2005–06 A-League

A-League
Season 2005–06
Dates 26 August 2005 – 5 March 2006
Champions Sydney FC (1st title)
Premiers Adelaide United (1st title)
Champions League Sydney FC
Adelaide United
Matches played 84
Goals scored 232 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer Alex Brosque
Bobby Despotovski
Archie Thompson
Stewart Petrie
(8 goals)
Best goalkeeper Clint Bolton
Biggest home win Melbourne Victory 5–0 Sydney FC
(16 October 2005)
Biggest away win Newcastle Jets 0–5 Queensland Roar
(26 January 2006)
Highest attendance 25,557
Lowest attendance 1,922
Average attendance 10,955

The 2005–06 A-League was the 29th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the inaugural season of the A-League. After over 12 months without a national professional club competition since the close of the 2003–04 National Soccer League season, the first match in the A-League was played on 26 August 2005. The competition was made up of a triple round robin league stage before a championship playoff featuring the top four teams.

Of the eight participants, four came from the National Soccer League (1977–2004): Perth Glory (established 1995), New Zealand Knights (1999), Newcastle Jets (2000) and Adelaide United (2003). New Zealand Knights had previously entered the NSL as the Auckland Football Kingz, but were significantly restructured and have a vastly different playing roster. Queensland Roar previously competed in the NSL from 1977–1988 and had competed in the Queensland State League since then as Brisbane Lions.

Adelaide United were named Premiers after finishing the season seven points clear at the top of the league. The first A-League Grand Final took place on 5 March 2006, with Sydney FC becoming the league's inaugural Champions, defeating the Central Coast Mariners 1–0.

Clubs

Team City Home Ground Capacity
Adelaide United Adelaide Hindmarsh Stadium 17,000
Central Coast Mariners Gosford Bluetongue Stadium 20,119
Melbourne Victory Melbourne Olympic Park Stadium 18,500
Newcastle Jets Newcastle Energy Australia Stadium 26,164
New Zealand Knights Auckland North Harbour Stadium 25,000
Perth Glory Perth Members Equity Stadium 18,156
Queensland Roar Brisbane Suncorp Stadium 52,500
Sydney FC Sydney Aussie Stadium 42,500

Foreign players

Club Visa 1 Visa 2 Visa 3 Visa 4 Non-Visa Foreign
Adelaide United Brazil Fernando China Shengqing Qu
Central Coast Mariners Germany André Gumprecht Republic of Ireland Wayne O'Sullivan Scotland Stewart Petrie Malta John Hutchinson2
Scotland Ian Ferguson3
Melbourne Victory Austria Richard Kitzbichler Belgium Geoffrey Claeys
New Zealand Knights China Zhang Xiaobin England Darren Bazeley England Ben Collett England Neil Emblen China Li Yan3
England Ronnie Bull3
Japan Naoki Imaya3
Netherlands Frank van Eijs3
Republic of Ireland Sean Devine1
Newcastle Jets England Guy Bates Uruguay Mateo Corbo New Zealand Vaughan Coveny1
Perth Glory England Steve McMahon Japan Hiroyuki Ishida New Zealand Danny Hay Solomon Islands Henry Fa'arodo Serbia Milan Jovanić3
Queensland Roar Brazil Reinaldo Switzerland Remo Buess Uruguay Osvaldo Carro South Korea Seo Hyuk-su1
Sydney FC Northern Ireland Terry McFlynn Trinidad and Tobago Dwight Yorke United States Alejandro Salazar Japan Kazuyoshi Miura4

The following do not fill a Visa position:
1Those players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained Australian Residency (and New Zealand Residency, in the case of Wellington Phoenix);
2Australian residents (and New Zealand residents, in the case of Wellington Phoenix) who have chosen to represent another national team;
3Injury Replacement Players, or National Team Replacement Players;
4Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of ten games)

Preliminary Competitions

Two competitions were held prior to the start of the A-League season.

Oceania Club Championship Qualification

This three-round competition was held in May 2005 to determine Australia's qualifier for the 2005 season of the Oceania Club Championship. It consisted of all Australian A-League clubs (i.e. all clubs except for the New Zealand Knights) and granted Perth Glory – the reigning NSL champions – a bye into the semi-finals.

  Round 1
(7 May)		 Semi Finals
(11 May)		 Finals
(15 May)
                           
 
  Perth Glory 1  
    Sydney FC 2  
Sydney FC 3
  Queensland Roar 0  
    Sydney FC 1
  Central Coast Mariners 0
  Central Coast Mariners (pen) 0 (4)  
Newcastle Jets 0 (2)  
Central Coast Mariners 4
    Adelaide United 0  
Adelaide United (pen) 0 (4)
  Melbourne Victory 0 (1)  

Sydney FC qualified for and subsequently won the 2005 Oceania Club Championship entitling it to a place in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship to be played in Tokyo.

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

The inaugural pre-season cup was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The competition featured a group stage and a knockout stage. Commentators did not give much weight to the competition as a guide for performance during the season proper, as injuries or club strategic policy ruled that many teams did not use their best players and often used experimental tactics.

Group stage

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Melbourne Victory 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5 2005–06 Pre-Season Cup Semi Finals
2 Perth Glory 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
3 Adelaide United 3 0 3 0 3 3 0 3
4 Newcastle Jets 3 0 2 1 3 4 −1 2
Source:
Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Sydney FC 3 2 1 0 5 1 +4 7 2005–06 Pre-Season Cup Semi Finals
2 Central Coast Mariners 3 2 0 1 4 3 +1 6
3 Queensland Roar 3 1 1 1 6 3 +3 4
4 New Zealand Knights 3 0 0 3 1 9 −8 0
Source:

Finals

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
12 August
 
 
Melbourne Victory1
 
21 August
 
Central Coast Mariners3
 
Central Coast Mariners1
 
14 August
 
Perth Glory0
 
Sydney FC0
 
 
Perth Glory1
 

The Central Coast Mariners were the inaugural Pre-season Challenge Cup winners.

Regular season

The A-League season commenced on 26 August 2005 with two Friday night fixtures. Games each round were held throughout the weekend, though certain rounds also featured Thursday night games. As there was no concurrent cup competition, midweek fixtures were uncommon unless they were held on Australian public holidays. A three-week break was also scheduled in December to coincide with the 2005 FIFA Club World Cup in Tokyo.

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Adelaide United 21 13 4 4 33 25 +8 43 2007 AFC Champions League Group stage[lower-alpha 1]
2 Sydney FC (C) 21 10 6 5 35 28 +7 36
3 Central Coast Mariners 21 8 8 5 35 28 +7 32 2006 A-League Finals Series[lower-alpha 2]
4 Newcastle Jets 21 9 4 8 27 29 −2 31
5 Perth Glory 21 8 5 8 34 29 +5 29
6 Queensland Roar 21 7 7 7 27 22 +5 28
7 Melbourne Victory 21 7 5 9 26 24 +2 26
8 New Zealand Knights[lower-alpha 3] 21 1 3 17 15 47 −32 6
Updated to match(es) played on 5 February 2006. Source: theworldgame.sbs.com.au
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.
Notes:
  1. ↑ First place qualifies for the 2007 AFC Champions League Group stage.
    Winning the 2006 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2007 AFC Champions League Group stage, unless the Grand Final winners are also first place, in which case the Grand Final runner up qualifies.
  2. ↑ First place through to fourth place qualify for the 2006 A-League Finals Series.
  3. ↑ New Zealand Knights cannot qualify for the 2007 AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Finals series

After the home and away season, the finals series began, with the top four teams. The finals series used a modified Page playoff system, with the difference that each first-round game would be played over two legs. The winner of the finals series, Sydney FC was crowned as the A-League champion. Adelaide United, as the holder of the top position on the league ladder, were named the 2005–06 premiers.

Standard cup rules – such as the away goals rule (two-leg ties only), extra time and penalty shootouts were used to decide drawn games.

  Semi Finals Preliminary Final Grand Final
    L1 L2    
    February 10 & 17                        
1 Adelaide United 2 1     5 March
2 Sydney FC 2 2     26 February       2 Sydney FC 1
    1 Adelaide United 0   3 Central Coast Mariners 0
  February 12 & 19   3 Central Coast Mariners 1  
3 Central Coast Mariners 1 1
4 Newcastle Jets 0 1  


AFC Champions League

Although Australia became a member of the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, Australian teams were not invited to participate in the 2006 AFC Champions League competition.

The AFC later determined that qualification for the 2007 AFC Champions League would be based on the 2005–06 A-League competition, despite that ACL matches will commence after the completion of the A-League 2006–07 season. Adelaide as Premiers and Sydney as Champions represented Australia.

Attendance

Team Hosted Average High Low Total
Sydney FC1116,66925,5579,132183,355
Queensland Roar1114,78523,1428,607162,636
Melbourne Victory1014,15818,02610,078141,578
Adelaide United1010,94714,0687,013109,473
Perth Glory119,73413,1575,033107,075
Newcastle Jets118,91213,0005,86898,027
Central Coast Mariners107,89917,4295,19478,989
New Zealand Knights103,9099,9001,92239,086
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League total 84 10,955 25,557 1,922 920,219

Highest attendance

League records

The following league records are from the regular season only. It does not include records from the finals series.

Awards

AwardRecipient
Johnny Warren Medal (Player's Player of the Year)Bobby Despotovski (Perth Glory)
Reebok Golden Boot Award (Top Goalscorer)Four players (see below)
Hyundai Rising Star Award (U-20 Player of the Year)Nick Ward (Perth Glory)
Hyundai A-League Coach of the YearLawrie McKinna (Central Coast Mariners)
Zurich Referee of the YearMark Shield
Joe Marston Medal (Best player in Grand Final)Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC)

Leading goalscorers

Total Player Team Goals per Round
 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718192021
8 AustraliaAlex BrosqueBrisbane Roar 121211
AustraliaBobby DespotovskiPerth Glory 1211111
AustraliaArchie ThompsonMelbourne Victory 1112111
AustraliaStewart PetrieCentral Coast Mariners 112211
7 AustraliaCarl VeartAdelaide United 1111111
AustraliaDean HeffernanCentral Coast Mariners 1111111
Trinidad and TobagoDwight YorkeSydney FC 1111111
AustraliaAnte MilicicNewcastle Jets 11131
AustraliaSasho PetrovskiSydney FC 11131
AustraliaDamian MoriPerth Glory 2311

Fouls conceded

PlayerTeamFouls Conceded
Stewart PetrieCentral Coast Mariners60
Ross AloisiAdelaide United50
Andrew ClarkCentral Coast Mariners49
Sasho PetrovskiSydney FC49
Steve PantelidisMelbourne Victory47
Terry McFlynnSydney FC42
Noel SpencerCentral Coast Mariners41
Carl VeartAdelaide United40
Richard JohnsonNewcastle Jets40
Travis DoddAdelaide United39

Disciplinary records

PlayerTeamYellow2YCRed
Terry McFlynnSydney FC700
Matt McKayQueensland Roar311
Kevin MuscatMelbourne Victory410
Ross AloisiAdelaide United600
Remo BuessQueensland Roar600

Biggest victories

5 goals

ScoreDateRound
Melbourne Victory5–0Sydney FC16 Oct 20058
Queensland Roar5–0Newcastle Jets26 Jan 200620

4 goals

ScoreDateRound
Perth Glory5–1Newcastle Jets8 Oct 20057
Sydney FC5–1Central Coast Mariners5 Nov 200511
Newcastle Jets4–0New Zealand Knights18 Sep 20054
Central Coast Mariners4–0Perth Glory8 Oct 20058

Highest aggregate scores

ScoreDateRound
Perth Glory5–1Newcastle Jets8 Oct 20057
Sydney FC5–1Central Coast Mariners5 Nov 200511
Newcastle Jets4–2Adelaide United14 Oct 20058
Newcastle Jets4–2New Zealand Knights4 Nov 200511
Perth Glory4–2Adelaide United6 Nov 200511
Adelaide United4–2Queensland Roar1 Jan 200616

Honours

See also

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