2006–07 A-League

A-League
Season 2006–07
Dates 25 August 2006 – 18 February 2007
Champions Melbourne Victory (1st title)
Premiers Melbourne Victory (1st title)
AFC Champions League Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United
Matches played 84
Goals scored 218 (2.6 per match)
Top goalscorer Archie Thompson
(15 goals)
Best goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos
Biggest away win New Zealand Knights 0–4 Melbourne Victory
(27 October 2006)
Highest attendance 50,333
Lowest attendance 1,632
Average attendance 12,927

The 2006–07 A-League was the 30th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the second season of the A-League since its establishment the previous season. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the first season and on the interest generated by the Socceroos competing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Fox Sports had signed a A$120 million deal over 7 years for the exclusive broadcast rights of the A-League, AFC Champions League, and national team matches (excluding matches played in the World Cup finals).[1]

The television advertisement campaign used for the 2006–07 season was the same as the previous season, with different music. Scribe's song "Not Many" was replaced with Manuel Neztic's "Kickin Down".[2] The second season was marketed as "A-League: Version 2".[3]

Clubs

Team Location Stadium Capacity
Adelaide United Adelaide Hindmarsh Stadium 17,000
Central Coast Mariners Gosford Bluetongue Stadium 20,119
Melbourne Victory Melbourne Olympic Park Stadium
Telstra Dome
18,500
56,347
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 Netherlands Bobby Petta Brazil Romário4
Central Coast Mariners Germany André Gumprecht England Jamie McMaster Republic of Ireland Wayne O'Sullivan Malta John Hutchinson2
Melbourne Victory Brazil Alessandro Brazil Fred England James Robinson Scotland Grant Brebner Brazil Claudinho4
New Zealand Knights England Darren Bazeley England Neil Emblen Ghana Malik Buari Portugal Dani Rodrigues Brazil Fernando3
Canada Alen Marcina3
China Gao Leilei3
China Li Yan3
England Dean Gordon3
Ghana Hamza Mohammed3
Republic of Ireland Sean Devine1
Scotland Scot Gemmill3
Newcastle Jets Colombia Milton Rodríguez New Zealand Tim Brown New Zealand Steven Old New Zealand Vaughan Coveny1
Perth Glory New Zealand Leo Bertos New Zealand Jeremy Christie New Zealand Danny Hay
Queensland Roar Brazil Reinaldo Germany Marcus Wedau Scotland Simon Lynch Switzerland Remo Buess China Zhang Yuning3
Scotland Stuart McLaren1
South Korea Seo Hyuk-su1
Sydney FC New Zealand Jeremy Brockie Northern Ireland Terry McFlynn Trinidad and Tobago Dwight Yorke Ivory Coast Jonas Salley1
Italy Benito Carbone4

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)

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

Newcastle playing Sydney in a pre-season match in Canberra

This competition was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The opening round was 15 July 2006. The competition featured a group stage, with three regular rounds and a bonus round, followed by a two-week finals playoff. The bonus group round matched up teams against opponents from the other group, and also offered the incentive of "bonus points" based on goals scored (1 point for 2 goals, 2 points for 3 goals, 3 points for 4 or more goals).

The Pre-Season Cup was used to enhance the A-League's profiles by playing pre-season games in regional centres including the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Launceston, Canberra, Wollongong, Port Macquarie, Orange and Tamworth.[4]

The pre-season cup was won by Adelaide United at the final on 19 August 2006.

Regular season

The league season took a triple round-robin format, and took place over 21 rounds between 25 August 2006 and 21 January 2007.

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Melbourne Victory (C) 21 14 3 4 41 20 +21 45 2008 AFC Champions League Group stage[lower-alpha 1]
2 Adelaide United 21 10 3 8 32 27 +5 33
3 Newcastle Jets 21 8 6 7 32 30 +2 30 2007 A-League Finals Series[lower-alpha 2]
4 Sydney FC 21 8 8 5 29 19 +10 29[lower-alpha 3]
5 Queensland Roar 21 8 5 8 25 27 2 29
6 Central Coast Mariners 21 6 6 9 22 26 4 24
7 Perth Glory 21 5 5 11 24 30 6 20
8 New Zealand Knights[lower-alpha 4] 21 5 4 12 13 39 26 19 Disbanded at end of season
Updated to match(es) played on 21 January 2007. 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 2008 AFC Champions League Group stage.
    Winning the 2007 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2008 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 2007 A-League Finals Series.
  3. Sydney FC were penalised three competition points following round 18 due to salary cap breaches which occurred during the 2005–06 season
  4. New Zealand Knights cannot qualify for the 2008 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

Melbourne Victory celebrating their 2007 A-League Grand Final victory.
  Semi Finals Preliminary Final Grand Final
    L1 L2    
    28 January & 4 February                        
1 Melbourne Victory 0 2     18 February
2 Adelaide United 0 1     11 February       1 Melbourne Victory 6
    2 Adelaide United (pso) 1 (4)   2 Adelaide United 0
  26 January & 2 February   3 Newcastle Jets 1 (3)  
3 Newcastle Jets 1 2
4 Sydney FC 2 0  


The Asian Football Confederation announced on 21 November 2006 that Adelaide United and Sydney FC would represent Australia in the 2007 AFC Champions League. Despite an appeal by the Football Federation Australia, it was determined that the 2005–06 A-League premiers and champions would qualify and not those from the current season.[5]

The AFC also indicated that the qualification arrangements would not be reviewed prior to 2009. The FFA have indicated that the premiers and champions of A-League 2006–07 will qualify for the 2008 AFC Champions League – establishing a precedent of maintaining a one-year lag between qualification and participation.

Season statistics

Leading goalscorers

PlayerTeamGoals
Archie ThompsonMelbourne Victory15
Daniel AllsoppMelbourne Victory12
Damian MoriCentral Coast Mariners (6), Queensland Roar (2)8
Mark BridgeNewcastle Jets8
Adam KwasnikCentral Coast Mariners7
Jamie HarnwellPerth Glory7

Most yellow cards

PlayerTeamYellow Cards
Adrian LeijerMelbourne Victory7
Nick CarleNewcastle Jets6
Andrew DuranteNewcastle Jets6
Kevin MuscatMelbourne Victory5
Terry McFlynnSydney FC5
Simon ColosimoPerth Glory5

Attendances

Team Hosted Average High Low Total
Melbourne Victory1127,72850,33315,563305,011
Queensland Roar1016,46532,37110,040164,653
Sydney FC1014,99920,8819,871149,986
Adelaide United1112,16216,3788,785133,782
Newcastle Jets1011,44220,9804,635114,420
Central Coast Mariners119,82815,4044,644108,112
Perth Glory107,6719,9786,25176,709
New Zealand Knights113,0147,3041,63233,156
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League total 84 12,927 50,333 1,632 1,085,829

Highest attendances

Awards

The 2007 A-League Awards ceremony was held on 27 February 2007 at the Sydney Opera House.[6]

See also

References

  1. "Historic deal for football". 26 April 2006. Archived from the original on 25 August 2006.
  2. "Football's new kick-start". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 August 2006.
  3. "Version 2.0 launched". 25 August 2006. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
  4. "A-League Pre-Season Schedule Confirmed". 1 June 2006. Archived from the original on 30 August 2006.
  5. "AFC confirm Sydney and Adelaide". 21 November 2006. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011.
  6. Nick Carle takes out Johnny Warren Medal Archived 17 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine., A-League, 27 February 2007.
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