National Soccer League Coach of the Year explained

The National Soccer League Coach of the Year was an annual soccer award presented to coaches in Australia. It recognised the most outstanding manager in the National Soccer League each season. The award was established in the first NSL season, 1977.

In 1977, it was given to Rale Rasic who came second in the NSL season that year with Marconi.^[1] The last winner of the award was Mich d'Avray, who won the 2003–04 season with Perth Glory. Eddie Thomson won the award three times, the most for an NSL manager.^[2]

Winners

Season	Manager	Nationality	Club	Ref
1977		Australia,	Marconi	[3]
1978			Sydney City
1979			Marconi
1980		—	South Melbourne
1981			Sydney City
1982		Australia,	St George
1983		Australia,	St George
1984			Sydney City
1985			Sydney City
1986			Melbourne City
1987		Australia,	APIA
1988			South Melbourne
1989		Australia	Marconi
1989–90		Australia	Marconi
1990–91			Adelaide City
1991–92		Australia	Wollongong City
1992–93		—	South Melbourne
1993–94		—	Melbourne Knights
1994–95			Adelaide City
1995–96		Australia	Adelaide City
1996–97		Australia,	Sydney United
1997–98		Australia	South Melbourne
1998–99		Australia	Sydney United
1999–2000			Perth Glory
2000–01		Australia	South Melbourne
2001–02			Newcastle United
2002–03			Northern Spirit
2003–04		,	Perth Glory

Multiple winners

Awards	Player	Team	Seasons
3	Eddie Thomson	Sydney City	1981, 1984, 1985
2	Frank Arok	St George	1982, 1983
2	Berti Mariani	Marconi	1989, 1989–90
2	Zoran Matić	Adelaide City	1990–91, 1994–95

Awards won by nationality

Country	Winsa
	12b
	7b
	4
	3
	2
	1
	1

^aOnly managers with a verifiable nationality are included

^bFrank Arok, Rale Rasic and Branko Culina are included in both totals

References

1. Web site: Rale Rasic. www.sahof.org.au. 2020-09-26.
2. Web site: Vale Eddie Thomson. The World Game. en. 2020-03-09.
3. Web site: The Australian National Soccer League. www.ozfootball.net. 2020-03-09.