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".

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 18,500MelbourneTelstra Dome56,347 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 Diego Fernando Qu Shengqing Bobby Petta Romário4 Central Coast Mariners André Gumprecht Wayne O'Sullivan Jamie McMaster2 John Hutchinson2 Melbourne Victory Alessandro Fred James Robinson Grant Brebner Geoffrey Claeys Claudinho4 New Zealand Knights Darren Bazeley Malik Buari Neil Emblen Dani Rodrigues Fernando3 Alen Marcina3 Gao Leilei3 Li Yan3 Hamza Mohammed3 Sean Devine1 Scot Gemmill3 Dean Gordon3 Newcastle Jets Milton Rodríguez Tim Brown Steven Old Vaughan Coveny1 Perth Glory Leo Bertos Jeremy Christie Danny Hay Mark Lee1 Stuart Young1 Queensland Roar Reinaldo Marcus Wedau Simon Lynch Remo Buess Zhang Yuning3 Stuart McLaren1 Seo Hyuk-su1 Sydney FC Jeremy Brockie Terry McFlynn Jonas Salley1 Benito Carbone4 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 Qu Shengqing Ross Aloisi None Central Coast Mariners Tony Vidmar Noel Spencer Alex Wilkinson None Melbourne Victory Archie Thompson Kevin Muscat Archie Thompson New Zealand Knights Scot Gemmill Darren Bazeley None Newcastle Jets Paul Okon Paul Okon None Perth Glory Stan Lazaridis Jamie Harnwell None Queensland Roar None Chad Gibson None Sydney FC Dwight Yorke Mark Rudan None

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

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.

League table

Results 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

Semi-finals

Newcastle Jets won 3–2 on aggregate.

Melbourne Victory won 2–1 on aggregate.

Preliminary Final

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 RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Archie ThompsonMelbourne Victory152 Daniel AllsoppMelbourne Victory123 Damian MoriCentral Coast Mariners (6), Queensland Roar (2)8 Mark BridgeNewcastle Jets5 Adam KwasnikCentral Coast Mariners7 Jamie HarnwellPerth Glory

Most yellow cards RankPlayerTeamYellow Cards1 Adrian LeijerMelbourne Victory72 Nick CarleNewcastle Jets6 Andrew DuranteNewcastle Jets4 Kevin MuscatMelbourne Victory5 Terry McFlynnSydney FC Simon ColosimoPerth Glory

Attendances

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.Nick Carle takes out Johnny Warren Medal , A-League, 27 February 2007. AwardWinnerClubJohnny Warren Medal Nick CarleNewcastle JetsYoung Footballer of the Year Adrian LeijerMelbourne VictoryGolden Boot Award Danny AllsoppMelbourne VictoryGoalkeeper of the Year Michael TheoklitosMelbourne VictoryCoach of the Year Ernie MerrickMelbourne VictoryFair Play AwardPerth GloryReferee of the Year Mark Shield

2006–07 A-League

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