Last year's AFC Champions League's most valuable player Ante Covic and Socceroos striker Tomi Juric were among 10 players axed by the Western Sydney Wanderers Friday after a horror A-League season.
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Goalkeeper Covic was the hero as the Wanderers became the first Australian club to win Asian football's showpiece, but he has paid for a miserable season where they finished second last with just four victories.
Covic, Juric, Iacopo La Rocca, Jason Trifiro, Antony Golec, Nikita Rukavytsya, Kerem Bulut, Nick Ward, Nick Kalmar and Adrian Madaschi were all told they would not have their contracts renewed for next season.
"The players that helped us to win our AFC Champions League crown will forever be synonymous with this club and embedded in our history," Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas said in a statement.
"In particular I would like to thank our foundation players Iacopo La Rocca, Ante Covic and Jason Trifiro for their contribution to the Wanderers from our inaugural season (2012-2013)."
The defending champions also fared poorly in the AFC Champions League when they failed to qualify for the knock-out stages.
However, coach Tony Popovic escaped the axe when earlier this month he was handed a contract extension until the end of the 2017-2018 season.
