Twelve years ago 19 Australians were playing in Europe’s elite leagues ... now there’s only three

THE full extent of the collapse in the number of Australians plying their trade in Europe’s elite football leagues is laid bare by new data that shows why the Socceroos are struggling.

Australian goalkeeper Mat Ryan plays for EPL club Brighton & Hove Albion.

AUSTRALIAN players once thrived among the Big Five.

Now Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou has just three to choose from who are plying their trade in Europe’s elite competitions — EPL, La Liga in Spain, Italy’s Serie A, the French Ligue 1 and Germany’s Bundesliga.

As Postecoglou’s side gathers in Japan for a make-or-break World Cup qualifier, new data from the players’ union shows an 80 per cent fall in playing minutes for Australians in the top five European leagues in the 10 years since 2005.

WORLD CUP QUALIFIER: JAPAN FANS ‘WANT SOCCEROOS TO WIN’

FFA CUP: POPOVIC SOUNDS CUP GREEN ALERT

By the end of the 2005-06 season, 19 Australians were playing in those competitions.

While those 19 varied from Lucas Neill’s 3136 minutes that season to Frank Juric’s 90 minutes at Hanover 96, the average per player was 1392 minutes — or more than 15 games a season.

By 2015-16, that figure had fallen to eight players active in the Big Five at an average of 750 minutes — or just over eight games a season.

Huddersfield’s Aaron Mooy struts his stuff in the EPL. Picture: Getty Images

To compound that fall, Mile Jedinak and Mathew Leckie accounted for the bulk of minutes played by Australians that season. The other six played an average of fewer than four games.

The picture is even bleaker today.

No Australians are playing in France or Spain, only Chris Ikonomidis is signed to a Serie A club, and only Mathew Ryan, Aaron Mooy and Leckie have accrued any minutes this season in the Big Five leagues, albeit just a handful of games into the new campaign.

The figures reinforce the challenge Postecoglou has faced when so few of his players are earning game time at the very top level.

By comparison, of the 23-man squad that went to the 2006 World Cup, 13 were playing in the Big Five leagues.

Mathew Leckie plays for Hertha Berlin in Germany’s Bundesliga. Picture: AFP

Ryan, Mooy and Leckie will be key to Australia’s hopes of getting a positive result against Japan in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier, and PFA CEO John Didulica said the data his union had amassed reinforced the need to develop players who are able to match it with the world’s elite.

“It is a stark reminder of how competitive football is at the global level,” he said. “If we weren’t already aware, we need to accept that we are at a huge disadvantage in keeping up with the rest of the world.

“Our diluted talent pool, our smaller population size and the huge money other nations throw at football mean that we don’t have a margin for error.

“Each player will have their own story as to why they cracked the Big Five or failed to do so, but this research is a call to arms for Australia to develop a collective solution to a collective challenge.

“The more players we have at the absolute peak of the game, the healthier the entire sport.”

The results are likely to spark fresh debate over the development of Australian talent and why it has apparently stymied over the past decade.

Originally published as Twelve years ago 19 Australians were playing in Europe’s elite leagues ... now there’s only three