Melbourne Victory hosted the annual Victory Medal Youth Awards, proudly presented by Rick Smith and supported by the Di Pietro Family.
At AAMI Park, the Club recognised the strength and importance of Victory’s development programs and championed the achievements of players and staff throughout the 2026 season in the Youth Men’s (senior and junior) and Women’s spaces.
The celebration was attended by players, staff, parents, and members of the Club’s Board, Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, shareholder and Life Member, Anthony Di Pietro, and Non-Executive Director, Carl Valeri, as well as key figures from the football organisation: Director of Football, John Didulica, A-League Men’s Head Coach, Giovanni Savarese, and A-League Women’s Head Coach, Jeff Hopkins.
Club legends Leigh Broxham and Archie Thompson were also in the room, ready to present the awards named in their honour, along with Senior Academy Head Coach and Legend Besart Berisha.
The Victory Medal, the youth program’s highest individual honour presented to the player of the season, is determined based on weekly performance including gameplay, effort, teamwork, and display of Victory’s values.
The Senior Academy Victory Medal was awarded to offensive talent Alex Lee, whose 13-goal return was the VPL Men 1’s fourth-highest tally, whilst 12-year-old Sam Torcasio was named Junior Victory Medallist.
The NPLW Victory Medal was claimed by attacker Jasmine Millar, a key component of the Club’s successful first season in the Senol NPLW Victoria competition.
John Radimisis, who helped Victory reach the 2026 VPL Men 1 Final last weekend, received the Senior Academy Players’ Player prize. Luka Erakovic took out the junior award.
The inaugural NPLW Players’ Player Award went to defender Lucy Simic, whose marked impact was felt even when sidelined by an ACL injury.
Further honours in the Women’s program, the NPLW Golden Boot Award and Golden Glove Award were received by Anastazia Simic and Shaylee Lane.
The Mitch Langerak Senior Award went home with previous winner Oskar Von Schrenk, with the junior prize in the safe hands of Tasmanian-export Maxim Atkinson.
The Archie Thompson Award, awarded to the best attacking player in the Academy based on goals, assists and individual player ratings, was split into junior and senior prizes. The former went to Noah Koldere, for his 28-goal haul, with the senior award taken by A-League-contracted Mikey Ghossaini, whose 18 strikes also earned him the league’s Golden Boot.
Likewise, the Leigh Broxham Award had both senior and junior recipients, with Theodore Limberis and Ahmed Rjoub, respectively, cited as the players who consistently and continuously demonstrated the Victory values that Broxham upheld through his illustrious career.
The first name added to the honour roll as the Lia Privatelli Award was NPLW player Catherine Moule, whose endeavours in 2026 were illustrative of the Victory values that Lia upheld through her career with the Club – work ethic, respect and honesty, resilience and discipline, creativity and boldness, and passion and integrity.
The Club would like to thank all of its youth players, their families, the coaches and support staff who supported youth programs throughout 2026.
