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2005–06 A-League

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A-League
Season2005–06
Dates26 August 2005 – 5 March 2006
ChampionsSydney FC (1st title)
PremiersAdelaide United (1st title)
Champions LeagueSydney FC
Adelaide United
Matches played84
Goals scored232 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorerAlex Brosque
Bobby Despotovski
Archie Thompson
Stewart Petrie
(8 goals)
Best goalkeeperClint Bolton
Biggest home winMelbourne Victory 5–0 Sydney FC
(16 October 2005)
Biggest away winNewcastle Jets 0–5 Queensland Roar
(26 January 2006)
Highest attendance25,557
Lowest attendance1,922
Average attendance10,955

The 2005–06 A-League was the 29th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the inaugural season of the A-League. After over 12 months without a national professional club competition since the close of the 2003–04 National Soccer League season, 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 came from the National Soccer League (1977–2004): Perth Glory (established 1995), New Zealand Knights (1999), 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 to 1988 and had competed in the Queensland State League since then as Brisbane Lions.

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

Clubs

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

Foreign players

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Club Visa 1 Visa 2 Visa 3 Visa 4 Non-Visa foreigner(s) Former player(s)
Adelaide United Brazil Fernando China Qu Shengqing
Central Coast Mariners Germany André Gumprecht Republic of Ireland Wayne O'Sullivan Scotland Stewart Petrie Malta John Hutchinson2
Scotland Ian Ferguson3
Melbourne Victory Austria Richard Kitzbichler Belgium Geoffrey Claeys
New Zealand Knights China Zhang Xiaobin England Darren Bazeley England Ben Collett England Neil Emblen China Li Yan3
England Ronnie Bull3
Japan Naoki Imaya3
Netherlands Frank van Eijs3
Republic of Ireland Sean Devine1
England Simon Yeo
Newcastle Jets England Guy Bates Uruguay Mateo Corbo New Zealand Vaughan Coveny1
Perth Glory England Steve McMahon Japan Hiroyuki Ishida New Zealand Danny Hay Solomon Islands Henry Fa'arodo England Stuart Young1
Serbia Milan Jovanić3
Queensland Roar Brazil Reinaldo Switzerland Remo Buess Uruguay Osvaldo Carro South Korea Seo Hyuk-su1
Sydney FC Northern Ireland Terry McFlynn Trinidad and Tobago Dwight Yorke United States Alejandro Salazar Japan Kazuyoshi Miura4

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)

Salary cap exemptions and captains

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Club Marquee Captain Vice-Captain
Adelaide United China Qu Shengqing[1] Australia Ross Aloisi[2] None
Central Coast Mariners None Australia Noel Spencer[3] None
Melbourne Victory Australia Archie Thompson[4][5] Australia Kevin Muscat[6] None
New Zealand Knights None New Zealand Danny Hay[7]
England Darren Bazeley[note 1][9]
None
Newcastle Jets Australia Ned Zelic[10] Australia Ned Zelic[11][12][13] None
Perth Glory England Brian Deane[14][note 2] Australia Jamie Harnwell[15] None
Queensland Roar None Australia Chad Gibson[16] None
Sydney FC Trinidad and Tobago Dwight Yorke[17] Australia Mark Rudan[18] None

Preliminary Competitions

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Two competitions were held prior to the start of the A-League season.

Oceania Club Championship Qualification

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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 1
Sydney FC 2
Sydney FC 3
Queensland Roar 0
Sydney FC 1
Central Coast Mariners 0
Central Coast Mariners (p) 0 (4)
Newcastle Jets 0 (2)
Central Coast Mariners 4
Adelaide United 0
Adelaide United (p) 0 (4)
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

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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

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Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Melbourne Victory 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5 2005–06 Pre-Season Cup Semi-finals
2 Perth Glory 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
3 Adelaide United 3 0 3 0 3 3 0 3
4 Newcastle Jets 3 0 2 1 3 4 −1 2
Source: [citation needed]

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Sydney FC 3 2 1 0 5 1 +4 7 2005–06 Pre-Season Cup Semi-finals
2 Central Coast Mariners 3 2 0 1 4 3 +1 6
3 Queensland Roar 3 1 1 1 6 3 +3 4
4 New Zealand Knights 3 0 0 3 1 9 −8 0
Source: [citation needed]

Finals

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
12 August
 
 
Melbourne Victory1
 
21 August
 
Central Coast Mariners3
 
Central Coast Mariners1
 
14 August
 
Perth Glory0
 
Sydney FC0
 
 
Perth Glory1
 

The Central Coast Mariners were the inaugural Pre-season Challenge Cup winners.

Regular season

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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

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Adelaide United 21 13 4 4 33 25 +8 43 Qualification for 2007 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series
2 Sydney FC (C) 21 10 6 5 35 28 +7 36
3 Central Coast Mariners 21 8 8 5 35 28 +7 32 Qualification for Finals series
4 Newcastle Jets 21 9 4 8 27 29 −2 31
5 Perth Glory 21 8 5 8 34 29 +5 29
6 Queensland Roar 21 7 7 7 27 22 +5 28
7 Melbourne Victory 21 7 5 9 26 24 +2 26
8 New Zealand Knights[a] 21 1 3 17 15 47 −32 6
Source: ultimatealeague.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ New Zealand Knights cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Results

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Round 1

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26 August 2005 Perth Glory 0–1 Central Coast Mariners Members Equity Stadium, Perth
20:00 UTC+8 Report
Summary
Spencer 66' Attendance: 11,113
Referee: Ben Williams

Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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25 September 2005 Melbourne Victory 1–0 Newcastle Jets Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
17:00 UTC+10 Thompson 68' Report
Summary
Attendance: 13,831
Referee: Craig Zetter

Round 6

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Round 7

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8 October 2005 Newcastle Jets 1–5 Perth Glory EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
19:30 UTC+10 Parisi 72' Report
Summary
Mori 33', 62'
Harnwell 46'
Despotovski 52'
Sekulovski 80'
Attendance: 5,868
Referee: James Lewis

Round 8

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14 October 2005 Adelaide United 2–4 Newcastle Jets Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
19:30 UTC+9:30 Valkanis 38'
Corbo 67' (o.g.)
Report
Summary
Kemp 12' (o.g.)
Carle 22', 89'
Zelic 68'
Attendance: 13,182
Referee: Mark Shield

Round 9

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Round 10

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30 October 2005 Sydney FC 1–1 Newcastle Jets Aussie Stadium, Sydney
17:00 UTC+10 Carney 73' Report
Summary
Milicic 77' Attendance: 9,132
Referee: Mark Shield

Round 11

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6 November 2005 Adelaide United 2–4 Perth Glory Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
16:30 UTC+10:30 Veart 13' (pen.)
Rees 53'
Report
Summary
Mori 9', 34', 45+1'
Despotovski 39' (pen.)
Attendance: 10,868
Referee: Ben Williams

Round 12

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11 November 2005 Perth Glory 3–0 New Zealand Knights Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+8 Ward 69'
Sekulovski 25'
Despotovski 12'
Attendance: 9,667
Referee: Craig Zetter
13 November 2005 Sydney FC 1–0 Queensland Roar Aussie Stadium, Sydney
17:00 UTC+11 Zdrillic 54' Attendance: 13,030
Referee: Ben Williams

Round 13

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19 November 2005 Sydney FC 0–0 Perth Glory Aussie Stadium, Sydney
19:00 UTC+11 Attendance: 16,242
Referee: Matthew Breeze
20 November 2005 Adelaide United 1–0 New Zealand Knights Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
16:30 UTC+10.30 Qu 38' Attendance: 9,676
Referee: Angelo Nardi

Round 14

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25 November 2005 Perth Glory 0–1 Newcastle Jets Members Equity Stadium, Perth
17:00 UTC+8 Coveny 47' Attendance: 7,921
Referee: Simon Przydacz
27 November 2005 Adelaide United 3–2 Sydney FC Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
16:30 UTC+10.30 Rech 4', 84'
Veart 14'
Miura 33', 76' Attendance: 14,068
Referee: Mark Shield

Round 15

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1 December 2005 Queensland Roar 1–1 New Zealand Knights Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
19:00 UTC+10 Brownlie 28' Yeo 44' Attendance: 8,607
Referee: James Lewis
3 December 2005 Sydney FC 2–1 Melbourne Victory Aussie Stadium, Sydney
19:00 UTC+11 Carney 81'
Corica 24'
Allsopp 88' Attendance: 17,272
Referee: Matthew Breeze

Round 16

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1 January 2006 Adelaide United 4–2 Queensland Roar Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
18:30 UTC+10.30 Rech 40', 63'
Qu 30'
Veart 29'
Baird 83'
Brosque 11'
Attendance: 8,426
Referee: Matthew Breeze

Round 17

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6 January 2006 Sydney FC 0–0 Newcastle Jets Aussie Stadium, Sydney
20:00 UTC+11 Attendance: 15,211
Referee: Matthew Breeze
7 January 2006 Perth Glory 0–2 Queensland Roar Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+8 Baird 80'
Reinaldo 10'
Attendance: 11,087
Referee: Peter Green

Round 18

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12 January 2006 Perth Glory 1–2 Adelaide United Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+8 Ward 86' Aloisi 71'
Qu 3'
Attendance: 5,033
Referee: Matthew Breeze

Round 19

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21 January 2006 Queensland Roar 2–1 Sydney FC Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
19:00 UTC+10 Brosque 60', 70' Petrovski 85' Attendance: 13,302
Referee: Simon Przydacz

Round 20

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29 January 2006 Perth Glory 1–2 Sydney FC Members Equity Stadium, Perth
16:00 UTC+8 Despotovski 53' Zadkovich 23'
Rudan 14'
Attendance: 12,796
Referee: Craig Zetter

Round 21

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3 February 2006 Sydney FC 2–1 Adelaide United Aussie Stadium, Sydney
20:00 UTC+11 Ceccoli 71'
Yorke 48' (pen.)
Qu 90' Attendance: 25,557
Referee: Mark Shield
4 February 2006 Melbourne Victory 2–1 New Zealand Knights Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
18:00 UTC+11 Muscat 21' (pen.)
Byrnes 2'
Brockie 90' Attendance: 10,078
Referee: Angelo Nardi
5 February 2006 Newcastle Jets 1–3 Perth Glory EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
17:00 UTC+11 Coveny 34' Mori 71'
Picken 58' (o.g.)
Ward 9'
Attendance: 9,232
Referee: Matthew Breeze

Finals series

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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 was crowned as the A-League champion. 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

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12 February 2006 Adelaide United 2–2 Sydney FC Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
17:00 UTC+10.30 Rech 34'
Dodd 31'
Petrovski 39'
Corica 9'
Attendance: 15,104
Referee: Matthew Breeze
19 February 2006 Sydney FC 2–1 Adelaide United Aussie Stadium, Sydney
17:00 UTC+11 Rudan 76'
Petrovski 29'
Qu 60' Attendance: 30,377
Referee: Mark Shield

Sydney FC won 4–3 on aggregate.

Central Coast Mariners won 2–1 on aggregate.

Preliminary final

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Grand Final

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Statistics

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Attendance

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Team Hosted Average High Low Total
Sydney FC 11 16,669 25,557 9,132 183,355
Queensland Roar 11 14,785 23,142 8,607 162,636
Melbourne Victory 10 14,158 18,026 10,078 141,578
Adelaide United 10 10,947 14,068 7,013 109,473
Perth Glory 11 9,734 13,157 5,033 107,075
Newcastle Jets 11 8,912 13,000 5,868 98,027
Central Coast Mariners 10 7,899 17,429 5,194 78,989
New Zealand Knights 10 3,909 9,900 1,922 39,086
{{{T9}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{{T10}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{{T11}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{{T12}}} 0 0 0 0 0
League total 84 10,955 25,557 1,922 920,219

Highest attendance

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Leading goalscorers

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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 Australia Alex Brosque Brisbane Roar 1 2 1 2 1 1
Australia Bobby Despotovski Perth Glory 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
Australia Archie Thompson Melbourne Victory 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
Scotland Stewart Petrie Central Coast Mariners 1 1 2 2 1 1
7 Australia Carl Veart Adelaide United 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Australia Dean Heffernan Central Coast Mariners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Trinidad and Tobago Dwight Yorke Sydney FC 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Australia Ante Milicic Newcastle Jets 1 1 1 3 1
Australia Sasho Petrovski Sydney FC 1 1 1 3 1
Australia Damian Mori Perth Glory 2 3 1 1

Disciplinary records

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

Biggest victories

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Score Date Round
Melbourne Victory 5–0 Sydney FC 16 Oct 2005 8
Queensland Roar 5–0 Newcastle Jets 26 Jan 2006 20
Perth Glory 5–1 Newcastle Jets 8 Oct 2005 7
Sydney FC 5–1 Central Coast Mariners 5 Nov 2005 11
Newcastle Jets 4–0 New Zealand Knights 18 Sep 2005 4
Central Coast Mariners 4–0 Perth Glory 8 Oct 2005 8

Highest aggregate scores

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

Other honours

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Awards

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Award Recipient
Johnny Warren Medal (Player's Player of the Year) Bobby Despotovski (Perth Glory)
Golden Boot Award (Top Goalscorer) Alex Brosque (Brisbane Roar)
Bobby Despotovski (Perth Glory)
Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory)
Stewart Petrie (Central Coast Mariners)
Rising Star Award (U-20 Player of the Year) Nick Ward (Perth Glory)
Coach of the Year Lawrie McKinna (Central Coast Mariners)
Referee of the Year Mark Shield
Joe Marston Medal (Best player in grand final) Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC)

AFC Champions League

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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 were the representatives.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Bazeley replaced Hay as captain mid-season, after they released Hay on 23 December 2005.[8]
  2. ^ Deane's contract was mutually terminated part-way through his marquee deal and he left mid-season.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "Eastern promise arrives right on Qu". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 July 2005. The 30-year-old Chinese international, who has the potential to be one of the stars of the new A-League as Adelaide United's marquee signing...
  2. ^ "Dodd Gets The Nod As Skipper". FTBL. 31 July 2008. Ross Aloisi taking over as the club's first Hyundai A-League captain and then Valkanis acquiring the role prior to the 2007/08 season.
  3. ^ "Mariners announce soccer captain". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 April 2005.
  4. ^ Lynch, Michael (30 April 2016). "Archie Thompson should play on after leaving Melbourne Victory". The Sydney Morning Herald. As Victory's inauguaral marquee signing...
  5. ^ "Archie Thompson, Adrian Leijer sign new deals with Melbourne Victory". The Guardian. 2 May 2014. Victory's first ever signing, and scorer, will join up with new marquee Besart Berisha next season, after agreeing a new deal with the club that takes him inside the salary cap
  6. ^ "Kevin Muscat appointed as new Melbourne Victory coach". The Guardian. 31 October 2013. Phoenix's Ernie Merrick was the Victory's inaugural coach and Muscat the club's inaugural captain
  7. ^ "Player Profile - Danny Hay". New Zealand Football Foundation. Retrieved 9 January 2020. He started the 2006–2007 season as inaugural captain for the Auckland-based New Zealand Knights
  8. ^ "Knights cut skipper Hay". The World Game. SBS. 23 December 2005.
  9. ^ "Hyundai A-League set for big start". Football Federation Australia. 26 August 2006. Welcome news however is the availability of captain and key defender Darren Bazeley
  10. ^ "Ned Zelic signs with Newcastle Jets". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 April 2005.
  11. ^ "Jets look to shut down Mariners". ABC News. 10 February 2006. Jets captain Ned Zelic says...
  12. ^ Roach, Stewart (7 June 2006). "Easy come, easy go: Okon signs for Jets as captain Zelic quits". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  13. ^ Young, Richie (17 August 2007). "'Our Form Will Return' - North". FTBL. The Taree-born Socceroo says replacing former Jets captains Ned Zelic and Paul Okon came out of the blue at training.
  14. ^ a b Davidson, John (17 August 2017). "Deane: I had to wash my own kit at Glory". FTBL. Deane was Perth's marquee signing for the first season of the new competition in 2005.[...] Deane's spell at the Glory was short-lived, with the centre forward departing mid-season
  15. ^ "Harnwell named Glory captain". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 May 2005.
  16. ^ "Roar name inaugural captain". ABC News. 3 May 2005. A-League club Queensland Roar have named Chad Gibson as their inaugural captain...
  17. ^ "Yorke goes Down Under". The Guardian. 30 June 2005. The former Manchester United, Aston Villa, Blackburn and Birmingham striker is Sydney's marquee player
  18. ^ "Long time coming for Rudan". The World Game. SBS. 2 March 2006.
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