Melbourne Victory’s Juan Mata has received the 2026 Johnny Warren Medal.
The Spaniard was honoured during the Dolan Warren Awards, aired on Thursday night on Channel 10, in recognition of a stellar Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Mata’s standout effort across 25 appearances featured 13 assists and five goals, two of which delivered a second memorable Melbourne Derby win of the campaign, ensured a landslide in the voting.
He is the fourth Victory recipient of the Johnny Warren Medal, a prize awarded to the best player each season of the domestic top-tier Men’s competition, following Carlos Hernández (2010), Marco Rojas (2013) and Jake Brimmer (2022) being recognised.
The 2010 World Cup winner also claimed the eToro Playmaker of the Year prize.
“There is a time in your career where you start getting older and sometimes it takes more effort to get up in the morning, to go to training, and after last season in Sydney – I enjoyed very much the league, the lifestyle and everything but I didn’t play so much – I was thinking what I wanted to do with my life. But Melbourne Victory appeared and again I fell in love with football.
“They created a context and an environment that I could enjoy football again. Everyone in the Club, my teammates, they have a fantastic culture, and it is a privilege to be part of this.”
These accolades follow Mata being crowned the Victory medallist at the 2026 Victory Medal, when he also picked up AGL Players’ Player and Sidelink Transport Goal of the Season, and this week, named in the PFA Team of the Season.
Congratulations, Juan!
