A-League 2005/06

The 2005/06 season of the A-League was the first edition of the new top division in football in Australia . After twelve months without a nationwide competition, the first games were played on August 26, 2005. A league round comprising 21 game days was followed by the championship playoffs, in which the four best teams played off the champions in the page playoff system .

The first A-League final took place on March 5, 2006. With a 1-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners , Sydney FC became the first champions of the new league format. Adelaide United was recognized as the winner of the league round ( A-League Premiership ). Adelaide and Sydney also qualified through their successes for the AFC Champions League 2007 , in which Australian teams participated for the first time.

Closing table

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points	comment
1.	Adelaide United	21st	13	4th	4th	033:250	+8	43	Qualified for the major semi-final
2.	Sydney FC	20th	10	6th	4th	035:280	+7	36
3.	Central Coast Mariners	21st	8th	8th	5	035:280	+7	32	Qualified for the minor semi-final
4th	Newcastle United Jets	21st	9	4th	8th	027:290	−2	31
5.	Perth Glory	21st	8th	5	8th	034:290	+5	29
6th	Queensland Roar	21st	7th	7th	7th	027:220	+5	28
7th	Melbourne Victory	21st	7th	5	9	026:240	+2	26th
8th.	New Zealand Knights	21st	1	3	17th	015:470	−32	06th

Final round

	Semifinals						Preliminary Final					Grand Final
			L1	L2
	1	Adelaide United	2	1
	2	Sydney FC	2	2								2	Sydney FC	1
							1	Adelaide United	0			3	CC Mariners	0
							3	CC Mariners	1
	3	CC Mariners	1	1
	4th	Newcastle United Jets	1	0

Grand Final

Sydney FC		Central Coast Mariners
	March 5, 2006 in Sydney ( Aussie Stadium ) Result: 1: 0 (0: 0) Spectators: 41,689 Referee: Mark Shield ( Townsville )
	Clint Bolton - Andrew Packer , Mark Rudan (72nd Iain Fyfe ), Jacob Timpano (81st Ruben Zadkovich ), Alvin Ceccoli - Terry McFlynn , Matthew Bingley - Dwight Yorke - David Carney , Steve Corica - Sasho Petrovski (71st Robbie Middleby ) Coach: Pierre Littbarski	Danny Vukovic - Andrew Clark , Alex Wilkinson (84th Paul O'Grady ), Michael Beauchamp , Dean Heffernan - Wayne O'Sullivan , André Gumprecht , Noel Spencer , Damien Brown (68th Matthew Osman ) - Tom Pondeljak , Stewart Petrie (73 . Adam Kwasnik ) coach: Lawrie McKinna
	1-0 Corica (62nd)
		Spencer (57.)

Awards

Award	winner
Johnny Warren Medal (Player of the Year)	Bobby Despotovski (Perth Glory)
Reebok Golden Boot Award (Top Goalscorer)	Four players, see here
Hyundai Rising Star Award (Young Player of the Year (U-20))	Nick Ward (Perth Glory)
Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year	Lawrie McKinna (Central Coast Mariners)
Zurich Referee of the Year	Mark Shield
Joe Marston Medal (Best Player in Grand Final)	Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC)
Goalkeeper of the Year	Clint Bolton (Sydney FC)

List of goalscorers

Pl.	Nat.	player	society	Gates
1		Alex Brosque	Queensland Roar	8th
		Bobby Despotovski	Perth Glory	8th
		Archie Thompson	Melbourne Victory	8th
		Stewart Petrie	Central Coast Mariners	8th
5		Carl Veart	Adelaide United	7th
		Dean Heffernan	Central Coast Mariners	7th
		Dwight Yorke	Sydney FC	7th
		Ante Milicic	Newcastle United Jets	7th
		Sasho Petrovski	Sydney FC	7th
		Damian Mori	Perth Glory	7th

Venues

society	Stadion	capacity	Average audience
Sydney FC	Aussie Stadium	42,000	16,669
Queensland Roar	Suncorp Stadium	52,500	14,785
Melbourne Victory	Olympic Park Stadium	18,500	14,158
Adelaide United	Hindmarsh Stadium	17,000	10,947
Perth Glory	Members Equity Stadium	18,156	9,734
Newcastle United Jets	EnergyAustralia Stadium	26,164	8,912
Central Coast Mariners	Central Coast Stadium	20,119	7,899
New Zealand Knights	North Harbor Stadium	25,000	3,909

Preseason competitions

Before the start of the A-League season, two competitions were held between the participants. In addition to the pre-season cup, which has been mandatory since then, a qualifying tournament for participation in the continental oceanic club competition was held in 2005.

World Club Qualification Competition

The World Club Qualification Competition held in May 2005 was used to find the Australian participant in the Oceania Club Championship 2004/05 . The New Zealand A-League representative New Zealand Knights was not allowed to start in this competition. As the reigning national champions, Perth Glory received a bye in round 1. Competition winners Sydney FC then also won the continental tournament and qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Cup . Because of Sydney's participation in the Club World Cup, the A-League was suspended for three weeks in December.

1 round

Semifinals

final

CC Mariners

0 (4) 1

Newcastle Jets

0 (2)

CC Mariners

4th

Adelaide United

0

Adelaide United

0 (4) 1

Melbourne Victory

0 (1)

CC Mariners

0

Sydney FC

1

Perth Glory

Perth Glory

1

Sydney FC

2

Sydney FC

3

Queensland Roar

0

¹ after penalty shoot-out

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

The Pre-Season Challenge Cup 2005 took place in July and August as a run-up to the main season. The eight A-League teams were initially divided into two preliminary round groups of four teams each and played in a simple league round. The two group leaders in each group advanced to the semi-finals and played the winner in a knockout process.

The Central Coast Mariners became the first title holder with a 1-0 win over Perth Glory.

Group stage

Group A

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Melbourne Victory	3	1	2	0	002: 100	+1	05
2.	Perth Glory	3	1	1	1	004: 400	± 0	04th
3.	Adelaide United	3	0	3	0	003: 300	± 0	03
4th	Newcastle United Jets	3	0	2	1	003: 400	−1	02

Group B

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Sydney FC	3	2	1	0	005: 100	+4	07th
2.	Central Coast Mariners	3	2	0	1	004: 300	+1	06th
3.	Queensland Roar	3	1	1	1	006: 300	+3	04th
4th	New Zealand Knights	3	0	0	3	001: 900	−8	00

Final round

	Semifinals				final
	Melbourne Victory	1
	CC Mariners	3
					CC Mariners	1
					Perth Glory	0
	Sydney FC	0
	Perth Glory	1

Web links

• Season archive on a-league.com.au
• Game details at ozfootball.net