2005–06 A-League

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

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

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Non-Visa foreigner(s)	Former player(s)
Adelaide United	Template:Flagicon Fernando	Template:Flagicon Qu Shengqing
Central Coast Mariners	Template:Flagicon André Gumprecht	Template:Flagicon Wayne O'Sullivan	Template:Flagicon Stewart Petrie		Template:Flagicon John Hutchinson2 Template:Flagicon Ian Ferguson3
Melbourne Victory	Template:Flagicon Richard Kitzbichler	Template:Flagicon Geoffrey Claeys
New Zealand Knights	Template:Flagicon Zhang Xiaobin	Template:Flagicon Darren Bazeley	Template:Flagicon Ben Collett	Template:Flagicon Neil Emblen	Template:Flagicon Li Yan3 Template:Flagicon Ronnie Bull3 Template:Flagicon Naoki Imaya3 Template:Flagicon Frank van Eijs3 Template:Flagicon Sean Devine1	Template:Flagicon Simon Yeo
Newcastle Jets	Template:Flagicon Guy Bates	Template:Flagicon Mateo Corbo			Template:Flagicon Vaughan Coveny1
Perth Glory	Template:Flagicon Steve McMahon	Template:Flagicon Hiroyuki Ishida	Template:Flagicon Danny Hay	Template:Flagicon Henry Fa'arodo	Template:Flagicon Stuart Young1 Template:Flagicon Milan Jovanić3
Queensland Roar	Template:Flagicon Reinaldo	Template:Flagicon Remo Buess	Template:Flagicon Osvaldo Carro		Template:Flagicon Seo Hyuk-su1
Sydney FC	Template:Flagicon Terry McFlynn	Template:Flagicon Dwight Yorke	Template:Flagicon Alejandro Salazar			Template:Flagicon 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

Club	Marquee	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	Template:Flagicon Qu Shengqing	Template:Flagicon Ross Aloisi	None
Central Coast Mariners	None	Template:Flagicon Noel Spencer	None
Melbourne Victory	Template:Flagicon Archie Thompson	Template:Flagicon Kevin Muscat	None
New Zealand Knights	None	Template:Flagicon Danny Hay Template:Flagicon Darren BazeleyTemplate:Refn	None
Newcastle Jets	Template:Flagicon Ned Zelic	Template:Flagicon Ned Zelic	None
Perth Glory	Template:Flagicon Brian DeaneTemplate:Refn	Template:Flagicon Jamie Harnwell	None
Queensland Roar	None	Template:Flagicon Chad Gibson	None
Sydney FC	Template:Flagicon Dwight Yorke	Template:Flagicon Mark Rudan	None

Preliminary Competitions

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

Oceania Club Championship Qualification

This three-round competition was held in May 2005 to determine Australia's qualifier for the 2005 season of the Oceania Club Championship. It consisted of all Australian A-League clubs (i.e. all clubs except for the New Zealand Knights) and granted Perth Glory – the reigning NSL champions – a bye into the semi-finals.

{{#section-h:2005 Australian Club World Championship Qualifying Tournament|bracket}}

Sydney FC qualified for and subsequently won the 2005 Oceania Club Championship entitling it to a place in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship to be played in Tokyo.

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

The inaugural pre-season cup was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The competition featured a group stage and a knockout stage. Commentators did not give much weight to the competition as a guide for performance during the season proper, as injuries or club strategic policy ruled that many teams did not use their best players and often used experimental tactics.

Finals

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

Regular season

The A-League season commenced on 26 August 2005 with two Friday night fixtures. Games each round were held throughout the weekend, though certain rounds also featured Thursday night games. As there was no concurrent cup competition, midweek fixtures were uncommon unless they were held on Australian public holidays. A three-week break was also scheduled in December to coincide with the 2005 FIFA Club World Cup in Tokyo.

Finals series

After the home and away season, the finals series began, with the top four teams. The finals series used a modified Page playoff system, with the difference that each first-round game would be played over two legs. The winner of the finals series, Sydney FC 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

Template:Football box collapsibleSydney FC won 4–3 on aggregate.Template:Football box collapsible

Template:Football box collapsibleCentral Coast Mariners won 2–1 on aggregate.

Statistics

Attendance

Team	Hosted	Average	High	Low	Total
Template:A-League team	11	16,669	25,557	9,132	183,355
Template:A-League team	11	14,785	23,142	8,607	162,636
Template:A-League team	10	14,158	18,026	10,078	141,578
Template:A-League team	10	10,947	14,068	7,013	109,473
Template:A-League team	11	9,734	13,157	5,033	107,075
Template:A-League team	11	8,912	13,000	5,868	98,027
Template:A-League team	10	7,899	17,429	5,194	78,989
Template:A-League team	10	3,909	9,900	1,922	39,086
Template:A-League team	0	0	0	0	0
Template:A-League team	0	0	0	0	0
Template:A-League team	0	0	0	0	0
Template:A-League team	0	0	0	0	0
League total	84	10,955			920,219

Highest attendance

• 41,689: Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners, 5 March 2006 (grand final)
• 30,377: Sydney FC vs Adelaide United, 19 February 2006 (Semi-final Leg2)
• 25,557: Sydney FC vs Adelaide United, 3 February 2006 (Round 21)
• 25,208: Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory, 28 August 2005 (Round 1)
• 23,142: Queensland Roar vs Sydney FC, 23 September 2005 (Round 5)
• 20,725: Queensland Roar vs New Zealand Knights, 28 August 2005 (Round 1)
• 18,276: Sydney FC vs Adelaide United, 9 October 2005 (Round 7)
• 18,206: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, 16 October 2005 (Round 8)
• 17,960: Melbourne Victory vs Perth Glory, 4 September 2005 (Round 2)

Leading goalscorers

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

Disciplinary records

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

	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

	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

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

Awards

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

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 2006–07 A-League season. Adelaide as Premiers and Sydney as Champions were the representatives.

See also

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

External links

• A-League official website, including fixtures