A-League

A-League

Logo Hyundai A-League
Confederation	AFC(Asia)
Founded	2004
First season	2005–06
Number of teams	11
Levels on pyramid	1
Domestic cup(s)	Challenge Cup
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League
Current champions	Sydney FC (2009–10)
Most championships	Sydney FC Melbourne Victory (2 titles each)
Current premiers	Sydney FC (2009–10)
Most premiers	Melbourne Victory (2 titles)
TV partners	Fox Sports
Website	www.A-League.com.au
2010–11 A-League

The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia (FFA), it was founded in 2004 following the destruction of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company Australia, and is therefore officially known as the Hyundai A-League.

The league is contested by eleven teams: ten located across Australia and one from New Zealand.^[1] Related leagues include a National Youth League and the Women's Westfield W-League.

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 August to February of the following year. The competition consists of 27 home-and-away rounds, with each team playing each other team three times – twice at one team's home stadium and once at the other's. The teams which are 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, or in the case of a draw, the teams receive one point each. At the end of the season, the teams are ranked firstly in terms of 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 through 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 accumulated, 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-ranked 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 against each other; the same for the fourth and fifth-ranked teams. The winner of each of these matches plays against 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 format was a of four teams, they extended this to allow for the extended comp.

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.^[6]

At the start of the inaugural season, an AU$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".^[7] 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.^[8] Additionally, it is featured in the Pro Evolution Soccer (series) by Konami.

In 2008 and 2009 a Fox reality show, Football Superstar, offered as a prize, to the winner, a contract with an A-League club.

Current clubs

Adelaide

Brisbane

Central Coast

Gold Coast

Melbourne Heart

Melbourne Victory

Newcastle

North Queensland

Perth

Sydney

Wellington

There are currently eleven clubs from Australia and New Zealand playing in the A-League, with a 12th club from Sydney to be introduced for the 2011–12 season. Only four of these clubs, Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar, Newcastle United 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, as well as 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.^[9][10]

Team	City	Stadium	Founded	Joined	Head Coach	Captain
Current A-League Clubs
Adelaide United	Adelaide, SA	Hindmarsh Stadium	2003	2005	Rini Coolen	Travis Dodd
Brisbane Roar	Brisbane, QLD	Suncorp Stadium	1957	2005	Ange Postecoglou	Matt McKay
Central Coast Mariners	Gosford, NSW	Bluetongue Stadium	2004	2005	Graham Arnold	Alex Wilkinson
Gold Coast United	Gold Coast, QLD	Skilled Park	2008	2009	Miron Bleiberg	Jason Culina
Melbourne Heart	Melbourne, VIC	AAMI Park	2008	2010	John van 't Schip	Simon Colosimo
Melbourne Victory	Melbourne, VIC	AAMI Park & Etihad Stadium	2004	2005	Ernie Merrick	Kevin Muscat
Newcastle Jets	Newcastle, NSW	EnergyAustralia Stadium	2000	2005	Branko Čulina	Michael Bridges
North Queensland Fury	Townsville, QLD	Dairy Farmers Stadium	2008	2009	František Straka	Ufuk Talay
Perth Glory	Perth, WA	NIB Stadium	1995	2005	David Mitchell	Jacob Burns
Sydney FC	Sydney, NSW	Sydney Football Stadium	2004	2005	Vítězslav Lavička	Terry McFlynn
Wellington Phoenix	Wellington, NZL	Westpac Stadium	2007	2007	Ricki Herbert	Andrew Durante
Future A-League Clubs
Sydney Rovers	Sydney, NSW	TBA	2009	2011	TBA	TBA

Team	City	Stadium	Founded	Joined	Ceased Operations	Last Head Coach	Last Captain
Defunct Franchises
New Zealand Knights	Auckland, NZL	Mt Smart Stadium	1998	2005	2007	Ricki Herbert	Darren Bazeley

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.

Before the introduction of the A-League, FFA chairman Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into additional areas, mentioning Canberra, Hobart, Wollongong, Geelong , Gippsland, Far North Queensland, Bendigo, Ballarat, North Coast, Albury, Wodonga, Launceston, Christchurch, Auckland, Sunshine Coast and possibly Darwin.^{[11][12][13][14]}

On 29 September West Sydney were given an A-League license for the 2011–12 season.^[15][16] Furthermore, on 2 October, the club was officially named Sydney Rovers FC.^[17]

Squad and salary cap

The minimum number of players on each squad is 20. From the 2010-11 season, each club will have a salary cap of AU$2.35 million ^[18] on top of Additional Services Agreements (ASA's) that can be worth up to AU$275,000 for a maximum 21 players (Excluding Marquee players) – much less than the millions of dollars a year that individual star players (including some Australians) earn in Europe's top football leagues. Maximum number of players in a squad is capped at 23, and thus, the 22nd and 23rd players are exempt from the salary cap, and therefore can be paid an unlimited salary (see Marquee Player below). The squad must also include at least three under-20 players. Clubs may also only have a maximum of five players from outside Australia and New Zealand in their squad,^[19] and may now have one additional player from the Asian Football Confederation.

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Visa 5	AFC Visa	Non-Visa Foreign1
Adelaide United	Marcos Flores	Cássio	Joe Keenan	Lloyd Owusu	Sergio van Dijk	Inseob Shin	None
Brisbane Roar	Henrique	Jean Carlos Solórzano	Thomas Broich	None	None	None	Reinaldo
Central Coast Mariners	Patricio Pérez	Patrick Zwaanswijk	Chris Doig	None	None	None	John Hutchinson
Gold Coast United	Anderson	Robson	Adama Traore	John Curtis	Bas van den Brink	None	None
Melbourne Heart	Alex Terra	Rutger Worm	Gerald Sibon	None	None	None	None
Melbourne Victory	Ricardinho	Marvin Angulo	Carlos Hernández	Geoff Kellaway	None	Surat Sukha	Grant Brebner
Newcastle Jets	Zhang Shuo	Michael Bridges	Marcello Fiorentini	None	None	Ali Abbas Al-Hilfi	None
North Queensland Fury	Mark Hughes	André Kilian	Dyron Daal	Éric Akoto	Eugene Sseppuya	None	None
Perth Glory	Robbie Fowler	Andy Todd	Victor Sikora	Steven McGarry	Branko Jelic	None	None
Sydney FC	Bruno Cazarine	Hirofumi Moriyasu	Stephan Keller	None	None	Byun Sung-Hwan	Terry McFlynn
Sydney Rovers	None	None	None	None	None	None	None
Wellington Phoenix	Oscar Roberto Cornejo	Paul Ifill	Diego Walsh	Chris Greenacre	None	None	Daniel Emmanuel Muscat

¹Those players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained Australian or New Zealand Residency; or Australian and New Zealand residents who have chosen to represent another national team. These players do not fill a Visa position.

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, and is quite well-paid. Arguably the best-known example of a marquee player in the A-League was the prominent English Premier League player Dwight Yorke, who played for Sydney FC in the inaugural season. From the 2008–09 season, A-League clubs may have a Junior Marquee player who is under the age of 23. The Junior Marquee's wages can be subsidised with $AU 150,000 outside the salary cap. On April 19, 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.^[18]

Club	Australian Marquee	Marquee player	Junior Marquee player	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	None	None	None	Travis Dodd	Lucas Pantelis
Brisbane Roar	None	None	None	Matt McKay	Shane Stefanutto
Central Coast Mariners	None	None	Oliver Bozanic	Alex Wilkinson	John Hutchinson
Gold Coast United	Jason Culina	None	Tahj Minniecon	Jason Culina	Michael Thwaite
Melbourne Heart	Josip Skoko	Gerald Sibon	None	Simon Colosimo	Matt Thompson
Melbourne Victory	Archie Thompson	Ricardinho	None	Kevin Muscat	Adrian Leijer
Newcastle Jets	None	None	Adam D'Apuzzo	Michael Bridges	Ljubo Miličević
North Queensland Fury	None	None	None	Ufuk Talay	Gareth Edds
Perth Glory	Mile Sterjovski	Robbie Fowler	Tando Velaphi	Jacob Burns	Chris Coyne
Sydney FC	Nick Carle	None	Terry Antonis	Terry McFlynn	Hayden Foxe
Sydney Rovers	None	None	None	None	None
Wellington Phoenix	Jade North	Paul Ifill	None	Andrew Durante	Tim Brown

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 and North Queensland Fury do not have teams 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:

Melbourne Victory	Brisbane Roar	Sydney FC	Wellington Phoenix	Melbourne Heart Melbourne Victory	Gold Coast United
Etihad Stadium	Suncorp Stadium	Sydney Football Stadium	Westpac Stadium	AAMI Park	Skilled Park
Capacity: 56,347	Capacity: 52,500	Capacity: 45,500	Capacity: 36,000	Capacity: 30,050	Capacity: 27,400
North Queensland Fury	Newcastle Jets	Perth Glory	Central Coast Mariners	Adelaide United	Sydney Rovers
Dairy Farmers Stadium	EnergyAustralia Stadium	nib Stadium	Bluetongue Stadium	Hindmarsh Stadium	Parramatta Stadium
Capacity: 26,500	Capacity: 26,164	Capacity: 20,500	Capacity: 20,119	Capacity: 17,000	Capacity: 21,487

Other venues used by A-League clubs include:

¹Melbourne Victory's home stadium during the 2005–06 season was Olympic Park Stadium. 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.

The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium will be the Melbourne Victory's home stadium on a limited basis for the 2010–11 season and the team's permanent home stadium from 2011 onwards. It is also expected that it will be the home stadium for Melbourne Heart from 2010–11 season onwards.

Sydney Rovers are currently under negotiation with many Western Sydney councils over stadium hire. Penrith's CUA Stadium and Parramatta's Parramatta Stadium are the major venues being looked at and officials from Sydney Rovers have given signs the club may share matches between the two venues to broaden the club's target area. No decision as of yet however.

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
Adelaide United	10,947	12,162	12,697	11,712	10,765	7,924
Brisbane Roar	14,785	16,465	16,951	12,995	8,650	8,839
Central Coast Mariners	7,899	9,828	12,741	10,465	7,430	7,638
Gold Coast United	–	–	–	–	5,392	5,009
Melbourne Heart	–	–	–	–	–	6,683
Melbourne Victory	14,158	27,728	26,064	24,516	21,105	15,437
Newcastle Jets	8,912	11,442	13,209	9,729	6,358	8,735
New Zealand Knights	3,909	3,0141	–	–	–	–
North Queensland Fury	–	–	–	–	6,723	5,653
Perth Glory	9,734	7,671	7,596	7,942	9,205	12,964
Sydney FC	16,669	14,999	16,373	12,375	12,987	10,026
Sydney Rovers	–	–	–	–	–	–
Wellington Phoenix	–	–1	11,683	7,193	8,965	8,900
Whole season	10,955	12,927	14,610	12,180	9,796	8,998

¹New Zealand Knights A-league Licence taken and renewed to new franchise Wellington Phoenix after season 2006-7

Referees

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

Matthew Breeze, New South Wales, FIFA/AFC

Peter Green, Queensland, FIFA/AFC

Ben Williams, Australian Capital Territory, FIFA/AFC

Peter O'Leary, New Zealand, FIFA

Strebre Delovski, New South Wales

Chris Beath, Queensland

Gerard Parsons, Australia

Kevin Docherty, Victoria

Ryan Shepheard, Australia

Kris Griffiths-Jones, New South Wales

Chris Boyle, Scotland

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.^[20]

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

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

OFC Champions League

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^[21] 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, 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
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	Yet to play	Melbourne Victory	Yet to play

Top scorers

League and Finals (All-time)

Last updated 22 August 2010
Shows Players at current club or last club played for.

Rank	Player	Current Team	Goals
1	Archie Thompson	Melbourne Victory	49
2	Shane Smeltz *	Gold Coast United	42
3	Daniel Allsopp	Melbourne Victory	36
4	Alex Brosque *	Sydney FC	33
5	Sasho Petrovski *	Newcastle Jets	30
=6	Joel Griffiths	Newcastle Jets	28
=6	Kevin Muscat	Melbourne Victory	28
7	Serginho van Dijk *	Adelaide United	27
8	Mark Bridge *	Sydney FC	26
9	Jamie Harnwell	Perth Glory	25
10	Travis Dodd	Adelaide United	24

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

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

Rising Star Award

The Rising Star 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

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

Goalkeeper of the Year Award

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

Coach of the Year Award

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

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

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

Foreign Player of the Year

Year	Player/s	Club
2008–09	Charlie Miller	Queensland Roar
2009–10	Carlos Hernández	Melbourne Victory

TV Coverage

The Hyundai A-League, being a relatively minor league internationally, only has a small broadcast base, compared to the giant European competitions such as the FA Premier League or Serie A. The countries where the A-League is shown are mostly other Commonwealth nations.

• 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 – Sky Sports (highlights + Play offs and Final live)

Rivalries

Although there is only one local derby in the history of the A-league, with the addition of the Sydney rivalry in the 2011/2012 season, many 'rivalries' have formed between A-League sides:

• Melbourne Victory v Melbourne Heart: Even though the two are yet to play against each other, the Melbourne Derby should be an exciting and important game in the season, especially in the Australian Rules Football heartland and the city that is referred to as the Sporting Capital of Australia. This should be an exciting match-up because they both share AAMI Park.

• 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.

• Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory: 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 and Robert Bajic's red card for kicking Fred.

• Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners: Labelled "The F3 Derby" by commentators,^[22] 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.

• Brisbane Roar v Gold Coast United: "The M1" or "South East Queensland Derby". Before their first encounter there were big media reports and controversy in the lead up to their first matchup in round 1 of the 2009–10 season. Hype was also surrounding Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg (Former Queensland Roar Coach) returning to Suncorp Stadium. The most recent of clashes, 26 December 2009, was hotly contested after former Roar star Charlie Miller left the club to join the Gold Coast.

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 Champions ·  Records ·  Foreign players Seasons 2005–06 ·  2006–07 ·  2007–08 ·  2008–09 ·  2009–10 ·  2010–11 Grand Finals 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 Clubs  Adelaide United ·  Brisbane Roar ·  Central Coast Mariners ·  Gold Coast United ·  Melbourne Heart ·  Melbourne Victory ·  Newcastle Jets ·  North Queensland Fury  Perth Glory ·  Sydney FC ·  Wellington Phoenix Former Clubs  New Zealand Knights