2008–09 A-League

A-League
Season 2008–09
Champions Melbourne Victory FC
AFC Champions League Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United
Top goalscorer Shane Smeltz
(12 goals)
Highest attendance 31,564
Lowest attendance 4,433
Average attendance 12,180

The 2008–09 A-League season was the fourth season of the Australasian A-League association football competition. Two new clubs, North Queensland Thunder and Gold Coast Galaxy[1][2] had received tentative licences from the FFA but these were revoked for the 2008–09 season on 12 March 2008.[3] Expansion plans are on hold until the 2009–10 season. Based on their 2007–08 performances, the Central Coast Mariners and the Newcastle Jets competed in the 2009 AFC Champions League for the first time.

Changes to the league included:

Contents

Clubs

Further information: A-League#Clubs
Club Location Stadium
Adelaide United Adelaide Hindmarsh Stadium (17,000)
Central Coast Mariners Gosford Bluetongue Stadium (20,119)
Melbourne Victory Melbourne Etihad Stadium (56,347)
Newcastle Jets Newcastle Energy Australia Stadium (26,164)
Perth Glory Perth Members Equity Stadium (18,156)
Queensland Roar Brisbane Suncorp Stadium (52,500)
Sydney FC Sydney Sydney Football Stadium (45,500)
Wellington Phoenix Wellington Westpac Stadium (36,000)

Pre-season Challenge Cup

Main article: 2008 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup

All A-League clubs played the pre-season cup competition held in July and August, and were drawn into two groups. Group A consisted of Adelaide United, Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory. Group B was Central Coast Mariners, Queensland Roar, Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix.

The winner of each group, Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix, met in Wellington on 6 August 2008 for the Pre-Season Cup Final.[7] With the score at 0–0 after 90 minutes, the game went to penalties, Melbourne Victory eventually prevailing 8–7, thus becoming the first team in A-League history to claim all three available trophies, after winning the Premiership and Championship in the 2006–07 season.

Regular season

Home and away season

The 2008-09 A-League season was played over 21 rounds, followed by a finals series.[8]

League table

# Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Melbourne Victory 21 12 2 7 39 27 +12sm=n 38
2 Adelaide United 21 11 5 5 31 19 +12sm=n 38
3 Queensland Roar 21 10 6 5 36 25 +11sm=n 36
4 Central Coast Mariners 21 7 7 7 35 32 +3sm=n 28
5 Sydney FC 21 7 5 9 33 32 +1sm=n 26
6 Wellington Phoenix 21 7 5 9 23 31 -8sm=n 26
7 Perth Glory 21 6 4 11 31 44 -13sm=n 22
8 Newcastle Jets 21 4 6 11 21 39 -18sm=n 18

Rules for classification:1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored.
# = Position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points.

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

  Semifinals Preliminary final Grand final
    L1 L2    
                           
1  Melbourne Victory 2 4    
2  Adelaide United 0 0              Melbourne Victory 1
       Adelaide United 1      Adelaide United 0
       Queensland Roar 0  
3  Queensland Roar 2 2
4  Central Coast Mariners 0 1  

Statistics

Leading scorers

Further information: A-League Top scorers
Total Player Team Goals per Round
 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
12 Shane Smeltz Wellington Phoenix 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2
11 Matt Simon Central Coast Mariners 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 2
11 Daniel Allsopp Melbourne Victory 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
11 Sergio van Dijk Queensland Roar 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1
10 Eugène Dadi Perth Glory 1 2 1 1 2 1 2
10 Nikita Rukavytsya Perth Glory 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1
8 Archie Thompson Melbourne Victory 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
8 Cristiano Adelaide United 2 2 1 2 1
7 Charlie Miller Queensland Roar 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
7 Travis Dodd Adelaide United 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
7 Joel Griffiths Newcastle Jets 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
6 Mile Jedinak Central Coast Mariners 1 1 2 1 1
6 Sasho Petrovski Central Coast Mariners 2 1 1 1 1
5 Ney Fabiano de Oliveira Melbourne Victory 1 1 1 1 1
5 Kevin Muscat Melbourne Victory 1 1 2 1
5 Alex Brosque Sydney FC 1 1 1 2
As of the end of the home and away season
A goal was scored from a penalty kick
Two goals were scored from penalty kicks

Awards

Attendance

These are the attendance records of each of the teams at the end of the home and away season. The table does not include finals series attendances.

Team Hosted Average Highest Lowest Total
Melbourne Victory 11 24,516 31,564 18,036 269,671
Queensland Roar 10 12,995 19,111 9,118 129,947
Sydney FC 10 12,375 18,251 8,502 123,754
Adelaide United 11 11,712 23,002 7,832 128,832
Central Coast Mariners 11 10,465 15,546 7,865 115,110
Newcastle Jets 10 9,729 16,022 6,268 97,294
Perth Glory 10 7,942 12,581 4,433 79,415
Wellington Phoenix 11 7,193 10,516 5,500 79,124
{{ALeague {{{T9}}}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{ALeague {{{T10}}}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{ALeague {{{T11}}}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{ALeague {{{T12}}}}} 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 84 12,180 31,564 4,433 1,023,147

* Adelaide United played a one off match at the Adelaide Oval against Sydney FC in their Round 18 match. This is why Adelaide United's highest single attendance exceeds the capacity of Hindmarsh Stadium.

Top 10 Attendances

Attendance Round Date Home Score Away Venue Weekday Time of Day
53,273 Grand Final 28 February 2009 Melbourne Victory 1 – 0 Adelaide United Telstra Dome Saturday Night
34,736 Major SF (L2) 14 February 2009 Melbourne Victory 4 – 0 Adelaide United Telstra Dome Saturday Night
31,654 Round 9 25 October 2008 Melbourne Victory 0 – 2 Sydney FC Telstra Dome Saturday Night
28,905 Round 21 23 January 2009 Melbourne Victory 2 – 0 Wellington Phoenix Telstra Dome Friday Night
27,196 Round 15 6 January 2009 Melbourne Victory 1 – 0 Adelaide United Telstra Dome Tuesday Night
25,398 Round 17 27 December 2008 Melbourne Victory 3 – 2 Sydney FC Telstra Dome Saturday Night
24,812 Round 4 12 September 2008 Melbourne Victory 1 – 0 Adelaide United Telstra Dome Friday Night
24,003 Round 20 16 January 2009 Melbourne Victory 3 – 0 Central Coast Mariners Telstra Dome Friday Night
23,705 Minor SF (L2) 13 February 2009 Queensland Roar 2 – 1 Central Coast Mariners Suncorp Stadium Friday Night
23,447 Round 18 2 January 2009 Melbourne Victory 2 – 1 Queensland Roar Telstra Dome Friday Night

Fair Play Award

The Fair Play Award was awarded to Queensland Roar, the team with the lowest points on the fair play ladder at the conclusion of the home and away season.

1 point Yellow Card
2 points Second Caution Red Card
3 points Direct Red Card
Team Points
Queensland Roar 36 0 0 36
Adelaide United 36 0 0 36
Melbourne Victory 26 2 3 39
Perth Glory 39 1 1 44
Sydney FC 29 2 4 45
Newcastle Jets 37 1 3 48
Wellington Phoenix 45 2 1 52
Central Coast Mariners 44 0 3 53
Sydney FC 0 0 0 0
Wellington Phoenix 0 0 0 0
Melbourne Heart 0 0 0 0
Sydney Rovers 0 0 0 0
Totals 292 8 15

See also

References

  1. ^ "Galaxy, Thunder to join A-League". Fox Sports. 12 February 2008. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23198594-23215,00.html. Retrieved 17 February 2008. 
  2. ^ "Thunder, Galaxy get go-ahead". FourFourTwo. 21 February 2008. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/70598,thunder-galaxy-get-goahead.aspx. Retrieved 21 February 2008. 
  3. ^ "A-League expansion plans postponed". SBS. 12 March 2008. http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league-expansion-plans-postponed-108022/. Retrieved 12 March 2008. 
  4. ^ "FFA: A-League WILL Get Bigger". FourFourTwo. 19 January 2007. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/68598,ffa-aleague-will-get-bigger.aspx. Retrieved 17 February 2008. 
  5. ^ a b c "New season to start with a bang sea". AU FourFourTwo. 2 May 2008. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/75151,new-season-to-start-with-a-bang.aspx. Retrieved 2 May 2008. 
  6. ^ "New initiatives to plug player drain". Fox Sports. 2 May 2008. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23633443-5000940,00.html. Retrieved 2 May 2008. 
  7. ^ 2008 Pre-Season Cup Draw, Football Federation Australia, 2 May 2008
  8. ^ Hyundai A-League 2008/09 Season Draw, Football Federation Australia, 2 May 2008
  9. ^ a b Match re-scheduled due to Adelaide's participation in FIFA Club World Cup

External links

National teams
Current national leagues
Former leagues
Cup competitions
Australian Cup (defunct) • FFA Cup (proposed)
Domestic leagues
Seasons
2005–06 ·  2006–07 ·  2007–08 ·  2008–09 ·  2009–10 ·  2010–11  ·  2011–12
Grand Finals
2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011
2011–12 Clubs
Former Clubs
Associated competitions
2008–09 in Australian football
 « 2007–08
2009–10 » 
Domestic leagues
International competitions
AFC Champions League ('08, '09) · 2008 FIFA Club World Cup
National team
Results ('08, '09)
Club seasons
A-League
W-League
A-League transfers