A-League 2007-08
New ZealandFor the former US soccer league of the same name see A-League (American)
The A-League is the premier Australasian domestic football (soccer) competition. Founded in 2004 and staging its inaugural season in 2005-06, the league is contested by eight teams: seven covering Australia's major cities and regional centres and one from New Zealand.
History
Main article: A-League 2005-06 2005-06 season
Main article: A-League 2006-07 2006-07 season
Main article: A-League 2007-08 2007-08 season
Format
A Pre-Season Cup is held in July and August, as a precursor to the main season. In the Pre-Season Cup, the eight teams are placed into two groups. Each team plays the others in the group once over three rounds.
Beginning in 2006, an additional bonus round is then held, with each team playing a cross-over match with a team from a different group. In addition to the standard points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw), there are special bonus points on offer for the bonus round matches:
All eight teams then enter a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.
The FFA has indicated that, if successful, the bonus points system may be used in the main league season from the 2007-08 season. Pre-Season Cup
The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from late August to January of the following year. The competition consists of 21 home-and-away rounds, with each team playing each other team three times – twice at one team's home stadium and once at the other's. The teams which are allotted two home matches against an opponent in one season are allotted one home match against that opponent in the following season. Each match sees the winning team awarded three competition points, or in the case of a draw, the teams receive one point each. At the end of the season, the teams are ranked firstly in terms of competition points accumulated, then goal difference, total goals scored, head-to-head records between tying teams and finally the number of cards each team has received.
Regular season
The top four-ranked teams at the end of the regular season are entered into a finals series based on the Page playoff system, where the first round of matches consists of two legs (with ties decided by the away goals rule). The top two ranked teams play the Major Semi-Final, with the winner progressing straight to and hosting the Grand Final. On the same weekends, the third and fourth ranked teams contest the Minor Semi-Final, which sees the losing side eliminated whilst the winner plays off against the loser of the Major Semi-Final in the Preliminary Final the following weekend. The winner of this match also progresses to the Grand Final, the winner of which becomes A-League Champions. As of the 2006–07 season, this team will also contest the AFC Champions League, although if the team that wins the Premiership goes through to Grand Final then the runners-up in the Grand Final are awarded the second spot in the competition, win or lose.
Finals series
The A-League logo, designed by Coast Design Sydney, is a three-dimensional sphere in the shape of a football. The two-toned ochre colours represent the sun, earth and desert while the 'glow' emanating from the centre of the logo depicts the playing season's Spring and Summer time span. The eight 'A' figures that make up the ball shape represent the eight foundation clubs.
Logo
There are currently eight clubs from Australia and New Zealand playing in the A-League. Only three of these clubs, Adelaide United, Newcastle United Jets (previously known just as Newcastle United) and Perth Glory existed before the A-League was formed.
Unlike most European leagues, there is no system for promotion and relegation of teams, nor a national knockout cup competition along the lines of the FA Cup. The A-League system thus shares some franchising elements with most other professional leagues in Australia, as well as Major League Soccer and other major sports leagues in the United States.
On March 19, 2007, it was confirmed that a Wellington based franchise would be replacing the New Zealand Knights for the 2007-08 season.
For the 2007-08 season, the eight clubs will be:
Clubs
Each club can have a maximum squad of 23 players with a salary cap of AU$1.8 million for the whole squad - much less than the millions of dollars a year that individual star players (including a few Australians) earn in Europe's top football leagues. The minimum number of players on each squad is 20. The squad must include at least three under-20 players. Clubs may also only have a maximum of four internationals (from outside Australia and New Zealand) in their squad.
Marquee player
While making a relatively modest start in order to ensure future stability, the league is interested in introducing more teams to the competition. The eight foundation clubs have exclusivity clauses for their respective cities valid for five years, but there is room to add more teams. With Australia's performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup there has been some media speculation that Football Federation Australia may expand the league after the 2007-08 season. This is looking very possible with upcoming changes to the number of Asian Champions League spots available from 2009.
Townsville and Canberra are possibilities, having large populations and modern football stadiums, respectively Dairy Farmers Stadium and Canberra Stadium. Wollongong and the Gold Coast could also be considered, with Wollongong pushing for an upgrade to WIN Stadium while the Gold Coast will have a new 25,000 seat stadium in 2008. Many people felt the twice Australian Champions Wollongong Wolves should be the team from the Illawarra, but according to media reports the Wolves are planning on staying in the NSW Premier League, and are fully supporting a new club for the region. This club will be backed by Bruce Gordon, Australia's 14th richest person.
Expansion
Captains
denotes oval-shaped stadiums Stadiums
Format
A Pre-Season Cup is held in July and August, as a precursor to the main season. In the Pre-Season Cup, the eight teams are placed into two groups. Each team plays the others in the group once over three rounds.
Beginning in 2006, an additional bonus round is then held, with each team playing a cross-over match with a team from a different group. In addition to the standard points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw), there are special bonus points on offer for the bonus round matches:
All eight teams then enter a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.
The FFA has indicated that, if successful, the bonus points system may be used in the main league season from the 2007-08 season. Pre-Season Cup
The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from late August to January of the following year. The competition consists of 21 home-and-away rounds, with each team playing each other team three times – twice at one team's home stadium and once at the other's. The teams which are allotted two home matches against an opponent in one season are allotted one home match against that opponent in the following season. Each match sees the winning team awarded three competition points, or in the case of a draw, the teams receive one point each. At the end of the season, the teams are ranked firstly in terms of competition points accumulated, then goal difference, total goals scored, head-to-head records between tying teams and finally the number of cards each team has received.
Regular season
The top four-ranked teams at the end of the regular season are entered into a finals series based on the Page playoff system, where the first round of matches consists of two legs (with ties decided by the away goals rule). The top two ranked teams play the Major Semi-Final, with the winner progressing straight to and hosting the Grand Final. On the same weekends, the third and fourth ranked teams contest the Minor Semi-Final, which sees the losing side eliminated whilst the winner plays off against the loser of the Major Semi-Final in the Preliminary Final the following weekend. The winner of this match also progresses to the Grand Final, the winner of which becomes A-League Champions. As of the 2006–07 season, this team will also contest the AFC Champions League, although if the team that wins the Premiership goes through to Grand Final then the runners-up in the Grand Final are awarded the second spot in the competition, win or lose.
Finals series
The A-League logo, designed by Coast Design Sydney, is a three-dimensional sphere in the shape of a football. The two-toned ochre colours represent the sun, earth and desert while the 'glow' emanating from the centre of the logo depicts the playing season's Spring and Summer time span. The eight 'A' figures that make up the ball shape represent the eight foundation clubs.
LogoThere are currently eight clubs from Australia and New Zealand playing in the A-League. Only three of these clubs, Adelaide United, Newcastle United Jets (previously known just as Newcastle United) and Perth Glory existed before the A-League was formed.
Unlike most European leagues, there is no system for promotion and relegation of teams, nor a national knockout cup competition along the lines of the FA Cup. The A-League system thus shares some franchising elements with most other professional leagues in Australia, as well as Major League Soccer and other major sports leagues in the United States.
On March 19, 2007, it was confirmed that a Wellington based franchise would be replacing the New Zealand Knights for the 2007-08 season.
For the 2007-08 season, the eight clubs will be:
Clubs
Each club can have a maximum squad of 23 players with a salary cap of AU$1.8 million for the whole squad - much less than the millions of dollars a year that individual star players (including a few Australians) earn in Europe's top football leagues. The minimum number of players on each squad is 20. The squad must include at least three under-20 players. Clubs may also only have a maximum of four internationals (from outside Australia and New Zealand) in their squad.
Marquee player
While making a relatively modest start in order to ensure future stability, the league is interested in introducing more teams to the competition. The eight foundation clubs have exclusivity clauses for their respective cities valid for five years, but there is room to add more teams. With Australia's performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup there has been some media speculation that Football Federation Australia may expand the league after the 2007-08 season. This is looking very possible with upcoming changes to the number of Asian Champions League spots available from 2009.
Townsville and Canberra are possibilities, having large populations and modern football stadiums, respectively Dairy Farmers Stadium and Canberra Stadium. Wollongong and the Gold Coast could also be considered, with Wollongong pushing for an upgrade to WIN Stadium while the Gold Coast will have a new 25,000 seat stadium in 2008. Many people felt the twice Australian Champions Wollongong Wolves should be the team from the Illawarra, but according to media reports the Wolves are planning on staying in the NSW Premier League, and are fully supporting a new club for the region. This club will be backed by Bruce Gordon, Australia's 14th richest person.
Expansion
Captains
denotes oval-shaped stadiums Stadiums
Main article: List of A-League champions Champions and premiers
Two A-League clubs will participate in the AFC Champions League competition from the 2007 competition on. The teams for the 2007 competition were determined by finishing positions in the 2005-6 A-League season, the 2008 competition by finishing positions in the 2006-7 season, and so on.
The Champions and Premiers qualify for the cup. In the case where the same team is Champion and Premier, the losing grand finalist qualifies.
AFC Champions League
Top scorers
See Also: A-League all-time records
All-time
Michael Beauchamp
Nick Carle
David Carney
Adrian Leijer
Damian Mori
Paul Okon
Carl Veart
Dario Vidosic
Ned Zelic
Richard Kitzbichler
Geoffrey Claeys
Fred
Fernando Rech
Romario
Qu Shengqing
Milton Rodriguez
Brian Deane
Benito Carbone
Kazuyoshi Miura
Dwight Yorke
Ian Ferguson
Stewart Petrie
Mateo Corbo Notable Past players
Jorge Drovandi (Newcastle Jets)
Cássio (Adelaide United)
Cleberson (Wellington Phoenix)
Daniel (Wellington Phoenix)
Denni (Newcastle Jets)
Diego (Adelaide United)
Felipe (Wellington Phoenix)
George (Wellington Phoenix)
Mario Jardel (Newcastle Jets)
Juninho (Sydney FC)
Leandro Love (Melbourne Victory)
Patrick da Silva (Sydney FC)
Marcinho (Queensland Roar)
Reinaldo (Queensland Roar)
Carlos Hernández (Melbourne Victory)
Jonas Salley (Adelaide United)
Mate Dragičević (Perth Glory)
Joe Keenan (Melbourne Victory)
James Robinson (Perth Glory)
Michael Bridges (Sydney FC)
Andre Gumprecht (Central Coast Mariners)
Bobby Petta (Adelaide United)
Terry McFlynn (Sydney FC)
Grant Brebner (Melbourne Victory)
Simon Lynch (Queensland Roar)
Hyuk-Su Seo (Queensland Roar)
Michael Enfield (Sydney FC) Current foreign players in the league
Awards
The Johnny Warren Medal, named after the late former Socceroo and media advocate Johnny Warren, is presented to the player who is deemed to be the best player overall at the end of the season as judged by his fellow players. Each player in the A-League votes three times over the season: after Round 7, Round 14 and Round 21. Players are not allowed to vote for other players on their own team.
Johnny Warren Medal
The Rising Star Award is awarded to a youth (under 20) player judged by a panel of experts to be the best young performer throughout the season.
Rising Star Award
The Reebok Golden Boot is presented to the player who scores the most goals during the season. Only regular Hyundai A-League matches between Round 1 and Round 21 are included.
Reebok Golden Boot
Coach of the Year Award
The Fair Play Award will go to the team with the lowest points on the fair play ladder at the conclusion of the home and away season (Yellow Card = 1 point, Direct Red Card = 3 points, 2nd Caution Red Card = 2 points).
Perth Glory
Perth Glory
Fair Play Award
Mark Shield
Mark Shield
TV Coverage
Although there are no local derbies, due to the league's one-city one-team policy, many rivalries have formed between A-League sides:
Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory: Considered by some as the greatest rivalry in the league. Much like the Queensland/Sydney rivalry, the historical Australian rules football rivalry between the cities has passed into a general sporting and cultural rivalry. Contested the 2006-07 A-League Grand Final, in which Melbourne convincingly won 6-0. Again they faced off on Friday 7th of September 2007 at Hindmarsh stadium, where some Melbourne Victory supporters were escorted out of the stadium after being provoked by Adelaide United fans. A mass walkout of the away fans in protest of Adelaide's pityful antics followed. The match ended 1-1, however the crushing defeat in the final remains the pinaccle of the rivalry.
Adelaide United v Sydney FC: The clash between the two most successful teams in the A-League's inaugural year (Adelaide the Premiership and Sydney the eventual winners).The finals series between the two teams was explosive and led to the establishment of a rivalry between the clubs.
Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory: The clash between Australia's two biggest cities. which is considered the biggest rivalry in the league by both sets of fans. Sydney and Melbourne have been historical rivals for over a century, and their football teams are no exception. The rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory has become arguably the most bitter in the A League, with almost every match between the two teams characterised by spiteful confrontations, controversy and consistently record-breaking crowds. There is also an intense rivalry emerging between the supporters of the clubs.
Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners: Labelled the "F3 Derby" by commentators,
Central Coast Mariners v Sydney FC: Although not the most intense rivalry in the competition, there is still a history that adds an element of importance for the fans in this fixture. Sydney FC beat the Central Coast Mariners in the inaugural A-League grand final in 2005. Due to this it is considered by the fans as the grudge match of the A-League. The Central Coast Mariners supporters (The Marinators) take great pride in beating Sydney FC, and Sydney supporters (The Cove) take great pleasure in reminding them of the score in the final.
Queensland Roar v Central Coast Mariners: Though not a very big rivalry in the A-League, these two teams have a long history of draws and drew with each other in their first five clashes in the A-League until Queensland Roar finally broke through with a 3-2 win at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium in Round 17 of the A-League 2006-07 season.
Queensland Roar v Newcastle Jets: These to have a history of beating eachother at home, with th jets yet to lose at suncorp stadium, whilst the roar yet to lose at energyaustralia stadium.
Two A-League clubs will participate in the AFC Champions League competition from the 2007 competition on. The teams for the 2007 competition were determined by finishing positions in the 2005-6 A-League season, the 2008 competition by finishing positions in the 2006-7 season, and so on.
The Champions and Premiers qualify for the cup. In the case where the same team is Champion and Premier, the losing grand finalist qualifies.
AFC Champions League
Top scorers
See Also: A-League all-time records
All-time
Michael Beauchamp Nick Carle David Carney Adrian Leijer Damian Mori Paul Okon Carl Veart Dario Vidosic Ned Zelic Richard Kitzbichler Geoffrey Claeys Fred Fernando Rech Romario Qu Shengqing Milton Rodriguez Brian Deane Benito Carbone Kazuyoshi Miura Dwight Yorke Ian Ferguson Stewart Petrie Mateo Corbo Notable Past players Jorge Drovandi (Newcastle Jets) Cássio (Adelaide United) Cleberson (Wellington Phoenix) Daniel (Wellington Phoenix) Denni (Newcastle Jets) Diego (Adelaide United) Felipe (Wellington Phoenix) George (Wellington Phoenix) Mario Jardel (Newcastle Jets) Juninho (Sydney FC) Leandro Love (Melbourne Victory) Patrick da Silva (Sydney FC) Marcinho (Queensland Roar) Reinaldo (Queensland Roar) Carlos Hernández (Melbourne Victory) Jonas Salley (Adelaide United) Mate Dragičević (Perth Glory) Joe Keenan (Melbourne Victory) James Robinson (Perth Glory) Michael Bridges (Sydney FC) Andre Gumprecht (Central Coast Mariners) Bobby Petta (Adelaide United) Terry McFlynn (Sydney FC) Grant Brebner (Melbourne Victory) Simon Lynch (Queensland Roar) Hyuk-Su Seo (Queensland Roar) Michael Enfield (Sydney FC) Current foreign players in the leagueAwards
The Johnny Warren Medal, named after the late former Socceroo and media advocate Johnny Warren, is presented to the player who is deemed to be the best player overall at the end of the season as judged by his fellow players. Each player in the A-League votes three times over the season: after Round 7, Round 14 and Round 21. Players are not allowed to vote for other players on their own team.
Johnny Warren Medal
The Rising Star Award is awarded to a youth (under 20) player judged by a panel of experts to be the best young performer throughout the season.
Rising Star Award
The Reebok Golden Boot is presented to the player who scores the most goals during the season. Only regular Hyundai A-League matches between Round 1 and Round 21 are included.
Reebok Golden Boot
Coach of the Year Award
The Fair Play Award will go to the team with the lowest points on the fair play ladder at the conclusion of the home and away season (Yellow Card = 1 point, Direct Red Card = 3 points, 2nd Caution Red Card = 2 points).
Perth Glory Perth GloryFair Play Award
Mark Shield
Mark Shield
TV Coverage
Although there are no local derbies, due to the league's one-city one-team policy, many rivalries have formed between A-League sides:
Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory: Considered by some as the greatest rivalry in the league. Much like the Queensland/Sydney rivalry, the historical Australian rules football rivalry between the cities has passed into a general sporting and cultural rivalry. Contested the 2006-07 A-League Grand Final, in which Melbourne convincingly won 6-0. Again they faced off on Friday 7th of September 2007 at Hindmarsh stadium, where some Melbourne Victory supporters were escorted out of the stadium after being provoked by Adelaide United fans. A mass walkout of the away fans in protest of Adelaide's pityful antics followed. The match ended 1-1, however the crushing defeat in the final remains the pinaccle of the rivalry.
Adelaide United v Sydney FC: The clash between the two most successful teams in the A-League's inaugural year (Adelaide the Premiership and Sydney the eventual winners).The finals series between the two teams was explosive and led to the establishment of a rivalry between the clubs.
Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory: The clash between Australia's two biggest cities. which is considered the biggest rivalry in the league by both sets of fans. Sydney and Melbourne have been historical rivals for over a century, and their football teams are no exception. The rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory has become arguably the most bitter in the A League, with almost every match between the two teams characterised by spiteful confrontations, controversy and consistently record-breaking crowds. There is also an intense rivalry emerging between the supporters of the clubs.
Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners: Labelled the "F3 Derby" by commentators,
Central Coast Mariners v Sydney FC: Although not the most intense rivalry in the competition, there is still a history that adds an element of importance for the fans in this fixture. Sydney FC beat the Central Coast Mariners in the inaugural A-League grand final in 2005. Due to this it is considered by the fans as the grudge match of the A-League. The Central Coast Mariners supporters (The Marinators) take great pride in beating Sydney FC, and Sydney supporters (The Cove) take great pleasure in reminding them of the score in the final.
Queensland Roar v Central Coast Mariners: Though not a very big rivalry in the A-League, these two teams have a long history of draws and drew with each other in their first five clashes in the A-League until Queensland Roar finally broke through with a 3-2 win at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium in Round 17 of the A-League 2006-07 season.
Queensland Roar v Newcastle Jets: These to have a history of beating eachother at home, with th jets yet to lose at suncorp stadium, whilst the roar yet to lose at energyaustralia stadium.
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