Meteoric Rise for Victory Star

Twenty-one-year-old Melbourne Victory attacker Hamilton-born Marco Rojas has won the Johnny Warren Medal as the A-League player of the year, doubling the amount of votes second-placed Italian soccer legend Alessandro Del Piero, 38, received. In polling a staggering 980 votes from his peers – Del Piero received 449 – Rojas became the second New Zealander in five seasons to claim the coveted prize. Rojas, of Chilean descent, first came to prominence when he made his A-League debut with Wellington Phoenix in 2009 via a scholarship from supporters group Yellow Fever. Rojas said winning the award and mixing with some of the sport’s A-listers at the award ceremony was “humbling”. “It wasn’t what I was expecting so [it was] definitely a big shock,” Rojas said. Rojas has been linked with several Bundesliga clubs including Werder Bremen, Nuremberg and Wolfsburg.