The A-League is the premier Australasian domestic football (soccer) competition. Founded in 2004 and staging its inaugural season in 2005-06, the league is contested by eight teams: seven covering Australia's major cities and regional centres and one from New Zealand.[1] 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. In the 2007-08 season, these were awarded to Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets respectively.
History
In 2003, a report on soccer (as it was then called) 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 soccer 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. This was for two reasons - to concentrate player talent, and possibly more importantly, break the connection between clubs and specific immigrant groups (the previous NSL had a number of teams whose players and fans largely came from one specific immigrant community). The plan called for privately owned franchises 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.[2] The selection of teams, with The Central Coast 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 AU$50 million and average crowds of 10,000.[3]
2005-06 season
-
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. The Grand Final was played in front of 41,689 people at Aussie Stadium. Sydney FC prevailed 1-0 over the Central Coast Mariners to become the first A-League Champions. The FFA's target crowd figure of 10,000 was achieved as the league had an overall attendance average of 12,100 during its inaugural season.[4]
An AU$120 million 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 AFC Asian Cup fixtures, FIFA 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.[5]
2006-07 season
-
The A-League's second season saw the return of such Australian international players as Stan Lazaridis, Tony Vidmar and Joel Griffiths which has boosted the media attention of the league. The FFA also suggested the idea of sharing the expense of some of the wages of Socceroos players to bring them back to Australia.[6]
The all time Australian domestic association football regular season crowd record was smashed twice during the season - on September 2 and December 8, 2006 both times when Melbourne Victory hosted Sydney FC at the Telstra Dome. The crowd figures were 39,730 and 50,333 respectively. Kevin Muscat, the Melbourne captain, was quoted as saying: "You'd do well to find an Australian abroad this weekend who'll play in front of a bigger crowd than that".
In December 2006 the New Zealand Knights had their licence revoked because of mounting debts. New Zealand Football was allocated control of the team for the remainder of the season. The FFA called for bids from prospective operators to take over the New Zealand license for the next season.[7]
On February 18, 2007 Melbourne Victory defeated Adelaide United 6-0 to become champions of the A-League 2006-07 season in front of a crowd of over 55,000 people. Archie Thompson was awarded the Joe Marston Medal, scoring five goals for Melbourne Victory.
Melbourne Victory Chairman Geoff Lord has suggested the inclusion of overseas clubs in the pre-season cup competition, particularly targeting teams from Asia and the west coast of the United States.[8]
2007-08 season
-
Important signings before the start of the third season of the A-League have seen former Socceroos Danny Tiatto, Craig Moore, Ljubo Milicevic, Nick Rizzo, Paul Agostino, Hayden Foxe and Tony Popovic return to Australia with various A-League clubs. Socceroos' striker Sasho Petrovski left Sydney FC in favour of the Central Coast Mariners. On October 20, the Central Coast Mariners completed perhaps the biggest signing coup in A-League history when they announced the signing of Socceroos' hero, John Aloisi.[9] This spawned a large amount of controversy, as Aloisi's relatively large wages weren't included in the salary cap, because of a loophole involving replacing injured players. Also returning home was Stephen Laybutt signing with the Newcastle Jets after round 4.
The A-League salary cap has spawned much controversy in the close season with champions Melbourne Victory unable to re-sign star midfielder Fred due to an offer from Major League Soccer club DC United that is reportedly worth three times the amount the Victory can afford to pay him. As well as this, Sydney FC have been unsuccessful in signing ex-Liverpool FC striker, Robbie Fowler because the club could not offer as much money as other English clubs.[10]
On March 19, 2007, it was confirmed that a bid from Wellington, New Zealand, later to be announced as Wellington Phoenix, would be replacing the New Zealand Knights for the 2007-08 season.[11][12] FFA granted New Zealand Football a three year license to stay in the competition in partnership with a Wellington-based consortium.[13]
Squad sizes were increased from 20 players to 23 players for the 2007-08 season.[14]
Going into round 21 of the season, four clubs (Sydney FC, Central Coast Mariners, Newcastle Jets and Queensland Roar) were all on equal points, the first such occurrence in Australian football history (including AFL, NRL and Super 14). Central Coast and Newcastle won their matches and Central Coast were crowned Premiers after Queensland failed to beat Adelaide in their final match. As well as winning the Premier's Plate, Central Coast also qualified for the AFC Champions League 2009. Sydney FC qualified for the Pan-Pacific Championship 2008 when they lost the minor semi-final.
On February 24, 2008, Newcastle Jets became 2007-08 Champions when they defeated Central Coast 1-0 in front of over 35,000 people at Sydney Football Stadium. Mark Bridge was the goalscorer for the Jets, and Andrew Durante was awarded the Joe Marston Medal, in the tough contest between the F3 rivals.
2008-09 season
-
The 2008-09 season will see the introduction of both a seven-team Youth League[15] and a six-team Women's League[16][17] which will run parallel to the A-League season. The season will also include breaks for FIFA match days for the first time.
2009-10 season
-
Gold Coast United FC logo
The 2009-10 season will see first expansion beyond the original size of the A-League from eight teams to at least nine with Gold Coast United FC, backed by Australia's fourth richest man Clive Palmer gaining the ninth licence agreement. Gold Coast United FC[18] have provisional colours that reflect those of the Gold Coast City Council and mimic those of the NRL's Gold Coast Titans. A logo was revealed during the June 6 press conference in which Clive Palmer officially signed the license agreement.[19]
Further expansion is expected to be announced with the FFA deciding by the end of June 2008 which of the two candidate bids to deal with exclusively in the race for a North Queensland licence, and further decisions to be made with the other 8 bids received with respect to interest in joining the A-League in time for the 2009-10 season.[20]
Format
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.[21]
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 enter a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.
The FFA has indicated that, if successful, the bonus points system may be used in the main league season from the 2007-08 season.[22]
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.[23] 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.[24]
At the completion of the Regular Season teams are ranked from one through eight with the first four 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:
- Highest goal difference;
- Highest number of goals scored;
- Highest number of points accumulated in matches between the teams concerned;
- Highest goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
- Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams concerned;
- Lowest number of red cards accumulated;
- Lowest number of yellow cards accumulated;
- Toss of a coin.
Finals series
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 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.[24]
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.[25]
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".[26]
The A-League is featured in the video game FIFA 08 by EA SPORTS, Football Manager 2008 by SI Games and Championship Manager 2008 by Beautiful Game Studios.[27]
Clubs
There are currently eight clubs from Australia and New Zealand playing in the A-League. Only three of these clubs, Adelaide United, Newcastle Jets (previously known just as Newcastle United) and Perth Glory existed before the A-League was formed.
Unlike most European leagues, there is no system for promotion and relegation of teams (although FFA is planning to release a report in late 2008 on how a second division would be implemented.[28]) 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 sports leagues in North America.
On March 19, 2007, it was confirmed that a Wellington based franchise would be replacing the New Zealand Knights for the 2007-08 season.[13] The name of Wellington Phoenix was announced on March 28.[12]
For the 2008-09 season, the eight clubs are:
| Team |
City |
Years in competition |
Home Ground |
 Adelaide United |
Adelaide, SA |
2005-06 — present |
Hindmarsh Stadium (16,500) |
 Central Coast Mariners |
Gosford, NSW |
2005-06 — present |
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium (20,119) |
 Melbourne Victory |
Melbourne, Vic |
2005-06 — present |
Telstra Dome (56,347) |
 Newcastle Jets |
Newcastle, NSW |
2005-06 — present |
EnergyAustralia Stadium (26,126) |
 Perth Glory |
Perth, WA |
2005-06 — present |
Members Equity Stadium (17,288) |
 Queensland Roar |
Brisbane, Qld |
2005-06 — present |
Suncorp Stadium (52,500) |
 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 |
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 and Far North Queensland.[29][30][31]
A Townsville-based group first assembled a bid when it was announced that the New Zealand Knights's would not continue after the first two seasons. The Knights' were instead replaced by Wellington Phoenix but the momentum from the bid process continued.[13] 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 teams' home ground.[32][33]
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.[34]
After considerable media speculation about the teams from December 2007 onwards,[35][36][37] 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.[38] However expansion was later delayed for at least another season.[39].
In May 2008, FFA announced their intention to add as many as four teams to the league for the 2009-10 season.[40] Both Townsville and the Gold Coast also saw the appearance of competing bids - by former Thunder backer Melissa Fischer-Massa[41] and billionaire Clive Palmer[42] 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 FC, in the 2009-10 season. [43] The success of this is expected to rely on the acceptance of the tenth franchise's inclusion for this season. Other areas to talk publicly about bids include:
- 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. [44] It's been rumoured this club will be backed by Bruce Gordon, Australia's 14th richest person.[45] 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 weathy 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.
- 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.[46][40] In June, it was announced the existence of three separate consortiums bidding for second Melbourne franchise [47]
- Tasmania - In October 2007, Football Federation Tasmania CEO Martin Shaw suggested that a Tasmanian team 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.[48][49] In 2008, a Tasmanian Football Taskforce was formed to investigate an A-League bid.[50][51]
- Canberra - 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.[53][54]
Squad & salary cap
Each club has a salary cap of AU$1.9 million [56] for 19 players. The 20th player is exempt from the salary cap, and therefore can be paid an unlimited salary (see Marquee Player below} - 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 minimum number of players on each squad is 20. The squad must include at least three under-20 players. Clubs may also only have a maximum of four internationals (from outside Australia and New Zealand) in their squad.[57]
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 Dwight Yorke who played for Sydney FC in the inaugural season. Yorke had previously played several seasons for Manchester United and Aston Villa FC and currently Sunderland FC in the English Premier League. 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. [58]
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.[59]
Stadiums
Primary venues used in the A-League 2007-08 season:
Other venues used by A-League clubs include:
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.
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 |
| Melbourne Victory |
14,158 |
27,728 |
26,064 |
| Queensland Roar |
14,785 |
16,465 |
16,951 |
| Sydney FC |
16,669 |
14,999 |
16,373 |
| Newcastle Jets |
8,912 |
11,442 |
13,209 |
| Central Coast Mariners |
7,899 |
9,828 |
12,741 |
| Adelaide United |
10,947 |
12,162 |
12,697 |
| Wellington Phoenix |
- |
- |
11,683 |
| Perth Glory |
9,734 |
7,671 |
7,596 |
| New Zealand Knights |
3,909 |
3,014 |
- |
| Whole season |
10,955 |
12,927 |
14,610 |
Referees
The A-League also features Australia and New Zealands top match officials. Referees include:
| Referee |
Home State |
FIFA Badge/AFC Panel |
| Mark Shield |
Queensland |
FIFA/AFC |
| 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 |
Champions and premiers
-
The "Premier" is the team at the top of the league table at the end of the regular season although the common term for this type of competition in Australia is "minor premier". Media reports sometimes erroneously refer to the Premiers as minor premier. The "Champion" is the team that wins the Grand Final.[60]
See also the list of champions from 1977 to 2004 in the previous National Soccer League competition.
AFC Champions League
Two A-League clubs will participate in the AFC Champions League competition[61] from the 2007 competition on. The teams for the 2007 competition 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.
| Season |
Qualified clubs |
| 2007 |
Sydney FC and Adelaide United |
| 2008 |
Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United |
| 2009 |
Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners |
Top scorers
All-time
See Also: A-League all-time records
Notable Past players
- Australia
- Austria
|
- Belgium
- Brazil
- China
- Colombia
|
- England
- Italy
- Japan
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Scotland
|
Current foreign players in the league
- Argentina
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brazil
|
- China
- Costa Rica
| |
