The 1996 National Soccer League Grand Final was the first grand final to be held under the A-League name after the short-lived rebranding of the National Soccer League (NSL) began before the 1995–96 season. Melbourne Knights defeated Marconi-Fairfield 2–1 to win their second consecutive grand final.
Route to the final Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights were the first team into the grand final defeating Marconi-Fairfield 3–2 over two legs in the major semi-final.
Marconi-Fairfield After losing the major semi-final to the Knights, Marconi-Fairfield followed up with a 4–1 win over Adelaide City in the preliminary final to book their place in the grand final.
Pre-match Venue selection With Melbourne Knights the first into the final, there was speculation that the Knights would host the match at Somers Street, however Soccer Australia announced on 12 May that the match would be played at Olympic Park.
Match Details
GK Vilson Knezevic David Cervinski Zoran Markovski Lubo Lapsansky Ante Kovacevic Josip Šimunić Adrian Cervinski Fausto De Amicis Tom Pondeljak Andrew Marth John Markovski Substitutes: Vinko Buljubasic Joe Bacak Dragi NastevskiHead coach Ian Dobson
GK Bob Catlin Brendan Renaud Eric Hristodoulou Vlado Zoric Paul Souris Matthew Bingley Andy Harper Brad Maloney Robert Stanton Gary van Egmond Dominic LongoSubstitutes: Jon AngelucciHead coach: Manfred Schaefer
Assistant referees: Fourth official:Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
References