A-League Men: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 09:25, 15 October 2006
| Australasian Hyundai A-League |
|---|
| Founded |
| 2005 |
| Current member clubs |
| 8 |
| Current Champion |
| Sydney FC (2005-06) |
| League system |
| Triple Round Robin of 21 games.
Top 4 teams at the end of Round 21 enter Championship playoff. |
- For the former incarnation of the USL First Division see A-League Soccer
The A-League is the major Australasian domestic association football competition, which kicked off its inaugural 2005-06 season on August 26, 2005. Football has had a troubled history in Australia, and has not traditionally been a major spectator sport. The A-League aspires to improve its status. Following the end of the National Soccer League, the former governing body Soccer Australia (now Football Federation Australia) announced the formation of a new eight-team competition to revitalise the sport. Clubs are from one city in Australia or New Zealand, in an attempt to concentrate player talent within regions. The cities represented are: Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, Gosford and Auckland (New Zealand). The average crowd for the inaugural home and away season was 10,861.
The league has attracted corporate support with Hyundai as major sponsor, and is televised on Fox Sports. Additionally, Reebok have provided the playing kits for all 8 clubs. An AUD$3 million dollar advertising campaign was also launched, with the television and film advertisements produced by Ridley Scott's production company. The theme for the campaign is "Football, but not as you know it".
Pre-Season Cup format
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.[1] FFA has indicated that, if successful, this bonus points system may be used in the main league season from 2007-08. [2]
All eight teams then enter a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.
Regular season format
The competition consists of a triple round robin (21 home-and-away rounds), with the top four teams entering a finals series. The season ends with a grand final in March. The winner of the grand final is considered the Australian Champion. The champion of the first season, Sydney FC, was awarded a trophy designed by D3 Designs. With Football Federation Australia a member of the Asian Football Confederation from 2006, the champions and premiers (the team that is top of the ladder at the end of the regular season) will qualify for the Asian Champions League, starting in 2007.
Each club has a squad of 20 players, with a salary cap of $A 1.6 million for the whole squad - 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 squad must include at least two under-20 players. 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 privately funded, and not included in the team's salary cap. The best-known example in the initial season was Dwight Yorke, who played several seasons for Manchester United and Aston Villa in England. Dwight Yorke left mid-2nd season for Sunderlnad in the EPL while Benito Carbone joined for a 4 game match deal.
The conditions were changed before the 2006-07 season to reduce the minimum number of under-20 players from 3 to 2 per squad. The salary cap was also increased from $A 1.5m to $A 1.6m.
Unlike most European leagues, there is no system for promotion and relegation of teams, nor a knockout cup competition along the lines of the FA Cup.
Logo
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.
Clubs
The eight foundation clubs are:
| Team | City | Region | Foundation Chairman | Inaugural Manager | Home Ground | Capacity | Avg Crowd 2005-06 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | Adelaide | SA | Gordon Pickard | John Kosmina | Hindmarsh Stadium | 16,500 | 10,947 |
| Central Coast Mariners FC | Gosford | NSW | Ian Kiernan | Lawrie McKinna | Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium | 20,059 | 7,899 |
| Melbourne Victory | Melbourne | VIC | Geoff Lord | Ernie Merrick | Olympic Park/Telstra Dome | 18,500/55,000 | 14,157 |
| Newcastle United Jets | Newcastle | NSW | Con Constantine | Richard Money | EnergyAustralia Stadium | 28,000 | 8,486 |
| New Zealand Knights FC | Auckland | NZL | Anthony Lee | John Adshead | North Harbour Stadium | 25,000 | 3,909 |
| Perth Glory FC | Perth | WA | Nick Tana | Steve McMahon | Members Equity Stadium | 18,450 | 9,734 |
| Queensland Roar FC | Brisbane | QLD | John Ribot | Miron Bleiberg | Suncorp Stadium | 52,000 | 14,785 |
| Sydney FC | Sydney | NSW | Walter Bugno | Pierre Littbarski | Aussie Stadium | 41,159 | 16,668 |
- For current club details see A-League 2006-07
Australian Champions
The "premier" is the team at the top of the league table at the end of the regular season. The "champion", and overall winner of the season, is the team that wins the Grand Final.
| Season | Pre-season cup | Regular season | Grand Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier | Runner-up | Champion | Runner-up | ||
| 2005-06 | Template:ALeague CCM | Template:ALeague AU | Template:ALeague SFC | Template:ALeague SFC | Template:ALeague CCM |
| 2006-07 | Template:ALeague AU | — | — | — | — |
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 2007 AFC Champions League competition.[3] The two teams will be the 2006-07 champions (grand final winner) and premiers (the team at the top of the ladder after regular season games). If they are won by the same club, then the other grand finalists will go through.
Top Scorers
All-Time
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Muscat | 12 |
| 2 | Sasho Petrovski | 11 |
| 3= | Archie Thompson | 10 |
| 3= | Fernando | 10 |
| 5= | Stewart Petrie | 8 |
| 5= | Daniel Allsopp | 8 |
| 5= | Ante Milicic | 8 |
| 5= | Damian Mori | 8 |
| 5= | Carl Veart | 8 |
| 5= | Bobby Despotovski | 8 |
See Also: A-League all-time records
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 clash between Australia's two biggest cities. Sydney and Melbourne have been historical rivals for over a century, and their football teams are no exception.
- Newcastle v Central Coast: The two regional clubs in the A-League are also big rivals. Just one hour separates the two cities, and the supporters of each club love nothing more than to knock off the local rival.
- Queensland Roar v Sydney FC: This is seen as the football version of the rivalry seen in the Rugby League State of Origin
- Queensland Roar v Adelaide United: Largely based on the confrontation between the two managers in the 05-06 season, followed on this year with what was dubbed the battle between the two Chinese import strikers.
- Adelaide United v Melbourne: Much like the Queensland/Sydney rivalry, the historical Australian rules football rivalry between the cities has passed into a general sporting and cultural rivalry.
- Adelaide United v Sydney FC: The clash between the two most successful teams in the A-League's inaugral year (Adelaide the Minor-Premiership and Sydney the eventual winners).
Future
While making a relatively modest start in order to ensure future stability, the league is interested in introducing more teams to the competition. The eight foundation clubs have exclusivity clauses for their respective cities valid for five years, but there is room to add more teams. With Australia qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup there has been some media speculation that Football Federation Australia may expand the league after the 2006-07 season. This is looking very possible with upcoming changes to the number of Asian Champions League spots available from 2008.
Townsville and Canberra are possibilities, having large populations and modern football stadiums, respectively Dairy Farmers Stadium and Canberra Stadium. Wollongong and the Gold Coast could also be considered, with Wollongong pushing for an upgrade to WIN Stadium while the Gold Coast will have a new 25,000 seat stadium in 2008. 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. This club will be backed by Bruce Gordon, Australia's 14th richest person. [1]
Before the introduction of the A-League, ASA chairman Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into additional areas, mentioning Canberra, Hobart, Wollongong and Far North Queensland.[4][5] On August 10, John O'Neil was talking up the support football would enjoy in Townsville. [2]
A representative of Capital Football has been quoted as saying "Canberra, Geelong, Wollongong and Far North Queensland were "on the radar" to join the comp for the 2008/09 season." [6]
A A$ 120m 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 Asian Cup fixtures, 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.[7]
The creation of the A-League has allowed for many past and present Socceroos players to return and play on home soil. So far the A-League's second season has seen the return of such current Australian international players as Stan Lazaridis, Tony Vidmar and Joel Griffiths which has boosted the media attention of the league. The FFA is also toying with the idea of sharing the expense of some of the wages of Socceroos players to bring them back to Australia.[8]
Notes and references
- ^ "Pre-Season Cup to go Regional". 2006-05-01.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "New and old for Kossie (see Matt Carroll interview section)". 2006-07-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Australia gets two spots in AFC Champions League". 2006-07-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "ASA announce several significant initiatives". 2004-03-22.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "A-League launch speech by ASA chairman Mr Frank Lowy AC". 2004-11-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Canberra chief: 4 new teams on A-League radar (Google cache)". 2006-03-26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Historic deal to secure Football's future". 2006-05-03.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Plan to bring back Socceroos". The World Game. 2006-08-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- A-League official website
- Football Federation Australia
- SBS The World Game A-League section
- FOX Sports Australia A-League section
- A-League television commercial
|- ! colspan="3" style="background:#BFD7FF;" | Soccer in Australia |- ! style="background:#ffdead; width:19em;" | League competitions ! style="background:#ffdead; width:19em;" | National ! style="background:#ffdead; width:19em;" | State Federations |- | align="center" | A-League | align="center" | Football Australia | align="center" | Capital Football - ACT |- | align="center" | National Premier Leagues Victoria (Div 1) | align="center" | Men | align="center" | Football Victoria |- | align="center" | New South Wales Premier League | align="center" | Women | align="center" | Football NSW |- | align="center" | Northern NSW State Football League | align="center" | Professional Footballers Australia | align="center" | Northern NSW Football |- | align="center" | Brisbane Premier League (Div 1) | align="center" | List of clubs | align="center" | Football Queensland |- | align="center" | National Premier Leagues South Australia | align="center" | | align="center" | Football South Australia |- | align="center" | National Premier Leagues Western Australia | align="center" | | align="center" | Football West |- | align="center" | National Soccer League (Defunct) | align="center" | | align="center" | Football Tasmania |- | align="center" | | align="center" | | align="center" | Football Northern Territory |- | colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" |