FMA International Player of the Year award‏

Brett Holman was tonight named International Player of the Year by Australia's Football Media Association (FMA) at the annual Black Tie Australian Football Awards held in Sydney.

"Brett Holman was the run away favourite of members of the FMA for this year's award," said FMA President, Steve Dettre of Infostrada Sports, in presenting the award.

The other nominees were Mile Jedinak, Matt McKay, Carl Valeri and Luke Wilkshire.

"Brett showed his value as an international player at last year’s World Cup –responding to some of his critics in the best way possible - by ‘doing the business’ on the pitch," said Dettre.

"His form continued throughout 2010-11 starting with the first game in the voting year when the Socceroos met Slovenia in Ljubljana last August."

The FMA's citation notes that, in the 15 games played in the 2010-11 voting period, Holman played in all but one (v Paraguay in Sydney, October 2010), creating numerous chances and scoring two goals. He is the only Socceroo to have played in the 11 matches of 2011 (up to the match v Serbia in Melbourne in June), demonstrating both his importance and worth to the team.

Holman’s good form for the green and gold has also carried through to his Eredivisie club side, AZ Alkmaar, including in the current Champions League campaign, where he is a fixture under Dick Advocaat.

"The view of FMA members is that, in 2010-11, Holman has been instrumental in bringing a more fluent style of play to the national team and Australia looks more threatening in attack when he is in full flight," Dettre said.

Previous winners of the FMA International Player of the Year Award are Mark Schwarzer (2009) and Tim Cahill (2010).

The FMA award for International Player of the Year is presented along with Football Federation Australia's community and elite player awards and the Professional Footballers' Association's Harry Kewell Medal (for U23 player) and Male & Female Players of the Year.

The Australian Football Awards were created in 2009 to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the entire 'football family' - a concept now being promoted and leveraged through the 'We Are Football' A-League campaign.