2006–07 A-League

The 2006–07 A-League was the 30th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the second season of the A-League since its establishment the previous season. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the first season and on the interest generated by the Socceroos competing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Fox Sports had signed a A$120 million deal over 7 years for the exclusive broadcast rights of the A-League, AFC Champions League, and national team matches (excluding matches played in the World Cup finals).

The television advertisement campaign used for the 2006–07 season was the same as the previous season, with different music. Scribe's song "Not Many" was replaced with Manuel Neztic's "Kickin Down". The second season was marketed as "A-League: Version 2". Template:TOClimit

Clubs

File:Map of Australia and New Zealand with an inset.svg

File:AdelaideUnitedColours.png

File:BrisbaneRoarColours.png

File:CCMicon.png

File:MelbourneVictoryColours.png

File:NEWicon.png

File:NZKicon.png

File:PERicon.png

File:SYDicon.png

Adelaide United

Central Coast Mariners

Melbourne Victory

Newcastle Jets

New Zealand Knights

Queensland Roar

Perth Glory

Sydney FC

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Adelaide United	Adelaide	Hindmarsh Stadium	17,000
Central Coast Mariners	Gosford	Bluetongue Stadium	20,119
Melbourne Victory	Melbourne	Olympic Park Stadium	18,500
	Melbourne	Telstra Dome	56,347
Newcastle Jets	Newcastle	Energy Australia Stadium	26,164
New Zealand Knights	Auckland	North Harbour Stadium	25,000
Perth Glory	Perth	Members Equity Stadium	18,156
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 Diego	Template:Flagicon Fernando	Template:Flagicon Qu Shengqing	Template:Flagicon Bobby Petta		Template:Flagicon Romário4
Central Coast Mariners	Template:Flagicon André Gumprecht	Template:Flagicon Jamie McMaster	Template:Flagicon Wayne O'Sullivan		Template:Flagicon John Hutchinson2
Melbourne Victory	Template:Flagicon Alessandro	Template:Flagicon Fred	Template:Flagicon James Robinson	Template:Flagicon Grant Brebner		Template:Flagicon Geoffrey Claeys Template:Flagicon Claudinho4
New Zealand Knights	Template:Flagicon Darren Bazeley	Template:Flagicon Malik Buari	Template:Flagicon Neil Emblen	Template:Flagicon Dani Rodrigues	Template:Flagicon Fernando3 Template:Flagicon Alen Marcina3 Template:Flagicon Gao Leilei3 Template:Flagicon Li Yan3 Template:Flagicon Hamza Mohammed3 Template:Flagicon Sean Devine1 Template:Flagicon Scot Gemmill3	Template:Flagicon Dean Gordon3
Newcastle Jets	Template:Flagicon Milton Rodríguez	Template:Flagicon Tim Brown	Template:Flagicon Steven Old		Template:Flagicon Vaughan Coveny1
Perth Glory	Template:Flagicon Leo Bertos	Template:Flagicon Jeremy Christie	Template:Flagicon Danny Hay		Template:Flagicon Mark Lee1 Template:Flagicon Stuart Young1
Queensland Roar	Template:Flagicon Reinaldo	Template:Flagicon Marcus Wedau	Template:Flagicon Simon Lynch	Template:Flagicon Remo Buess	Template:Flagicon Zhang Yuning3 Template:Flagicon Stuart McLaren1 Template:Flagicon Seo Hyuk-su1
Sydney FC	Template:Flagicon Jeremy Brockie	Template:Flagicon Terry McFlynn			Template:Flagicon Jonas Salley1	Template:Flagicon Benito Carbone4 Template:Flagicon Dwight Yorke

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	Template:Flagicon Tony Vidmar	Template:Flagicon Noel Spencer Template:Flagicon Alex WilkinsonTemplate:Refn	None
Melbourne Victory	Template:Flagicon Archie Thompson	Template:Flagicon Kevin Muscat	Template:Flagicon Archie Thompson
New Zealand Knights	Template:Flagicon Scot Gemmill	Template:Flagicon Darren Bazeley	None
Newcastle Jets	Template:Flagicon Paul Okon	Template:Flagicon Paul Okon	None
Perth Glory	Template:Flagicon Stan Lazaridis	Template:Flagicon Jamie Harnwell	None
Queensland Roar	None	Template:Flagicon Chad Gibson	None
Sydney FC	Template:Flagicon Dwight YorkeTemplate:Refn	Template:Flagicon Mark Rudan	None

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

File:A league pre season sydney vs newcastle.jpg

Newcastle playing Sydney in a pre-season match in Canberra

This competition was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The opening round was 15 July 2006. The competition featured a group stage, with three regular rounds and a bonus round, followed by a two-week finals playoff. The bonus group round matched up teams against opponents from the other group, and also offered the incentive of "bonus points" based on goals scored (1 point for 2 goals, 2 points for 3 goals, 3 points for 4 or more goals).

The Pre-Season Cup was used to enhance the A-League's profiles by playing pre-season games in regional centres including the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Launceston, Canberra, Wollongong, Port Macquarie, Orange and Tamworth.

The pre-season cup was won by Adelaide United at the final on 19 August 2006.

Regular season

The league season took a triple round-robin format, and took place over 21 rounds between 25 August 2006 and 21 January 2007.

Finals series

File:Melbourne Victory 2007 A-League Grand Final.jpg

Melbourne Victory celebrating their 2007 A-League Grand Final victory.

Semi-finals

Newcastle Jets won 3–2 on aggregate.

Melbourne Victory won 2–1 on aggregate.

Grand Final

The Asian Football Confederation announced on 21 November 2006 that Adelaide United and Sydney FC would represent Australia in the 2007 AFC Champions League. Despite an appeal by the Football Federation Australia, it was determined that the 2005–06 A-League premiers and champions would qualify and not those from the current season.

The AFC also indicated that the qualification arrangements would not be reviewed prior to 2009. The FFA have indicated that the premiers and champions of A-League 2006–07 will qualify for the 2008 AFC Champions League – establishing a precedent of maintaining a one-year lag between qualification and participation.

Season statistics

Leading goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Template:Flagicon Archie Thompson	Melbourne Victory	15
2	Template:Flagicon Daniel Allsopp	Melbourne Victory	12
3	Template:Flagicon Damian Mori	Central Coast Mariners (6), Queensland Roar (2)	8
	Template:Flagicon Mark Bridge	Newcastle Jets
5	Template:Flagicon Adam Kwasnik	Central Coast Mariners	7
	Template:Flagicon Jamie Harnwell	Perth Glory

Most yellow cards

Rank	Player	Team	Yellow Cards
1	Template:Flagicon Adrian Leijer	Melbourne Victory	7
2	Template:Flagicon Nick Carle	Newcastle Jets	6
	Template:Flagicon Andrew Durante	Newcastle Jets
4	Template:Flagicon Kevin Muscat	Melbourne Victory	5
	Template:Flagicon Terry McFlynn	Sydney FC
	Template:Flagicon Simon Colosimo	Perth Glory

Attendances

Team	Hosted	Average	High	Low	Total
Template:A-League team	11	27,728	50,333	15,563	305,011
Template:A-League team	10	16,465	32,371	10,040	164,653
Template:A-League team	10	14,999	20,881	9,871	149,986
Template:A-League team	11	12,162	16,378	8,785	133,782
Template:A-League team	10	11,442	20,980	4,635	114,420
Template:A-League team	11	9,828	15,404	4,644	108,112
Template:A-League team	10	7,671	9,978	6,251	76,709
Template:A-League team	11	3,014	7,304	1,632	33,156
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	12,927			1,085,829

Highest attendances

• 55,436: Melbourne Victory vs Adelaide United, 18 February 2007 (Grand Final)
• 50,333: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, 8 December 2006 (Round 16)
• 47,413: Melbourne Victory vs Adelaide United, 4 February 2007 (Finals Week 2)
• 39,730: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, 2 September 2006 (Round 2)
• 32,371: Queensland Roar vs Sydney FC, 20 January 2007 (Round 21)

Awards

The 2007 A-League Awards ceremony was held on 27 February 2007.

Award	Winner	Club
Johnny Warren Medal	Template:Flagicon Nick Carle	Newcastle Jets
Young Footballer of the Year	Template:Flagicon Adrian Leijer	Melbourne Victory
Golden Boot Award	Template:Flagicon Danny Allsopp	Melbourne Victory
Goalkeeper of the Year	Template:Flagicon Michael Theoklitos	Melbourne Victory
Coach of the Year	Template:Flagicon Ernie Merrick	Melbourne Victory
Fair Play Award	Perth Glory
Referee of the Year	Template:Flagicon Mark Shield

See also

• 2006–07 Adelaide United season
• 2006–07 Central Coast Mariners season
• 2006–07 Melbourne Victory season
• 2006–07 Newcastle Jets FC season
• 2006–07 New Zealand Knights season
• 2006–07 Perth Glory season
• 2006–07 Queensland Roar season
• 2006–07 Sydney FC season

External links

• A-League official website, including fixtures
• Football Federation Australia
• SBS The World Game A-League section
• FOXSPORTS.com.au A-League section and Official A-League Fantasy competition