Tournament in Niigata, Japan.
September City played their first friendly of the season on 2 September against Adelaide United at the Home of the Matildas, resulting in a 1–1 draw with Andreas Kuen scoring the goal.
Players
Transfers and contracts
Transfers in No.PositionPlayerTransferred fromType/feeContract lengthDateRef. 4 Free transfer3 years11 July 2025 10 Free transfer2 years5 August 2025 11 UnattachedFree transfer1 year12 September 2025 44 UnattachedFree transfer3 years15 September 2025 8 Loan6 months14 January 2026 14 Loan6 months21 January 2026 28 Loan6 months23 January 2026 2 UnattachedFree transfer6 months23 January 2026
From youth squad No.PositionPlayerAgeDateNotesRef. 47 181 July 20253 year contract 60 181 July 20253 year contract 38 1623 July 20253 year contract 46 1519 September 20253 year contract 48 1630 September 20253 year contract 45 193 October 20251-year contract
Transfers out No.PositionPlayerTransferred toType/feeDateRef. 6 Western Sydney WanderersEnd of contract30 June 2025 10 UnattachedEnd of contract30 June 2025 20 Perth GloryMutual contract termination30 June 2025 38 Macarthur FCEnd of contract30 June 2025 2 Macarthur FCEnd of contract30 June 2025 23 End of loan30 June 2025 8 Retired3 July 2025 27 Undisclosed28 January 2026 33 UnattachedEnd of contract2 February 2026
Contract extensions No.PlayerPositionDurationDateNotes 21 Alessandro Lopane MF 3 years 6 June 2025 26 Samuel Souprayen DF 1 year 7 June 2025 17 Max Caputo FW 3 years 13 June 2025 New 3-year contract replacing previous contract. 36 Harry Shillington DF 1 year 20 June 2025 1 Patrick Beach GK 3 years 7 July 2025 New 3-year contract replacing previous contract.
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions Overall record
A-League Men
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
Finals series
Australia Cup
AFC Champions League Elite
League stage
Knockout stage
Statistics
Appearances and goals Includes all competitions. Players with no appearances not included in the list.
! colspan="14" style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Player(s) transferred out but featured this season
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.
! colspan="19" | Player(s) transferred out but featured this season
Clean sheets Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total clean sheets are equal. Numbers in parentheses represent games where both goalkeepers participated and both kept a clean sheet; the number in parentheses is awarded to the goalkeeper who was substituted on, whilst a full clean sheet is awarded to the goalkeeper who was on the field at the start and end of play. Goalkeepers with no clean sheets not included in the list.
Rank Goalkeeper A-League Men A-League Men finals series Australia Cup AFC Champions League Elite Total 1 1 9 0 0 3 12 2 40 1 0 0 0 1 Total 10 0 0 3 13
See also 2025–26 Melbourne City FC (women) season
Notes
References
External links Melbourne City FC official website