2006–07 A-League

A-League
Season 2006–07
Champions Melbourne Victory (1st title)
Premiers Melbourne Victory (1st title)
AFC Champions League Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United
Top goalscorer Archie Thompson
(15 goals)
Biggest away win New Zealand Knights 0–4 Melbourne Victory
(27 October 2006)
Highest attendance 50,333
Lowest attendance 1,632
Average attendance 12,927

The 2006–07 A-League was the second season of the Australian soccer competition, the A-League. 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).[1]

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".[2] The second season was marketed as "A-League: Version 2".[3]

Clubs

Further information: A-League § Clubs
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
Telstra Dome
18,500
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

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

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.[4]

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

Regular season

Home and away season

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

League table

Pos
Team Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Melbourne Victory (C) 21 14 3 4 41 20+21 45 2008 AFC Champions League Group stage
2 Adelaide United 21 10 3 8 32 27+5 33
3 Newcastle Jets 21 8 6 7 32 30+2 30 2007 A-League Finals Series
4 Sydney FC 21 8 8 5 29 19+10 0291
5 Queensland Roar 21 8 5 8 25 272 29
6 Central Coast Mariners 21 6 6 9 22 264 24
7 Perth Glory 21 5 5 11 24 306 20
8 New Zealand Knights 21 5 4 12 13 3926 19 Disbanded at end of season and were replaced

Updated to games played on 21 January 2007
Source: theworldgame.sbs.com.au
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
1Sydney FC were penalised three competition points following round 18 due to salary cap breaches which occurred during the 2005–06 season.
2First place through to fourth place qualify for the 2007 A-League Finals Series.
3First place qualifies for the 2008 AFC Champions League Group stage.
4Winning the 2007 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2008 AFC Champions League Group stage, unless the Grand Final winners are also first place, in which case the Grand Final runner up qualifies.
5New Zealand Knights cannot qualify for the 2008 AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Finals series

Melbourne Victory celebrating their 2007 A-League Grand Final victory.
  Semi Finals Preliminary Final Grand Final
    L1 L2    
    28 January & 4 February                        
1  Melbourne Victory 0 2     18 February
2  Adelaide United 0 1     11 February       1  Melbourne Victory 6
    2  Adelaide United (pso) 1 (4)   2  Adelaide United 0
  26 January & 2 February   3  Newcastle Jets 1 (3)  
3  Newcastle Jets 1 2
4  Sydney FC 2 0  

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.[5]

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.

2006–07 league records (regular season)

Leading goalscorers

PlayerTeamGoals
Archie ThompsonMelbourne Victory15
Daniel AllsoppMelbourne Victory12
Damian MoriCentral Coast Mariners (6), Queensland Roar (2)8
Mark BridgeNewcastle Jets8
Adam KwasnikCentral Coast Mariners7
Jamie HarnwellPerth Glory7

Most yellow cards

PlayerTeamYellow Cards
Adrian LeijerMelbourne Victory7
Nick CarleNewcastle Jets6
Andrew DuranteNewcastle Jets6
Kevin MuscatMelbourne Victory5
Terry McFlynnSydney FC5
Simon ColosimoPerth Glory5

Attendances

Team Hosted Average High Low Total
Melbourne Victory1331,37455,43615,563407,860
Queensland Roar1016,46532,37110,040164,653
Sydney FC1115,55421,1129,871171,098
Adelaide United1312,55016,3788,785163,155
Newcastle Jets1112,61424,3384,635138,758
Central Coast Mariners119,82815,4044,644108,112
Perth Glory107,6719,9786,25176,709
New Zealand Knights113,0147,3041,63233,156
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League total 90 14,039 55,436 1,632 1,263,501

Highest attendances

Awards

The 2007 A-League Awards ceremony was held on 27 February 2007 at the Sydney Opera House.[6]

See also

References

External links

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