A-League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A-League

Countries	Australia New Zealand
Confederation	AFC
Founded	2004
First season	2005-06
Number of teams	10
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League Pan-Pacific Championship
Current champions	Melbourne Victory (2008-09)
Most championships	Melbourne Victory (2)
Current premiers	Melbourne Victory (2008-09)
Most premiers	Melbourne Victory (2)
Website	http://www.a-league.com.au/
A-League 2009-10

The A-League is the premier Australasian domestic football (soccer) competition. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia, it was founded in 2004 and staged its inaugural season in 2005-06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company Australia, and is therefore officially known as the Hyundai A-League.

The league is contested by ten teams: nine located across Australia and one from New Zealand.^[1] Related leagues include a National Youth League for youth development, and the Women's Westfield W-League.

Contents 1 Format 1.1 Pre-Season Cup 1.2 Regular season 1.3 Finals series 2 Promotion 3 Clubs 3.1 Expansion 3.2 Squad and salary cap 3.2.1 Marquee player 3.2.2 Youth league 4 Players 4.1 Current Internationals 5 Stadiums 6 Crowds 7 Referees 8 Champions and premiers 8.1 AFC Champions League 9 Top scorers 9.1 League and Finals (All-time) 10 Awards 10.1 Johnny Warren Medal 10.2 Joe Marston Medal 10.3 Rising Star Award 10.4 Reebok Golden Boot 10.5 Goalkeeper of the year 10.6 Coach of the Year Award 10.7 Fair Play Award 10.8 Zurich Referee of the Year 10.9 Foreign Player of the Year 11 TV Coverage 12 Rivalries 13 References 14 External links

[edit] Format

[edit] Pre-Season Cup

Prior to the 2009-10 season, a pre-season competition was held in August, as a precursor to the main season. In the Pre-Season Cup, the teams were evenly placed into two groups. Each team played the others in the group once over three rounds.

Beginning in 2006, an additional bonus round was 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 were 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.
• 4 bonus points for scoring 5 goals by a player.

This format was edited for the 2007 competition. The bonus round was removed, and the bonus points system introduced into each of the first three rounds. All eight teams then entered a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.

The Pre-Season Cup was removed from 2009-10's A-League schedule in order to give the clubs more control over their own pre-season training.^[2]

[edit] Regular season

The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from early August to February of the following year. The competition consists of 27 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

At the completion of the Regular Season teams are ranked from one through ten with the top six teams progressing to the finals series. The position of each team is determined by the highest number of points accumulated during the Regular Season. If two or more teams are level on points accumulated, the following criteria are applied, in order, until one of the teams can be determined as the higher ranked:

1. Highest goal difference;
2. Highest number of goals scored;
3. Highest number of points accumulated in matches between the teams concerned;
4. Highest goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
5. Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams concerned;
6. Lowest number of red cards accumulated;
7. Lowest number of yellow cards accumulated;
8. Toss of a coin.

[edit] Finals series

The top six-ranked teams at the end of the regular season are entered into a finals series,^[5] where the top two ranked teams in the regular season compete over two legs (with ties decided by the away goals rule), the winner progressing straight to and hosting the Grand Final.

On the same weekend, the third and sixth ranked teams play against each other; the same for the fourth and fifth ranked teams. The winner of each of these matches play against each other, the winner of which goes ahead to play in a Preliminary Final against the loser of the two-legged match between the top two teams. The winner of this match progresses to the Grand Final. 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.^[4]

[edit] Promotion

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.^[6]

At the start of the inaugural season, an AU$3 million dollar advertising campaign was launched, with the television and film advertisements produced by Ridley Scott's production company. The theme for the campaign was: "Football, but not as you know it".

A new television advertisement was created for the start of the 2007-08 season, which debuted on Foxtel's program, Total Football. It was filmed at Bob Jane Stadium in Melbourne. The theme of the current campaign is "90 minutes, 90 emotions".^[7] This promotional campaign continued into the 2008-09 season, along with music track "My People" from Australian act The Presets.

The A-League has been featured in the FIFA series by EA SPORTS since the 2007 edition of the game, as well as the Football Manager series by SI Games and the Championship Manager series by Beautiful Game Studios.^[8]

In 2008 and 2009 a Fox reality show, Football Superstar, offered as a prize, to the winner, a contract with an A-League club.

[edit] Clubs

There are currently ten clubs from Australia and New Zealand playing in the A-League. Only three of these clubs, Adelaide United, Newcastle United Jets, 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 American based sports leagues.

Wellington Phoenix replaced the New Zealand Knights at the start of the 2007-08 season.^[9][10]

Team	City	Years in competition	Home Ground
Adelaide United	Adelaide, SA	2005-06 — present	Hindmarsh Stadium (17,000)
Brisbane Roar	Brisbane, Qld	2005-06 — present	Lang Park (52,500)
Central Coast Mariners	Gosford, NSW	2005-06 — present	Central Coast Stadium (20,119)
Gold Coast United	Gold Coast, Qld	2009-10 — present	Robina Stadium (27,400)
Melbourne Victory	Melbourne, Vic	2005-06 — present	Docklands Stadium (56,347)
Newcastle Jets	Newcastle, NSW	2005-06 — present	Newcastle International Sports Centre (26,164)
North Queensland Fury	Townsville, Qld	2009-10 — present	Willows Sports Complex (27,000)
Perth Glory	Perth, WA	2005-06 — present	Perth Oval (18,156)
Sydney FC	Sydney, NSW	2005-06 — present	Sydney Football Stadium (45,500)
Wellington Phoenix	Wellington, NZ	2007-08 — present	Westpac Stadium (36,000)
Former clubs:
New Zealand Knights	Auckland, NZ	2005-06 — 2006-07	North Harbour Stadium (25,000)

[edit] Expansion

While making a relatively modest start in order to ensure future stability, both Football Federation Australia and the media have indicated significant interest in expanding the league. The eight foundation clubs have exclusivity clauses for their respective cities valid for five years, but this does not exclude teams from other areas.

Before the introduction of the A-League, FFA chairman Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into additional areas, mentioning Canberra, Hobart, Wollongong, Geelong , Far North Queensland and possibly Darwin.^[11][12][13]

A Townsville-based group first assembled a bid when it was announced that the New Zealand Knights would not continue after the first two seasons. The Knights were instead replaced by Wellington Phoenix but the momentum from the bid process continued.^[9] In November 2007, it was revealed that the name of the club, if and when accepted, would be North Queensland Thunder FC, and Dairy Farmers Stadium would be the team home ground.^[14][15]

Gold Coast based club Gold Coast Galaxy FC announced in December 2007 that they were ready and able to join the league upon expansion. The team is proposing to play its home games at Skilled Park.^[16]

After considerable media speculation about the teams from December 2007 onwards,^[17][18][19] it was announced in February 2008 that Gold Coast Galaxy and North Queensland Thunder had been tentatively admitted to the league for the 2008-09 season - pending the provision to FFA of additional financial criteria.^[20] However expansion was later delayed for at least another season.^[21]

In May 2008, FFA announced their intention to add as many as four teams to the league for the 2009-10 season.^[22] Both Townsville and the Gold Coast also saw the appearance of competing bids - by former Thunder backer Melissa Fischer-Massa^[23] and billionaire Clive Palmer^[24] On June 6, 2008, the FFA announced that Clive Palmer had signed a provisional agreement to enter a franchise, to be named Gold Coast United Football Club, in the 2009-10 season.^[25] The success of this is expected to rely on the acceptance of the tenth franchise's inclusion for this season. It was officially announced on August 28 that Gold Coast United and North Queensland FC will be joining the league for season 5. In September, 2008, FFA awarded a second Melbourne team exclusive negotiating rights to enter the league in 2010-2011. ^[26]

• A second Melbourne team - On February 14, 2007, South Melbourne announced their interest in becoming the second Victorian club in the A-League. After Melbourne Victory announced they would not be playing at the new Melbourne Rectangular Stadium unless it had a capacity of at least 30,000, the government suggested a second Melbourne team would play there. A consortium of investors are willing to put at least 5 to 6 million dollars per annum into the venture, and a letter of interest from the football club has been sent to the FFA. The agreement that will see the new Stadium built with a 31,500 capacity means that it will be extremely unlikely such a bid will succeed based on the above conditions.^[22][27] In June, it was announced the existence of three separate consortiums bidding for second Melbourne franchise.^[28] 23 March 2009, Led by Victorian businessman Peter Sidwell and operating under the working title Melbourne Heart, the bid received exclusive negotiating rights for A-League’s 11th licence in September 2008. Sidwell's group was awarded the license to join the 2010-11 season on 12 June 2009.^[29]

• Canberra -
  Further information: Canberra A-League Bid
  A Canberra based bid was announced in July 2008. It is being led by TransACT CEO Ivan Slavich, and has gained support from many local business leaders including the manager of Canberra Stadium, where the team expects to be based. The FFA agreed to Slavich's request to extend the deadline for bids until mid-August Current Socceroo Carl Valeri and former Socceroo Ned Zelic have become foundation members. One tongue-in-cheek name that has been suggested by the public is 'Capital Punishment'.^[30][31]

• Western Sydney has also been suggested as a viable location for an A-League team. Consortiums from both Parramatta and Penrith have submitted bids to the FFA.^[18][22][28]

• Wollongong - 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. A group known as "Great South Football" are behind the Illawarra bid. Former Wollongong star Scott Chipperfield has thrown his support behind them and Tim Cahill has joined the group, promising to establish a football academy in the region.^[32] It's been rumoured this club will be backed by Bruce Gordon, Australia's 14th richest person.^[33] Great South Football have laid a strong foundation, managing what some thought to be impossible, uniting Illawarra Football. An Illawarra A-League would have the full support of the Illawarra Football Association, with the A-League side being at the top of the strong and wealthy Illawarra Football hierarchy. Great South Football are reported to have already secured $4.5mil in sponsorship and in addition are confident of securing the support of two major international companies. The South Coast FC is attempting to enter the league in season six.

• Tasmania - In October 2007, Football Federation Tasmania CEO Martin Shaw suggested that Tasmania would be a viable location for an A-League club, mentioning the fact that it would need support from state and local government. It has been suggested that such a team would play games in both Hobart and Launceston.^[34][35] In 2008, a Tasmanian Football Taskforce was formed to investigate an A-League bid.^[36][37] The Taskforce has registered the name "Tasmania United FC" and is submitting a bid for the 2011-12 season.^[38] The Taskforce chose the 25th of November to launch the consortium to the press and named 'Motors' as a major sponsor.^[39] A franchise in Tasmania will give the A-League a wider national representation than the AFL and NRL.^[40] A sheikh from Dubai is being linked with Tasmania’s bid for an A-League team. ^[41]

• Geelong - Local politician Darren Cheeseman has suggested a Geelong A-League club be the second Victorian club in 2010.^[42]

• Darwin - Currently there is no team or club competing in any national leagues or competitions making it easier for Football to take hold in this area. However, no consortium from Darwin has submitted a bid, and its small population is a detriment to any attempt.

[edit] Squad and salary cap

The minimum number of players on each squad is 20. Each club has a salary cap of AU$2.1 million ^[43] for 19 players - much less than the millions of dollars a year that individual star players (including some Australians) earn in Europe's top football leagues. The 20th player is exempt from the salary cap, and therefore can be paid an unlimited salary (see Marquee Player below) The squad must include at least three under-20 players. Clubs may also only have a maximum of four players from outside Australia and New Zealand in their squad.^[44]

[edit] Marquee player

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 exempt from the salary cap, and is quite well-paid. The best-known example of a marquee player in the A-League was the prominent English Premier League player Dwight Yorke, who played for Sydney FC in the inaugural season. For the 2008-09 season, A-League clubs are able to have a Junior Marquee player who is under the age of 23. The Junior Marquee's wages can be subsidised with $AU 150,000 outside the salary cap.^[43]

Club	Marquee player	Junior Marquee player	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	None	None	Travis Dodd	Lucas Pantelis
Brisbane Roar	Craig Moore	Michael Zullo	Craig Moore	Danny Tiatto
Central Coast Mariners	None	None	Alex Wilkinson	John Hutchinson
Gold Coast United	Jason Culina	Tahj Minniecon	Jason Culina[45]	Michael Thwaite[45]
Melbourne Victory	Archie Thompson	Nick Ward	Kevin Muscat	Archie Thompson
Newcastle Jets	Joel Griffiths	Adam D'Apuzzo	Matt Thompson	Adam D'Apuzzo
North Queensland Fury	Robbie Fowler	None	None	None
Perth Glory	Mile Sterjovski	None	Jamie Coyne	Jamie Harnwell
Sydney FC	John Aloisi	Mark Bridge	Steve Corica	Terry McFlynn
Wellington Phoenix	None	None	Andrew Durante	Tim Brown Jonathan McKain

[edit] Youth league

On March 5, 2008 it was announced that a national youth league would be set up in conjunction with the A-League in order to continue to blood young Australian talent into the league as well as into the Australian national team and its affiliates such as the under 17, under 20 and under 23 teams. The league would be made up of seven teams, each linked to the corresponding Australian club in the A-League (excluding Wellington Phoenix) and will have strong links to players training at the Australian Institute of Sport.

The format of the youth league will be somewhat similar to how the A-league is formatted. The league is made up of 21 rounds (18 games each plus three byes) corresponding with the A-League fixture and will occasionally be used as curtain raisers. The league will commence in correspondence with the A-League 2008-09 season.^[46]

[edit] Players

[edit] Current Internationals

Players who have made at least one appearance for their respective nations at a senior level.

Craig Moore Danny Tiatto Matt McKay Michael Zullo Mitch Nichols Eugene Galeković Robert Cornthwaite Daniel Mullen Kristian Sarkies Paul Reid Travis Dodd Scott Jamieson Fabian Barbiero Dean Heffernan Nik Mrdja Dylan Macallister Matt Simon Ahmad Elrich Michael Thwaite Adam Griffiths Jason Culina Joel Porter Kevin Muscat Leigh Broxham Danny Allsopp Archie Thompson Rodrigo Vargas Billy Celeski Tom Pondeljak Nick Ward Tarek Elrich Nikolai Topor-Stanley Ljubo Miličević Matt Thompson

Sasho Petrovski Angelo Costanzo Robbie Middleby Jacob Burns Mile Sterjovski Clint Bolton Simon Colosimo John Aloisi Steve Corica Mark Bridge Jonathan McKain Carlos Hernández Robbie Fowler Lloyd Owusu Eugene Dadi Emmanuel Muscat John Hutchinson Victor Sikora Shane Smeltz Glen Moss Mark Paston Tony Lochhead Tim Brown Leo Bertos Dave Mulligan Ben Sigmund Costa Barbarouses Jeremy Brockie Charlie Miller Karol Kisel Byun Sung-Hwan Surat Sukha

[edit] Stadiums

Primary venues used in the A-League:

Stadium	Capacity	Club
Docklands Stadium	56,347	Melbourne Victory
Lang Park	52,500	Brisbane Roar
Sydney Football Stadium	45,500	Sydney FC
Westpac Stadium	36,000	Wellington Phoenix
Robina Stadium	27,400	Gold Coast United
Willows Sports Complex	27,000	North Queensland Fury
Newcastle International Sports Centre	26,164	Newcastle Jets
Central Coast Stadium	20,119	Central Coast Mariners
Members Equity Stadium	18,156	Perth Glory
Hindmarsh Stadium	17,000	Adelaide United

Other venues used by A-League clubs include:

Stadium	Capacity	Details
Stadium Australia	83,500	Used by Sydney FC for a friendly game against Los Angeles Galaxy on November 27, 2007
Subiaco Oval	43,500	To be used by Perth Glory for an A-League match against Sydney FC on November 22, 2009.
Lancaster Park	36,000	To be used by Wellington Phoenix for an A-League match against Adelaide United on January 30, 2010.
Adelaide Oval	33,597	Used by Adelaide United for two A-League matches against Sydney FC on December 28, 2007 and January 3, 2009
North Harbour Stadium	25,000	Used by New Zealand Knights in the 2005-06 season and 2006-07 season
Parramatta Stadium	21,487	Used by Sydney FC for an AFC Champions League game on April 25, 2007 and will be used in an A-League match against Perth Glory on February 7, 2010
Olympic Park Stadium	18,500	Used by Melbourne Victory in the 2005-06 season and part of the 2006-07 season1
Arena Manawatu	18,000	To be used by Wellington Phoenix for an A-League match against Sydney FC on December 12, 2009.

¹Melbourne Victory's home stadium during the A-League 2005-06 season was Olympic Park Stadium. Their round 2 match of the 2006-07 season, on September 2, 2006, was originally a one-off game at Docklands Stadium. After the success of the event, a further seven home games were relocated to Docklands Stadium, which went on to become Melbourne finals series home venue and as of the 2007-08 season, the full-time home ground of the club.

[edit] Crowds

Average crowds for the regular season are listed below. These figures do not include finals, international friendlies or AFC Champions League matches.

Team	Crowd average
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Melbourne Victory	14,158	27,728	26,064	24,516	*
Brisbane Roar	14,785	16,465	16,951	12,995	*
Sydney FC	16,669	14,999	16,373	12,375	*
Adelaide United	10,947	12,162	12,697	11,712	*
Central Coast Mariners	7,899	9,828	12,741	10,465	*
Newcastle Jets	8,912	11,442	13,209	9,729	*
Perth Glory	9,734	7,671	7,596	7,942	*
Wellington Phoenix	-	-	11,683	7,193	*
New Zealand Knights	3,909	3,014	-	-	-
Gold Coast United	-	-	-	-	*
North Queensland Fury	-	-	-	-	*
Whole season	10,955	12,927	14,610	12,180	*

[edit] Referees

The A-League also features Australia and New Zealands top match officials. Referees include:

Matthew Breeze, New South Wales, FIFA/AFC

Peter Green, Queensland, FIFA/AFC

Ben Williams, Australian Capital Territory, FIFA/AFC

Simon Pryzdacz, New South Wales, FIFA

Craig Zetter, South Australia, FIFA

Peter O'Leary, New Zealand, FIFA

Srebre Delovski, New South Wales

Chris Beath, Queensland

Mark Shield retired from refereeing in 2008.

[edit] Champions and premiers

The club that accumulates the most points during the regular season receives the title of Premiers. Media reports sometimes erroneously refer to the Premiers as the minor premiers, a term used in other football codes in Australia. The team that wins the Grand Final receives the title of Champions.^[47]

Season	Pre-season cup	Regular season		Grand Final
		Premiers	Runners-up	Champions	Runners-up
2005-06	Central Coast Mariners	Adelaide United	Sydney FC	Sydney FC	Central Coast Mariners
2006-07	Adelaide United	Melbourne Victory	Adelaide United	Melbourne Victory	Adelaide United
2007-08	Adelaide United	Central Coast Mariners	Newcastle Jets	Newcastle Jets	Central Coast Mariners
2008-09	Melbourne Victory	Melbourne Victory	Adelaide United	Melbourne Victory	Adelaide United

See also the list of champions from 1977 to 2004 in the previous National Soccer League competition. No team has ever successfully defended the Premiership or Championship.

[edit] AFC Champions League

Two A-League clubs have participated in the AFC Champions League competition^[48] since the 2007 competition. Theses teams were determined by finishing positions in the 2005-06 A-League season, the 2008 competition by finishing positions in the 2006-07 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. The fact that a whole season passes before clubs compete in the Champions League is highly controversial, as the next season passes before the Champions League begins. For example, Newcastle Jets will compete in the 2009 Champions League, even though they finished last in the 2008-09 A-League season.

Season	Qualified clubs
	Team	Final Position	Team	Final Position
2007	Sydney FC	Group Stage (2nd)	Adelaide United	Group Stage (3rd)
2008	Melbourne Victory	Group Stage (2nd)	Adelaide United	Runners-up
2009	Newcastle Jets	Round of 16	Central Coast Mariners	Group Stage (4th)
2010	Melbourne Victory	Yet to Play	Adelaide United	Yet to Play

[edit] Top scorers

[edit] League and Finals (All-time)

Last updated 20 April 2009
Shows Players at current club or last club played for.

Rank	Player	Current Team	Goals
1	Archie Thompson	Melbourne Victory	38
2	Daniel Allsopp	Melbourne Victory	35
=3	Sasho Petrovski *	Newcastle Jets	28
=3	Joel Griffiths	Newcastle Jets	28
5	Alex Brosque *	Sydney FC	25
6	Kevin Muscat	Melbourne Victory	22
=7	Jamie Harnwell	Perth Glory	21
=7	Shane Smeltz *	Gold Coast United	21
9	Travis Dodd	Adelaide United	20
10	Mark Bridge *	Sydney FC	17
=11	Steve Corica	Sydney FC	16
=11	Nikita Rukavytsya	Perth Glory	16

Bold denotes players still playing in the A-League
(*) denotes players who have played for more than one A-League team

[edit] Awards

[edit] Johnny Warren Medal

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.

Year	Player	Club
2005–06	Bobby Despotovski	Perth Glory
2006–07	Nick Carle	Newcastle Jets
2007–08	Joel Griffiths	Newcastle Jets
2008–09	Shane Smeltz	Wellington Phoenix

[edit] Joe Marston Medal

The Joe Marston Medal is given to the best player in an A-League Grand Final. It is named after Joe Marston, a Socceroo in the 1950s.

Year	Player	Club
2006	Dwight Yorke	Sydney FC
2007	Archie Thompson	Melbourne Victory
2008	Andrew Durante	Newcastle Jets
2009	Tom Pondeljak	Melbourne Victory

[edit] Rising Star Award

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.

Year	Player	Club
2005–06	Nick Ward	Perth Glory
2006–07	Adrian Leijer	Melbourne Victory
2007–08	Bruce Djite	Adelaide United
2008–09	Scott Jamieson	Adelaide United

[edit] Reebok Golden Boot

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.

Year	Player/s	Club	Goals
2005–06	Alex Brosque, Bobby Despotovski Stewart Petrie Archie Thompson	Queensland Roar Perth Glory Central Coast Mariners Melbourne Victory	8
2006–07	Daniel Allsopp	Melbourne Victory	11
2007–08	Joel Griffiths	Newcastle Jets	12
2008–09	Shane Smeltz	Wellington Phoenix	12

[edit] Goalkeeper of the year

Year	Player	Club
2005–06	Clint Bolton	Sydney FC
2006–07	Michael Theoklitos	Melbourne Victory
2007–08	Michael Theoklitos	Melbourne Victory
2008–09	Eugene Galeković	Adelaide United

[edit] Coach of the Year Award

Year	Name	Club
2005–06	Lawrie McKinna	Central Coast Mariners
2006–07	Ernie Merrick	Melbourne Victory
2007–08	Gary van Egmond	Newcastle Jets
2008–09	Aurelio Vidmar	Adelaide United

[edit] Fair Play Award

The Fair Play Award goes 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).

Year	Club
2005–06	Perth Glory
2006–07	Perth Glory
2007–08	Newcastle Jets
2008–09	Queensland Roar

[edit] Zurich Referee of the Year

Year	Referee
2005–06	Mark Shield
2006–07	Mark Shield
2007–08	Mark Shield
2008–09	Matthew Breeze

[edit] Foreign Player of the Year

Year	Player/s	Club
2008–09	Charlie Miller	Queensland Roar

[edit] TV Coverage

The Hyundai A-League, being a relatively minor league internationally, only has a small broadcast base, compared to the giant European competitions such as the FA Premier League or Serie A. The countries where the A-League is shown are mostly other Commonwealth nations, which have a larger than normal base of Australian immigrants.

• Australia - Fox Sports (live coverage & highlights)
• New Zealand - SKY Sport (New Zealand) (live coverage & highlights)
• United States - Fox Soccer Channel (1 game + highlights)
• Hong Kong - Cable TV Hong Kong (1 game per week + highlights)
• Canada - Fox Sports World (highlights)
• United Kingdom - Sky Sports (highlights + Play offs and Final live)

The A-league is now more available to the world if you get a subscription to The-Afc.tv website streaming live games international into countries that did not previously have any coverage. The website is officially partnered with the AFC and streams live games from different leagues and tournaments from the Asian region.

[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 City Derby" The clash between Australia's two biggest cities 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. These contests are often full of spite and controversy on and off the pitch, the most recent example being a clash between Daniel Allsopp and Sydney coach John Kosmina.

• Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory: Contested the 2006-07 and 2008-09 A-League Grand Finals, in which Melbourne won 6-0 and 1-0 respectively. This rivalry has been mainly caused by infamous moments in the 2006-07 season, such as the confrontation between Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat and then Adelaide United coach John Kosmina and Robert Bajic's red card for kicking Fred. Since then, the rivalry has become arguably one of the most bitter in the A League, with almost every match between the two teams characterised by spiteful confrontations and controversy.

• Adelaide United v Sydney FC: Named the traditional A-League rivalry, the two strongest teams in the first season have continued their bitterness with each other. While Adelaide took out the Premiership in the regular season, Sydney went on to take out the Championship title in the league finals. Since then, there has only been one game between the two sides decided by more than one goal. However on 21 September 2008 in the Sydney v Adelaide game at SFS Sydney FC took away the game with a 3-0 win, breaking this streak. United later knocked Sydney FC out of the finals race with a 2-0 win at Adelaide Oval on the 3rd of January

• Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners: Labelled "The F3 Derby" by commentators,^[49] the two regional clubs, only an hour apart, are also big rivals. Due to their close geographic proximity, the Mariners/Jets rivalry is identified as the closest thing to a true 'local derby' that the league offers. The derby was intensified when the two teams played each other in the 2008 Finals series and eventually met in the Grand Final.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• A-League official website
• Football Federation Australia
• SBS The World Game A-League section
• FOX Sports Australia A-League section
• Four-Four-Two A-League Magazine

v • d • e Association football in Australia Football Federation Australia National teams Men's (Socceroos)  ·  Women's (Matildas)  ·  Men's U23 (Olyroos)  ·  Men's U20 (Young Socceroos) · Women's U20 (Young Matildas)  ·  Men's U17 (Joeys) Current National Leagues A-League  ·  Youth League  ·  W-League Former Leagues National Soccer League  · Women's National Soccer League

v • d • e A-League Champions ·  Records ·  Foreign players Seasons 2005–06 ·  2006–07 ·  2007–08 ·  2008–09 ·  2009–10 Clubs Adelaide United · Brisbane Roar · Central Coast Mariners · Gold Coast United · Melbourne Victory Newcastle Jets · North Queensland Fury · Perth Glory · Sydney FC · Wellington Phoenix

v • d • e Top level football leagues of Asia (AFC) Afghanistan · Australia · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Cambodia · China PR · Chinese Taipei · East Timor · Guam · Hong Kong · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Japan · Jordan · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Macau · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Myanmar · Nepal · North Korea · Oman · Pakistan · Palestine: Gaza Strip–West Bank · Philippines · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · South Korea · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen

v • d • e Major sports leagues of Australia Association football (soccer)  · Australian rules football · Basketball · Cricket (First Class) · Cricket (Limited Overs)  · Cricket (Twenty20)  · Motorsport  · Netball  · Rugby league  · Rugby union (defunct)  · Rugby union (international competition)