A-League

A-League

Countries	Australia  New Zealand
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Founded	2004
Number of teams	10
Levels on pyramid	1
Domestic cup(s)	FFA Cup
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League
Current champions	Brisbane Roar (2011–12)
Most championships	Brisbane Roar Melbourne Victory Sydney FC (2 titles each)
Current premiers	Central Coast Mariners (2011–12)
Most premiers	Central Coast Mariners Melbourne Victory (2 titles each)
TV partners	Fox Sports
Website	www.A-League.com.au
2012–13 A-League

The A-League is the top Australasian professional association football (soccer) league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia (FFA), it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company Australia and Qantas, and is officially known as the Hyundai A-League. The league is contested by ten teams: nine in Australia and one from New Zealand.^[1] Related leagues include a National Youth League and the Women's Westfield W-League.

Contents 1 Format 1.1 Pre-Season Cup 1.2 Regular season 1.3 Finals series 1.4 FFA Cup 2 Promotion 3 Current Clubs 3.1 Expansion 3.2 Squad and salary cap 3.2.1 Marquee player 3.2.2 Youth league 4 Stadiums 5 Crowds 6 Referees 7 Champions and premiers 7.1 Premiership Winners 7.2 Championship Winners 7.3 Oceania Club Championship 7.4 AFC Champions League 8 All Time A-League Leaders 9 Awards 9.1 Johnny Warren Medal 9.2 Joe Marston Medal 9.3 NAB Young Footballer 9.4 Reebok Golden Boot 9.5 Goalkeeper of the Year 9.6 Manager of the Year 9.7 Fair Play Award 9.8 Zurich Referee of the Year 9.9 Foreign Player of the Year 9.10 Solo Goal of the Year 10 Television coverage 11 Rivalries 12 A-League Supporters Groups 13 References 14 External links

Format

Pre-Season Cup

Prior to the 2009–10 season, a pre-season competition was held in August, as a precursor to the main season. In the Pre-Season Cup, the teams were evenly placed into two groups. Each team played the others in the group once over three rounds.

Beginning in 2006, an additional bonus round was 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 were 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.
• 4 bonus points for scoring 5 goals by a player.

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 entered a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.

The Pre-Season Cup was removed from 2009-10's A-League schedule in order to give the clubs more control over their own pre-season training.^[2]

Regular season

The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from early October to February of the following year. The competition consists of 27 matches over 25 weeks, with each team playing every other team three times – twice at home and once away. The teams 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, with one point each for a draw. At the end of the season the teams are ranked firstly by 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

At the completion of the regular season teams are ranked from one to ten with the top six 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, the following criteria are applied in order until one of the teams can be determined as the higher ranked:

1. Highest goal difference;
2. Highest number of goals scored;
3. Highest number of points accumulated in matches between the teams concerned;
4. Highest goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
5. Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams concerned;
6. Lowest number of red cards accumulated;
7. Lowest number of yellow cards accumulated;
8. Toss of a coin.

Finals series

The top six teams at the end of the regular season are entered into a finals series,^[5] where the top two ranked teams in the regular season compete over two legs (with ties decided by the away goals rule, including extra time), the winner progressing straight to and hosting the Grand Final.

On the same weekend, the third and sixth-ranked teams play each other, the same for the fourth and fifth-ranked teams. The winners of these matches play each other, the winner of which goes ahead to play in a Preliminary Final against the loser of the two-legged match between the top two teams. The winner of this match progresses to the Grand Final. 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 the Grand Final then the other Grand Final competitor will be awarded the second spot in the competition, win or lose.^[4] In previous seasons the finals series had four teams, and has been extended to accommodate for the increased number of clubs in the competition.

FFA Cup

The FFA Cup will be a knock-out style cup, running from March 2012 to January 2013 ^[6] during the 2012-13 A-League season, with games to be played midweek and the final to be held on Australia Day. All football clubs will be available to enter the cup and smaller teams will have to survive earlier knockout rounds before mixing with A-League clubs in the last-32 stage.

The winner of the cup is expected to gain qualification to the AFC Champions League. It is hoped that the cup will help engage local football fans in the community, consequently boosting interest in the A-League.

Promotion

The A-League logo, designed by Coast Design Sydney, is a three-dimensional sphere. 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.^[7]

At the start of the inaugural season, an A$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".^[8] This promotional campaign continued into the 2008–09 season, along with music track "My People" from Australian act The Presets.

The A-League has been featured in the FIFA series by EA SPORTS since the 2008 edition of the game, as well as the Football Manager series by SI Games and the Championship Manager series by Beautiful Game Studios.^[9]

In 2008, 2009 and 2010 a Fox reality show, Football Superstar, offered as a prize a contract with an A-League club. The clubs that have participated so far are Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar.

Current Clubs

There are nine clubs from Australia and one from New Zealand in the A-League. Only four of these clubs, Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar (as Queensland Roar), Newcastle Jets, and Perth Glory, existed before the A-League was formed.

Unlike most European leagues, there is no system for promotion and relegation of teams 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, Major League Soccer and other major American-based sports leagues.

Wellington Phoenix replaced the New Zealand Knights at the start of the 2007–08 season.^[10][11]

On 1 March 2011 the FFA officially announced that the licence held by franchise North Queensland Fury had been revoked for financial reasons.^[12]

On 29 February 2012, a second Queensland club, Gold Coast United, also had its licence revoked. This was later confirmed by the announcement of the new Western Sydney based club to take over its licence.^[13][14]

On 4 April 2012 it was announced that a new club in Western Sydney would take part in the 2012-13 A-League season.^[15]

Team	City	Stadium	Founded	Joined	Head Coach	Captain
Current A-League Clubs
Adelaide United	Adelaide, SA	Hindmarsh Stadium	2003	2005	John Kosmina	Eugene Galeković
Brisbane Roar	Brisbane, QLD	Suncorp Stadium	1957	2005	Rado Vidošić	Matt Smith
Central Coast Mariners	Gosford, NSW	Bluetongue Stadium	2004	2005	Graham Arnold	Alex Wilkinson
Melbourne Heart	Melbourne, VIC	AAMI Park	2008	2010	John Aloisi	Fred
Melbourne Victory	Melbourne, VIC	AAMI Park & Etihad Stadium	2004	2005	Ange Postecoglou	Adrian Leijer
Newcastle Jets	Newcastle, NSW	Ausgrid Stadium	2000	2005	Gary van Egmond	Jobe Wheelhouse
Perth Glory	Perth, WA	NIB Stadium	1995	2005	Ian Ferguson	Jacob Burns
Sydney FC	Sydney, NSW	Sydney Football Stadium	2004	2005	Ian Crook	Terry McFlynn
Wellington Phoenix	Wellington, NZL	Westpac Stadium	2007	2007	Ricki Herbert	Andrew Durante
West Sydney	Sydney, NSW	ANZ Stadium & Parramatta Stadium	2012	2012	Tony Popovic	TBD

Team	City	Stadium	Founded	Joined	Ceased Operations	Last Head Coach	Last Captain
Defunct Franchises
Gold Coast United	Gold Coast, QLD	Skilled Park	2008	2009	2012	Mike Mulvey	Michael Thwaite
New Zealand Knights	Auckland, NZL	North Harbour Stadium	1998	2005	2007	Ricki Herbert	Darren Bazeley
North Queensland Fury	Townsville, QLD	Dairy Farmers Stadium	2008	2009	2011	František Straka	Ufuk Talay

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 had exclusivity clauses for their respective cities valid for five years, but this does not exclude teams from other areas. Some have questioned the logic in expanding the league so soon as many clubs are struggling to stay afloat and think by expanding they are only diluting the playing talent even further.

Before the introduction of the A-League, FFA chairman Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into other cities, mentioning Canberra, Hobart, Wollongong, Geelong, Bendigo, Cairns, Ballarat, Albury, Wodonga, Launceston, Christchurch, Auckland, Sunshine Coast and possibly Darwin.^{[16][17][18][19]}

On 29 September 2009 West Sydney were given an A-League license for the 2011–12 season.^[20][21] On 2 October, the club was officially named Sydney Rovers FC.^[22] This was to be short lived as on the 10 December 2010 it was officially announced that Sydney Rovers FC would not be admitted to the competition and that the league administration would commence the search for a new Western Sydney Franchise.^[23] Consortiums from Wollongong, Tasmania and Canberra are seeking to convince the FFA to instead award the 12th licence to their bids. In April 2012 the FFA announced that a new license would indeed be given to create a Western Sydney team in time for the 2012-2013 season.^[24]

Squad and salary cap

An A-League squad must have between 20 and 23 players, with a maximum of 5 players from outside Australia (and New Zealand, in the case of Wellington Phoenix).^[25] The squad must also include at least three under-20 players^[26] and may have one additional player from the Asian Football Confederation^{[citation needed]}.

For the 2012-13 season, each club has a salary cap of A$2.48 million (excluding Marquee, guest and replacement players) on top of Third Party Agreements.^[25] The minimum salary is A$48,507.^[25][27]

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Visa 5	Non-Visa Foreign
Adelaide United	Cássio	Sergio van Dijk	Francisco Usúcar	None	None	Ricardo Da Silva1
Brisbane Roar	Besart Berisha	Sayed Mohamed Adnan	Henrique	Thomas Broich	None	None
Central Coast Mariners	Patrick Zwaanswijk	Michael McGlinchey	None	None	None	John Hutchinson2
Melbourne Heart	Jonatan Germano	Fred	None	None	None	None
Melbourne Victory	Adama Traore	Marco Rojas	None	None	None	None
Newcastle Jets	Tiago	Michael Bridges	None	None	None	None
Perth Glory	Billy Mehmet	Liam Miller	Bas van den Brink	Victor Sikora	Steven McGarry	Shane Smeltz2
Sydney FC	Fabio	Hirofumi Moriyasu	Pascal Bosschaart	None	None	Ali Abbas1 Terry McFlynn1
Wellington Phoenix	Paul Ifill	Chris Greenacre	Dani Sánchez	Alex Smith	None	Emmanuel Muscat2
Western Sydney	None	None	None	None	None	None

These players 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;
⁴Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of ten games).

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. Arguably the best-known example of a marquee player in the A-League was the prominent former FA Premier League player Dwight Yorke, who played for Sydney FC in the inaugural season.^{[citation needed]} From the 2008–09 season, A-League clubs may have a Junior Marquee player who is under the age of 23. The Junior Marquee can be paid up to A$150,000 above the salary cap. On 19 April 2010 the A-League announced that in addition to marquee players and junior marquee, the 2010-11 season would also allow for an Australian marquee player.^[28]

Club	Australian Marquee	International Marquee	Junior Marquee player	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	Dario Vidošić[29]	Sergio van Dijk[30]	None	Eugene Galeković[31]	Cássio[31]
Brisbane Roar	None	None	None	Matt Smith[32]	Shane Stefanutto[32]
Central Coast Mariners	None	None	Oliver Bozanic[33]	Alex Wilkinson[34]	John Hutchinson[35]
Melbourne Heart	None	Fred[36]	None	Fred[36]	Matt Thompson[37]
Melbourne Victory	Archie Thompson[38]	Harry Kewell[38]	None	Adrian Leijer[39]	Harry Kewell
Newcastle Jets	None	None	None	Jobe Wheelhouse[40]	TBD
Perth Glory	None	Shane Smeltz[41]	None	Jacob Burns[42]	TBD
Sydney FC	Nick Carle[43]	Brett Emerton[44]	Terry Antonis	Terry McFlynn[45]	Brett Emerton
Wellington Phoenix	None	None[46]	None	Andrew Durante[47]	TBD
Western Sydney	None	None	None	TBD	TBD

Youth league

Before the A-League 2008-09 season, a national youth league was 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's inaugural season was made up of seven teams, each linked to the corresponding Australian club in the A-League (excluding Wellington Phoenix) and had strong links to players training at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). Some changes were implemented for the 2009–10 season, including the addition of the Gold Coast United and a team from the AIS. Wellington Phoenix does not have a team in the youth league.

The original format of the youth league was similar to the previous A-league, made up of 21 rounds (18 games each plus three byes) corresponding with the A-League fixtures and occasionally used as curtain raisers. The new format has 27 rounds, however each team has three byes over the season.

Stadiums

Primary venues used in the A-League:

Brisbane Roar	Sydney FC	Wellington Phoenix	Newcastle Jets
Suncorp Stadium	Allianz Stadium	Westpac Stadium	Hunter Stadium
Capacity: 52,500	Capacity: 45,500	Capacity: 36,000	Capacity: 33,000
Melbourne Heart Melbourne Victory	Perth Glory	Central Coast Mariners	Adelaide United
AAMI Park	nib Stadium	Bluetongue Stadium	Hindmarsh Stadium
Capacity: 30,050	Capacity: 20,500	Capacity: 20,119	Capacity: 17,000

Other venues used by A-League clubs include:

Stadium	Location	Capacity	Notes
AMI Stadium	Christchurch, NZ	38,628	Used by Wellington Phoenix for two A-League matches against Adelaide United on 30 January and 5 December 2010[48]
Adelaide Oval	Adelaide, SA	40,000	Used by Adelaide United for three A-League matches against Sydney FC on 28 December 2007, 3 January 2009 and 29 December 2010 and for an A-League match against Melbourne Victory on 11 February 2011
Arena Manawatu	Palmerston North, NZ	18,000	Used by Wellington Phoenix for an A-League match against Sydney FC on 12 December 2009
Aurora Stadium	Launceston, TAS	20,000	Hosted a Regional Round fixture between Melbourne Victory and Gold Coast United on 1 February 2012[49]
Campbelltown Stadium	Sydney, NSW	21,000	Hosted a Regional Round fixture between Sydney FC and Perth Glory on 7 December 2011[49]
Canberra Stadium	Canberra, ACT	25,011	Used by Central Coast Mariners for an A-League match against Perth Glory on 4 September 2009 and again for an A-League match against Adelaide United on 31 October 2009
Carrington Park	Bathurst, NSW	13,000	Hosted a Regional Round fixture between Adelaide United and Newcastle Jets on 25 January 2012[49]
Docklands Stadium	Melbourne, VIC	53,359	Used by Melbourne Victory for eight matches during 2006–07 season,[note 1] then served as team's permanent home venue for three subsequent seasons. In both 2010–11[note 2] and 2011–12 seasons it was used for five matches, serving as the venue for special highly-attended occasions.
Dairy Farmers Stadium	Townsville, QLD	26,500	Used by North Queensland Fury in the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons
Eden Park	Auckland, NZ	50,000	Used by Wellington Phoenix for an A-League match against Adelaide United on 19 November 2011[50]
Falcons Park	Morwell, VIC	12,000	Hosted a Regional Round fixture between Melbourne Heart and Wellington Phoenix on 4 December 2011[49]
Forsyth Barr Stadium	Dunedin, NZ	30,748	Hosted a Regional Round fixture between Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar on 14 December 2011[49]
Jubilee Oval	Sydney, NSW	22,000	Used by Sydney FC for an A-League match against Brisbane Roar on 4 December 2011.[51]
North Harbour Stadium	Albany, NZ	25,000	Used by New Zealand Knights in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons
Olympic Park Stadium	Melbourne, VIC	18,500	Used by Melbourne Victory in the 2005–06 season and part of the 2006–07 season[note 1]
Parramatta Stadium	Sydney, NSW	21,487	Used by Sydney FC for an AFC Champions League game on 25 April 2007 and in two A-League matches against Perth Glory on 7 February and 21 November 2010.
Port Macquarie Regional Stadium	Port Macquarie, NSW	10,000	Used by Newcastle Jets for an A-League match against Melbourne Heart on 31 October 2010 (as the emergency replacement venue)
Robina Stadium	Gold Coast, QLD	27,400	Used by Gold Coast United from 2009–10 till 2011–12 seasons

Notes:

1. ^ ^{a b} Olympic Park Stadium was Melbourne Victory's home stadium during the 2005–06 season. Their round 2 match of the 2006–07 season, on 2 September 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.
2. ^ Due to the existing contract with Docklands, the newly built Melbourne Rectangular Stadium was the Victory's home stadium on a limited basis for the 2010–11 season and became the team's permanent home stadium from 2011 onwards.

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	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13
Adelaide United	10,948	12,162	12,697	11,712	10,765	11,552	8,083
Brisbane Roar	14,785	16,465	16,951	12,995	8,652	9,279	13,157
Central Coast Mariners	7,899	9,828	12,738	10,465	7,426	7,713	9,607
Gold Coast United	–	–	–	–	5,392	3,434	3,546	–
Melbourne Heart	–	–	–	–	–	8,312	9,082
Melbourne Victory	14,158	27,728	26,064	24,516	21,105	15,234	20,281
Newcastle Jets	8,912	11,442	13,177	9,729	6,340	8,429	12,117
New Zealand Knights	3,909	3,014	–	–	–	–	–	–
North Queensland Fury	–	–	–	–	6,723	4,245	–	–
Perth Glory	9,734	7,671	7,606	7,942	9,209	8,488	8,309
Sydney FC	16,669	14,999	16,382	12,380	12,987	7,656	11,861
Wellington Phoenix	–	–1	11,684	7,193	8,965	7,981	8,691
Western Sydney	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Whole season	11,281	12,900	14,608	12,181	9,831	8,393	10,490

Referees

The A-League also features some of Australia and New Zealand's top match officials.^[52] Referees include:

A Panel Referees:	B Panel Referees:
Chris Beath, FIFA Matthew Breeze, FIFA/AFC Strebre Delovski, FIFA Peter Green, FIFA/AFC Peter O'Leary, FIFA Gerard Parsons Ben Williams, FIFA/AFC	Kurt Ams Chris Boyle Kevin Docherty Jarred Gillett Matthew Gillett Kris Griffiths-Jones Allan Milliner Ryan Shepheard Jamie Cross, FIFA/A-League 4th Official Matthew Conger, A-League 4th Official
A Panel Assistant Referees	B Panel Assistant Referees
Rodney Allen, FIFA/AFC Hakan Anaz, FIFA/AFC Brent Best, FIFA Luke Brennan, FIFA Paul Cetrangolo Matthew Cheeseman Matthew Cream, FIFA/AFC Daniel Dewhurst Scott Edeling Shaun Evans Joe Fusari, FIFA Alex Glasgow, FIFA Daniel Goodwin Jan Hintz, FIFA Sarah Ho, FIFA Brad Hobson, FIFA Glen Lochrie, FIFA Mark Rule, FIFA Denis Silk, FIFA/AFC Ben Wilson, FIFA/AFC Murray Wilson	Ashley Beecham Graham Buzzi Allyson Flynn, FIFA Ryan Gallagher Nathan Macdonald James Nicolopoulos Michael Nugus Josh Manella David Walsh Curtis Wordsworth

Champions and premiers

The club that accumulates the most points during the regular season receives the title of Premiers. Media reports sometimes erroneously refer to the Premiers as the minor premiers, a term used in other football codes in Australia. The team that wins the Grand Final receives the title of Champions.^[53]

Season	Pre-season cup	Regular season			Grand final
		Premiers	Points	Runners-up	Champions	Score	Runners-up
2005–06 Details	Central Coast Mariners	Adelaide United	43–36 Ladder	Sydney FC	Sydney FC	1–0 Grand Final	Central Coast Mariners
2006–07 Details	Adelaide United	Melbourne Victory	45–33 Ladder	Adelaide United	Melbourne Victory	6–0 Grand Final	Adelaide United
2007–08 Details	Adelaide United	Central Coast Mariners	34–34 GD: 5–4 Ladder	Newcastle Jets	Newcastle Jets	1–0 Grand Final	Central Coast Mariners
2008–09 Details	Melbourne Victory	Melbourne Victory	38–38 GF: 39–31 Ladder	Adelaide United	Melbourne Victory	1–0 Grand Final	Adelaide United
2009–10 Details	Was not held	Sydney FC	48–47 Ladder	Melbourne Victory	Sydney FC	1–1 (a.e.t.) 4–2 (p.s.o) Grand Final	Melbourne Victory
2010–11 Details	Was not held	Brisbane Roar	65–57 Ladder	Central Coast Mariners	Brisbane Roar	2–2 (a.e.t.) 4–2 (p.s.o) Grand Final	Central Coast Mariners
2011–12 Details	Was not held	Central Coast Mariners	51–49 Ladder	Brisbane Roar	Brisbane Roar	2–1 Grand Final	Perth Glory

No team has ever successfully defended the Premiership. See also the list of champions from 1977 to 2004 in the previous National Soccer League competition.

Premiership Winners Titles Team Years 2 Central Coast Mariners 2008, 2012 2 Melbourne Victory 2007, 2009 1 Adelaide United 2006 1 Brisbane Roar 2011 1 Sydney FC 2010

Championship Winners

Titles	Team	Years
2	Brisbane Roar	2011, 2012
2	Melbourne Victory	2007, 2009
2	Sydney FC	2006, 2010
1	Newcastle Jets	2008

Oceania Club Championship

In 2004–2005 Australia was still a part of the Oceania Football Confederation and Sydney FC won the right to compete in the Oceania Club Championship after defeating the Central Coast Mariners in a qualifying tournament. It has been suggested that the Wellington Phoenix should compete in the OFC Champions League after 2011, as the club will no longer be eligible for AFC Champions League football.

Season	Qualified clubs
	Team	Final Position
2004–05 Details	Sydney FC	Winners Details

AFC Champions League

Two A-League clubs have participated in the AFC Champions League competition each season^[54] since the 2007 competition. Theses teams 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. The fact that a whole season passes before clubs compete in the Champions League is controversial^{[citation needed]}, as the next season passes before the Champions League begins. For example, Newcastle Jets competed in the 2009 Champions League, even though they finished last in the 2008–09 A-League season.

Season	Qualified clubs
	Team	Final Position	Team	Final Position	Team	Final Position
2007 Details	Sydney FC	Group Stage (2nd) Details	Adelaide United	Group Stage (3rd) Details
2008 Details	Melbourne Victory	Group Stage (2nd) Details	Adelaide United	Runners-up Details
2009 Details	Newcastle Jets	Round of 16 Details	Central Coast Mariners	Group Stage (4th) Details
2010 Details	Melbourne Victory	Group Stage (4th) Details	Adelaide United	Round of 16 Details
2011 Details	Sydney FC	Group Stage (3rd) Details	Melbourne Victory	Group Stage (4th) Details
2012 Details	Brisbane Roar	In progress Details	Central Coast Mariners	In progress Details	Adelaide United	In progress Details
2013 Details	Brisbane Roar	TBD	Central Coast Mariners	TBD	Perth Glory	TBD

All Time A-League Leaders

Appearances Regular Season and Finals Rank Player Team Period Apps 1 Matt Thompson * Melbourne Heart 2005— 176 2 Alex Wilkinson Central Coast Mariners 2005— 172 3 Clint Bolton * Melbourne Heart 2005— 165 4 Travis Dodd * Perth Glory 2005— 161 5 Danny Vukovic * Perth Glory 2005— 152 6 Terry McFlynn Sydney FC 2005— 150 7 John Hutchinson Central Coast Mariners 2005— 148 8 Adam Kwasnik * Central Coast Mariners 2005— 144 9 Andrew Durante Wellington Phoenix 2005— 142 10 Iain Fyfe * Adelaide United 2005— 141 Shows Players at current club or last club played for. Bold denotes players still playing in the A-League. (*) Denotes players who have played for more than one A-League team. Last updated 23 April 2012

Goals Regular Season and Finals Rank Player Team Period Goals 1 Shane Smeltz * Perth Glory 2007— 66 2 Archie Thompson Melbourne Victory 2005— 60 3 Sergio van Dijk * Adelaide United 2008— 50 4 Daniel Allsopp Melbourne Victory 2005— 42 5 Alex Brosque * Sydney FC 2005— 38 6 Carlos Hernández Melbourne Victory 2007— 36 Matt Simon Central Coast Mariners 2006— 36 Sasho Petrovski * Newcastle Jets 2005—2011 36 9 Adam Kwasnik * Central Coast Mariners 2005— 35 10 Travis Dodd * Perth Glory 2005— 34 Shows Players at current club or last club played for. Bold denotes players still playing in the A-League. (*) Denotes players who have played for more than one A-League team.

Awards

Johnny Warren Medal

The Johnny Warren Medal, named after the late former Socceroo and media advocate Johnny Warren, is presented to the player who is deemed to be the best player overall at the end of the season as judged by his fellow players. Each player in the A-League votes three times over the season: after Round 7, Round 14 and Round 21. Players are not allowed to vote for players from their own team.

Year	Player	Club
2005–06	Bobby Despotovski	Perth Glory
2006–07	Nick Carle	Newcastle Jets
2007–08	Joel Griffiths	Newcastle Jets
2008–09	Shane Smeltz	Wellington Phoenix
2009–10	Carlos Hernández	Melbourne Victory
2010–11	Marcos Flores	Adelaide United
2011–12	Thomas Broich	Brisbane Roar

Joe Marston Medal

The Joe Marston Medal is given to the best player in an A-League Grand Final. It is named after Joe Marston, a Socceroo in the 1950s.

Year	Player	Club
2006	Dwight Yorke	Sydney FC
2007	Archie Thompson	Melbourne Victory
2008	Andrew Durante	Newcastle Jets
2009	Tom Pondeljak	Melbourne Victory
2010	Simon Colosimo	Sydney FC
2011	Mathew Ryan	Central Coast Mariners
2012	Jacob Burns	Perth Glory

NAB Young Footballer

The NAB Young Footballer Award is awarded to a youth (under 20) player judged by a panel of experts to be the best young performer throughout the season.

Year	Player	Club
2005–06	Nick Ward	Perth Glory
2006–07	Adrian Leijer	Melbourne Victory
2007–08	Bruce Djite	Adelaide United
2008–09	Scott Jamieson	Adelaide United
2009–10	Tommy Oar	Brisbane Roar
2010–11	Mathew Ryan	Central Coast Mariners
2011–12	Mathew Ryan	Central Coast Mariners

Reebok Golden Boot

The Reebok Golden Boot is presented to the player who scores the most goals during the season. Only regular A-League matches between Round 1 and Round 27 (or to Round 21 before season 2009–10) are included.

Year	Player/s	Club	Goals
2005–06	Alex Brosque Bobby Despotovski Stewart Petrie Archie Thompson	Queensland Roar Perth Glory Central Coast Mariners Melbourne Victory	8
2006–07	Daniel Allsopp	Melbourne Victory	11
2007–08	Joel Griffiths	Newcastle Jets	12
2008–09	Shane Smeltz	Wellington Phoenix	12
2009–10	Shane Smeltz	Gold Coast United	19
2010–11	Sergio van Dijk	Adelaide United	16
2011–12	Besart Berisha	Brisbane Roar	19

Goalkeeper of the Year

Year	Player	Club
2005–06	Clint Bolton	Sydney FC
2006–07	Michael Theoklitos	Melbourne Victory
2007–08	Michael Theoklitos	Melbourne Victory
2008–09	Eugene Galeković	Adelaide United
2009–10	Eugene Galeković	Adelaide United
2010–11	Michael Theoklitos	Brisbane Roar
2011–12	Mathew Ryan	Central Coast Mariners

Manager of the Year

Year	Name	Club
2005–06	Lawrie McKinna	Central Coast Mariners
2006–07	Ernie Merrick	Melbourne Victory
2007–08	Gary van Egmond	Newcastle Jets
2008–09	Aurelio Vidmar	Adelaide United
2009–10	Ernie Merrick	Melbourne Victory
2010–11	Ange Postecoglou	Brisbane Roar
2011–12	Graham Arnold	Central Coast Mariners

Fair Play Award

The Fair Play Award goes to the team with the lowest points on the fair play ladder at the conclusion of the home and away season (Yellow Card = 1 point, Direct Red Card = 3 points, 2nd Caution Red Card = 2 points).

Year	Club
2005–06	Perth Glory
2006–07	Perth Glory
2007–08	Newcastle Jets
2008–09	Queensland Roar
2009–10	Sydney FC
2010–11	Brisbane Roar
2011–12	Brisbane Roar

Zurich Referee of the Year

Year	Referee
2005–06	Mark Shield
2006–07	Mark Shield
2007–08	Mark Shield
2008–09	Matthew Breeze
2009–10	Strebre Delovski
2010–11	Matthew Breeze
2011-12	Jarred Gillett

Foreign Player of the Year

Year	Player/s	Club
2008–09	Charlie Miller	Queensland Roar
2009–10	Carlos Hernández	Melbourne Victory
2010–11	Marcos Flores	Adelaide United
2011–12	Thomas Broich	Brisbane Roar

Solo Goal of the Year

Year	Player/s	Club
2009–10	Carlos Hernández	Melbourne Victory
2010–11	Erik Paartalu	Brisbane Roar
2011–12	Carlos Hernández	Melbourne Victory

Television coverage

From the start of the inaugural 2005 season, TV coverage has been restricted to the subscription-only Fox Sport channel which obtained exclusive rights until 2012, which means that A-League games, as well as Socceroos matches, cannot be viewed free-to-air. That decision has been the source of much debate among the football community in Australia. On one hand, it is recognised that the injection of funds from the Fox contract assisted the league in its inception years, however, on the other hand the lack of free-to-air viewing prevented the majority of Australians, without pay-TV, from accessing the A-League on TV. The point of debate is whether the combination of Fox cash plus restrictions to free-to-air TV has either helped or hindered the A-League more in those crucial early years.

• Australia – Fox Sports (live coverage & highlights)
• New Zealand – SKY Sport (New Zealand) (live coverage & highlights)
• United States – Fox Soccer Channel (1 game per week + highlights)
• Hong Kong – Cable TV Hong Kong (1 / 2 game per week + highlights)
• Canada – Fox Sports World (highlights)
• United Kingdom and Republic Of Ireland – Sky Sports (highlights + Play offs and Final live)

Rivalries

Although there is only one local derby in the history of the A-league (the two Melbourne-based clubs) many 'rivalries' have formed between A-League sides:

• Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory: "The Cross Border Rivalry" Contested the 2006–07 and 2008–09 A-League Grand Finals, in which Melbourne won 6–0 and 1–0 respectively. The Adelaide vs Melbourne rivalry stems from the traditional rivalry between sporting teams from Victoria and South Australia but was strengthened by incidents in the 2006–07 season, such as the confrontation between Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat and then Adelaide United coach John Kosmina.

• Melbourne Heart v Melbourne Victory: "Melbourne derby" The two teams first met on 8 October 2010 in a lively game at AAMI Park in front of 25,897 fans. Melbourne Heart came out on top with a 2-1 victory. Although the crowd was dominated by Victory fans, the Heart fans made their presence known. Aziz Behich was sent off after receiving two yellow cards. Even though they have only played three games, the rivalry is one of the most intense and well respected in the A-league, producing noticeable atmosphere and the largest crowds in the league, along with controversy with 11 goals and 2 reds cards in only three games.

• Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory: "The Big Blue" The clash between Australia's two biggest cities is considered one of the biggest rivalries in the league by both sets of fans. Sydney and Melbourne have been historical rivals for over a century, and their football teams are no exception. These contests are often full of spite and controversy on and off the pitch, the most recent example being a clash between Daniel Allsopp and Sydney coach John Kosmina.

• Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners: Labelled "The F3 Derby" by commentators,^[55] the two regional clubs, only an hour apart, are also big rivals. The derby was intensified when the two teams played each other in the 2008 Finals series and eventually met in the Grand Final, which was won 1–0 by the Jets.

• Sydney FC v Central Coast Mariners: The NSW derby. The two clubs, close geographically, contested two of the first finals for A-League teams- the 2005 Oceania Club Championship and the inaugural A-League grand final, both won by Sydney 1-0. The two have a reputation for playing high scoring games, including a 5-4 win to Sydney.

• Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory: The rivalry started when Victory were the only team to beat the Roar in the 2010-11 A-league season and also the only team not to lose to Brisbane during there record 36 game unbeaten streak. On 26 April 2012 former Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou signed with Melbourne Victory as head coach.^[56]

• Sydney FC v Brisbane Roar: This traditional New South Wales-Queensland Rivalry was first ignited in the 2007-08 A-League Finals Series when Brisbane Roar (then known as Queensland Roar) secured victory over Sydney FC after two hard fought legs with the second leg being played in front of a then club record crowd of 36,211 at Suncorp Stadium. After being stagnant for the seasons to follow, the rivalry between the biggest club in their respective states re-ignited in 2011 when Sydney ended Brisbane's 36 game unbeaten streak 2-0, The following month there was an on field clash between Sydney's Pascal Bosschaart and Brisbane's Besart Berisha following a 2-1 victory at Suncorp Stadium.

• Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix: "The Distance Derby". Named because these 2 teams are geographically the furthest teams apart in the A-league, They first met in the finals during the 2009-10 season with Wellington beating Perth on penalty shoot 1-1 (4-2) on penalties. Perth Glory and Wellington Pheonix again met in the finals of the 2011-12 season, This time Perth winning 3-2 in extra time.

A-League Supporters Groups

All teams in the league have their own supporters groups - some with more than one, or several.

v t e Hyundai A-League Supporters Groups Adelaide United Red Terrace • Red Army • A13 • Irregulars Brisbane Roar The Den • River City Crew Central Coast Mariners Yellow Army • Marinators Gold Coast United FC (defunct) The Beach Melbourne Heart Yarraside (MF • M7 • MSC • HSD • 1% • Supras • KGB) Melbourne Victory Blue & White Brigade • Southern Death Crew • HORDA • M3 • Fratelli Newcastle Jets The Squadron Perth Glory The Shed Sydney FC The Cove Wellington Phoenix Yellow Fever Western Sydney T-Way Service Crew

References

External links

• A-League official website
• Football Federation Australia
• SBS The World Game A-League section
• FOX Sports Australia A-League section
• Four-Four-Two A-League Magazine
• A-league Stats - A-League statistics from all seasons collated and classified

v t e A-League Champions Records Foreign players Players Seasons 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 Grand Finals 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Current Clubs Adelaide United Brisbane Roar Central Coast Mariners Melbourne Heart Melbourne Victory Newcastle Jets Perth Glory Sydney FC Wellington Phoenix West Sydney FC Former Clubs Gold Coast United New Zealand Knights North Queensland Fury Rivalry Matches Melbourne Derby Cross Border Rivalry The Big Blue The Distance Derby The F3 Derby Iron Ore Cup (defunct) M1 Derby (defunct) Sydney FC vs Central Coast The Sydney Derby Associated Competitions W-League National Youth League A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup (discontinued) AFC Champions League FFA Cup (proposed)

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