A-League

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For current news on this topic see:
A-League 2006-07

A-League
Image:A-League logo.png
Sport	Football (soccer)
Founded	2004
Motto	"It's football, but not as you know it"
No. of teams	8
Country	Image:Flag of Australia.svg Australia
Current champions	Sydney FC (Adelaide United FC premiers)

For the former incarnation of the USL First Division see A-League Soccer

The A-League is the premier Australian domestic football (soccer) competition. Founded in 2004 and staging its inaugural season in 2005–06, the league is contested by seven teams covering Australia's major cities and regional centres, as well as one representing New Zealand. The team which finishes on top of the league table at the end of the 21-round regular season is awarded the Premiership, with the winner of the subsequent four-team finals series awarded the Championship. Adelaide United FC are the reigning A-League Premiers, and Sydney FC are the current Champions.

The league has attracted corporate support with Hyundai as major sponsor, and is televised on Fox Sports. Additionally, Reebok have provided the playing kits for all 8 clubs. An AUD$3 million dollar advertising campaign was also launched, with the television and film advertisements produced by Ridley Scott's production company. The theme for the campaign is "Football, but not as you know it".

1 History
2 Format
3 Logo
4 Clubs
5 Australian Champions
- 5.1 AFC Champions League
6 Top Scorers
- 6.1 All-Time
7 Rivalries
8 Future
9 Footnotes
10 External links

[edit] History

In 2003, a report on football in Australia was published by the Australian Federal Government which ultimately led to an overhaul of Soccer Australia and the end of the National Soccer League, Australia's previous domestic football competition. In its place, Football Federation Australia (named the Australian Soccer Association at the time) announced plans for a new national competition set to start in 2005. The competition was based on a one-city, one-club format in an attempt to concentrate player talent within regions, and planned for privately owned clubs to represent Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle and New Zealand, with the eighth and final club to be selected from the remaining expressions of interest.<ref>"ASA announce several significant initiatives", 2004-03-22. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.</ref> The selection of teams, with Gosford the eighth area represented, was announced on November 1, 2004, along with the competition format which was shortened to provide a basic structure for further expansion. The FFA scheduled the inaugural season to begin in August 2005, budgeting for an annual turnover of A$ 50 million and average crowds of over 10,000.<ref>"Australian Soccer announces the Hyundai A-League", 2004-11-01. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.</ref>

The opening season saw clubs attract a wide array of talent, most notably Dwight Yorke for Sydney FC, as well as bringing a large number of former and current Socceroos home, including Ned Zelic, Steve Corica and Archie Thompson. Adelaide United FC won the inaugural A-League Premiership after the end of the home-and-away season, which saw an average of 10,861 fans attend each match. The Grand Final was played in front of 41,689 people, with Sydney FC prevailing 1-0 over the Central Coast Mariners to become the first A-League Champions.<ref>Grand Final: Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners FC. Hyundai A-League > Live Scores. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.</ref>

[edit] Format

[edit] Pre-Season Cup

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: 1 bonus point for 2 goals scored by a team, 2 bonus points for 3 goals scored by a team, or 3 bonus points for 4 or more goals scored by a team.<ref>"Pre-Season Cup to go Regional", 2006-05-01.</ref> FFA has indicated that, if successful, this bonus points system may be used in the main league season from 2007-08. <ref>"New and old for Kossie (see Matt Carroll interview section)", 2006-07-25.</ref>

All eight teams then enter a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.

[edit] Regular season

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.<ref>Hyundai A-League > Rules. A-League.com.au. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.</ref> The club at the top of this ladder is crowned A-League Premiers, and as of the 2006–07 season, will be entered into the AFC Champions League.<ref name="AFCCL">"Grand Final rematch to open HAL season", A-League.com.au, May 1, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.</ref>

[edit] Finals series

Image:A league trophy.jpg

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 both the Championship and Premiership are won by the same team, the Grand Final runners-up are awarded the second spot in the competition.<ref name="AFCCL"/>

[edit] Clubs

Each club has a squad of 20 players, with a salary cap of A$ 1.6 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 squad must include at least two under-20 players. In order to combat fears that the salary cap would reduce the capacity of the clubs to attract crowds through big-name players, the league allows each team to have one "marquee" player, whose salary is privately funded, and not included in the team's salary cap. The best-known example in the initial season was Dwight Yorke, who played several seasons for Manchester United and Aston Villa in England. Dwight Yorke left mid-2nd season for Sunderland in the EPL while Benito Carbone joined for a 4 game match deal.

The conditions were changed before the 2006-07 season to reduce the minimum number of under-20 players from 3 to 2 per squad. The salary cap was also increased from $A 1.5m to $A 1.6m.

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 Major League Soccer and other major sports leagues in the United States.

[edit] Logo

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.

[edit] Clubs

The eight foundation clubs are:

Team	City	Region	Foundation Chairman	Inaugural Manager	Home Ground	Capacity	Avg Crowd 2005-06
Adelaide United FC	Adelaide	SA	Gordon Pickard	John Kosmina	Hindmarsh Stadium	16,500	10,947
Central Coast Mariners FC	Gosford	NSW	Ian Kiernan	Lawrie McKinna	Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium	20,059	7,899
Melbourne Victory	Melbourne	VIC	Geoff Lord	Ernie Merrick	Olympic Park/Telstra Dome	18,500/55,000	14,157
Newcastle United Jets	Newcastle	NSW	Con Constantine	Richard Money	EnergyAustralia Stadium	28,000	8,486
New Zealand Knights FC	Auckland	NZL	Anthony Lee	John Adshead	North Harbour Stadium	25,000	3,909
Perth Glory FC	Perth	WA	Nick Tana	Steve McMahon	Members Equity Stadium	18,450	9,734
Queensland Roar FC	Brisbane	QLD	John Ribot	Miron Bleiberg	Suncorp Stadium	52,000	14,785
Sydney FC	Sydney	NSW	Walter Bugno	Pierre Littbarski	Aussie Stadium	41,159	16,668

For current club details see A-League 2006-07

[edit] Australian Champions

Main article: List of A-League champions

The "premier" is the team at the top of the league table at the end of the regular season. The "champion", and overall winner of the season, is the team that wins the Grand Final.<ref>Australia's finest designers in trophy challenge. Football Federation Australia (2005-12-19). Retrieved on 2006-11-29.</ref>

Season	Pre-season cup	Regular season		Grand Final
Season	Pre-season cup	Premiers	Runners-up	Champions	Runners-up
2005-06	Central Coast Mariners	Adelaide United	Sydney FC	Sydney FC	Central Coast Mariners
2006-07	Adelaide United	-	—	—	—

See also the list of champions from 1977 to 2004 in the previous National Soccer League competition.

[edit] AFC Champions League

Two A-League clubs will participate in the 2007 AFC Champions League competition.<ref>Australia gets two spots in AFC Champions League (2006-07-18).</ref> The two teams will be the 2005-06 champions Sydney FC (grand final winner) and premiers Adelaide United FC (the team at the top of the ladder after regular season games).

[edit] Top Scorers

[edit] All-Time

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Archie Thompson	15
2	Kevin Muscat	12
3=	Danny Allsopp	11
3=	Sasho Petrovski	11
5	Fernando	10
6	Damian Mori	9
7=	Ante Milicic	8
7=	Stewart Petrie	8
7=	Carl Veart	8
7=	Bobby Despotovski	8

See Also: A-League all-time records

[edit] Rivalries

Although there are no local derbies, due to the league's one-city one-team policy, many rivalries have formed between A-League sides:

Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory: The clash between Australia's two biggest cities. 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 the most bitter in the A League, with almost every match between the two teams characterised by spiteful confrontations and controversy. There is also an intense rivalry emerging between the supporters of the clubs.

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.
Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory: Much like the Queensland/Sydney rivalry, the historical Australian rules football rivalry between the cities has passed into a general sporting and cultural rivalry.

Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners: Labelled the "F3 Derby" by commentators<ref>"Fans steamed up for derby - if they get there", Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-11-11. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref>, the two regional clubs in the A-League are also big rivals. Just one hour separates the two cities, and the supporters of each club love nothing more than to knock off the local rival.

Queensland Roar v Adelaide United: Largely based on the confrontation between the two managers in the 2005-06 season, followed on this year with what was dubbed the battle between the two Chinese import strikers.

Newcastle Jets v Sydney FC: The glamour club of the comp have never beaten their intra-state rivals. The rivalry between these teams is not explosive though, with most Newcastle supporters more concerned with the Central Coast and most Sydney supporters more concerned with Melbourne.

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 take great pride in beating Sydney FC, and Sydney supporters take great pleasure in reminding them of the score in the final.

[edit] Future

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 qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup there has been some media speculation that Football Federation Australia may expand the league after the 2006-07 season. This is looking very possible with upcoming changes to the number of Asian Champions League spots available from 2008.

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. [1]

Before the introduction of the A-League, ASA chairman Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into additional areas, mentioning Canberra, Hobart, Wollongong and Far North Queensland.<ref>ASA announce several significant initiatives (2004-03-22).</ref><ref>A-League launch speech by FFA chairman Mr Frank Lowy AC (2004-11-13).</ref> On August 10, John O'Neil was talking up the support football would enjoy in Townsville. [2]

A representative of Capital Football has been quoted as saying "Canberra, Geelong, Wollongong and Far North Queensland were "on the radar" to join the comp for the 2008/09 season." <ref>"Canberra chief: 4 new teams on A-League radar (Google cache)", 2006-03-26.</ref>

A A$ 120m deal between the FFA and Fox Sports was reached in 2006 after the end of the first season. Under the deal, Fox Sports will have exclusive rights from 2007 to all Socceroos home internationals, all A-League and Asian Cup fixtures, World Cup qualifiers through the AFC, and all AFC Champions League matches. The deal will allow the FFA to increase the amount of TV money to each of the participating clubs in the league and increase the revenue streams for those clubs.<ref>"Historic deal to secure Football's future", 2006-05-03.</ref>

The creation of the A-League has allowed for many past and present Socceroos players to return and play on home soil. So far the A-League's second season has seen the return of such current Australian international players as Stan Lazaridis, Tony Vidmar and Joel Griffiths which has boosted the media attention of the league. The FFA is also toying with the idea of sharing the expense of some of the wages of Socceroos players to bring them back to Australia.<ref>Plan to bring back Socceroos. The World Game (2006-08-05).</ref>