2005–06 A-League

A-League

Season	2005–06
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)
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
← 2003–04 NSL 2006–07 →

The 2005–06 A-League was the inaugural season of the Australian A-League soccer competition. After over 12 months without a national professional club competition, 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 come from the National Soccer League (1977–2004): Perth Glory !Perth Glory (established 1995), New Zealand Knights (1999), Newcastle Jets !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.

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

Clubs

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

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 !Perth Glory	1
							Sydney FC !Sydney FC	2
		Sydney FC !Sydney FC	3
		Queensland Roar	0
												Sydney FC !Sydney FC	1
												Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	0
		Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners (pen)	0 (4)
		Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	0 (2)
							Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	4
							Adelaide United !Adelaide United	0
		Adelaide United !Adelaide United (pen)	0 (4)
		Melbourne Victory !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 !Melbourne Victory	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5	2005-06 Pre-Season Cup Semi Finals
2	Perth Glory !Perth Glory	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
4	Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	2005-06 Pre-Season Cup Semi Finals
2	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
3	Queensland Roar !Queensland Roar	3	1	1	1	6	3	+3	4
4	New Zealand Knights !New Zealand Knights	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

Finals

	Semi-finals				Final
	12 August
	Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory	1
	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	3
					21 August
					Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	1
					Perth Glory !Perth Glory	0
	14 August
	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	0
	Perth Glory !Perth Glory	1

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 !Adelaide United	21	13	4	4	33	25	+8	43	2007 AFC Champions League Group stage
2	Sydney FC !Sydney FC (C)	21	10	6	5	35	28	+7	36
3	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	21	8	8	5	35	28	+7	32	2006 A-League Finals Series
4	Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	21	9	4	8	27	29	−2	31
5	Perth Glory !Perth Glory	21	8	5	8	34	29	+5	29
6	Queensland Roar !Queensland Roar	21	7	7	7	27	22	+5	28
7	Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory	21	7	5	9	26	24	+2	26
8	New Zealand Knights !New Zealand Knights	21	1	3	17	15	47	−32	6

Updated to games played on 5 February 2006
Source: theworldgame.sbs.com.au
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
¹First place through to fourth place qualify for the 2006 A-League Finals Series.
²First place qualifies for the 2007 AFC Champions League Group stage.
³Winning 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.
⁴New Zealand Knights cannot qualify for the 2007 AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.
Rules for classification:1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored.
# = Position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points.

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 !Sydney FC was crowned as the A-League champion. Adelaide United !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 !Adelaide United	2	1									5 March
	2	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	2	2				26 February				2	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	1
							1	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	0			3	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	0
		February 12 & 19					3	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	1
	3	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	1	1
	4	Newcastle Jets !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 FC !Sydney FC	13	19,648	25,557	9,132	255,421
Queensland Roar	11	14,785	23,142	8,607	162,636
Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory	10	14,158	18,026	10,078	141,578
Adelaide United !Adelaide United	12	11,332	14,068	7,013	135,982
Perth Glory !Perth Glory	11	9,734	13,157	5,033	107,075
Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	12	9,022	13,000	5,868	108,263
Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	11	8,765	17,429	5,194	96,418
New Zealand Knights	10	3,909	9,900	1,922	39,086
{{ALeague {{{T9}}}}}	0	0	0	0	0
{{ALeague {{{T10}}}}}	0	0	0	0	0
{{ALeague {{{T11}}}}}	0	0	0	0	0
{{ALeague {{{T12}}}}}	0	0	0	0	0
League total	90	11,627	25,557	1,922	1,046,459

Highest attendance

• 41,689: Sydney FC !Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners, 5 March 2006 (Grand Final)
• 30,377: Sydney FC !Sydney FC vs Adelaide United !Adelaide United, 19 February 2006 (Semi-final L2)
• 25,557: Sydney FC !Sydney FC vs Adelaide United !Adelaide United, 3 February 2006 (Round 21)
• 25,208: Sydney FC !Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory, 28 August 2005 (Round 1)
• 23,142: Queensland Roar vs Sydney FC !Sydney FC, 23 September 2005 (Round 5)
• 20,725: Queensland Roar vs New Zealand Knights, 28 August 2005 (Round 1)
• 18,276: Sydney FC !Sydney FC vs Adelaide United !Adelaide United, 9 October 2005 (Round 7)
• 18,206: Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC !Sydney FC, 16 October 2005 (Round 8)
• 17,960: Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory vs Perth Glory !Perth Glory, 4 September 2005 (Round 2)

League records

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

Awards

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

Leading goalscorers

Total	Player		Team	Goals per Round
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
8		Alex Brosque	Brisbane Roar !Brisbane Roar	1													2		1			2	1	1
		Bobby Despotovski	Perth Glory !Perth Glory		1	2			1	1				1	1								1
		Archie Thompson	Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory	1				1	1		2	1							1		1
		Stewart Petrie	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners		1		1				2		2					1						1
7		Carl Veart	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	1									1	1			1	1	1			1
		Dean Heffernan	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners						1		1		1			1	1			1			1
		Dwight Yorke	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	1		1	1		1					1					1					1
		Ante Milicic	Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets		1	1							1	3							1
		Sasho Petrovski	Sydney FC !Sydney FC						1	1		1		3								1
		Damian Mori	Perth Glory !Perth Glory							2				3					1					1

Fouls conceded

Player	Team	Fouls Conceded
Stewart Petrie	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	60
Ross Aloisi	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	50
Andrew Clark	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	49
Sasho Petrovski	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	49
Steve Pantelidis	Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory	47
Terry McFlynn	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	42
Noel Spencer	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	41
Carl Veart	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	40
Richard Johnson	Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	40
Travis Dodd	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	39

Disciplinary records

Player	Team	Yellow	2YC	Red
Terry McFlynn	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	7	0	0
Matt McKay	Queensland Roar	3	1	1
Kevin Muscat	Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory	4	1	0
Ross Aloisi	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	6	0	0
Remo Buess	Queensland Roar	6	0	0

Biggest victories

5 goals

	Score		Date	Round
Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory	5–0	Sydney FC !Sydney FC	16 Oct 2005	8
Queensland Roar	5–0	Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	26 Jan 2006	20

4 goals

	Score		Date	Round
Perth Glory !Perth Glory	5–1	Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	8 Oct 2005	7
Sydney FC !Sydney FC	5–1	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	5 Nov 2005	11
Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	4–0	New Zealand Knights	18 Sep 2005	4
Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	4–0	Perth Glory !Perth Glory	8 Oct 2005	8

Highest aggregate scores

	Score		Date	Round
Perth Glory !Perth Glory	5–1	Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	8 Oct 2005	7
Sydney FC !Sydney FC	5–1	Central Coast Mariners !Central Coast Mariners	5 Nov 2005	11
Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	4–2	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	14 Oct 2005	8
Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets	4–2	New Zealand Knights	4 Nov 2005	11
Perth Glory !Perth Glory	4–2	Adelaide United !Adelaide United	6 Nov 2005	11
Adelaide United !Adelaide United	4–2	Queensland Roar	1 Jan 2006	16

Honours

• First goal – Carl Veart (Adelaide United !Adelaide United vs Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets, Round 1)
• First hat trick – Ante Milicic (Newcastle Jets !Newcastle Jets vs New Zealand Knights, Round 11)
• First red card – Richie Alagich (Adelaide United !Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory, Round 3)

See also

• 2005–06 Adelaide United FC season
• 2005–06 Central Coast Mariners FC season
• 2005–06 Melbourne Victory FC season
• 2005–06 Newcastle Jets FC season
• 2005–06 New Zealand Knights FC season
• 2005–06 Perth Glory FC season
• 2005–06 Queensland Roar FC season
• 2005–06 Sydney FC season

External links

• A-League official website, including fixtures