Sports Interactive has sent word that the very impressive Alessandro Del Piero of the Sydeny FC team has been named A-League Player of the Year in the recent Football Manager 2013 simulation.

The former Juventus legend looks set to re-invigorate the A-League and the simulation saw an increase in attendances across the league as well as increased merchandise sales for Sydney FC. The rest of the league had to raise their game to stop Del Piero and Sydney with the other big off-season signing, Emile Heskey, performing very well for the Jets with an average rating of 7.00 and a tally of seven goals in 24 games.

"This is going to be a big season for the A-League - and not just because of the arrival of a couple of big-name European players," says Miles Jacobson, Studio Director of Sports Interactive. "It will also be interesting to see the impact made by the arrival of Western Sydney and the introduction of the new play-off system... both of which feature in Football Manager 2013. With all of this going on, we thought it would be fun to have a look ahead and see how the A-League season might pan out."

Many fans are probably hesitant on how well they will do despite the video game simulation results but hopefully a strong gaming season is in order. You can check out the full results over at the full press release.