A-League

The A-League is the top Australasian professional football (soccer) league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia (FFA), it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company Australia and Qantas, and is officially known as the Hyundai A-League. The league is contested by ten teams: nine 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 October to February of the following year. The competition consists of 27 matches over 25 weeks, with each team playing every 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 to 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 series had four teams, which was extended to accommodate for the increased number of clubs in the competition.

FFA Cup

Details and format of the FFA Cup have been declared finalised and it will be a knock-out style cup. The FFA Cup has been announced to launch in March 2012 to January 2013 ^[6] during the 2012-13 A-League season with games to be played midweek and the final to be held on Australia Day. All football clubs will be available to enter the cup and smaller teams will have to survive earlier knockout rounds before mixing with A-League clubs in the last-32 stage.

The winner of the cup is expected to gain qualification to the AFC Champions League. It is hoped that the cup will help engage local football fans in the community, subsequently boosting interest in the A-League.

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.^[7]

At the start of the inaugural season, an A$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".^[8] 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.^[9]

In 2008, 2009 and 2010 a Fox reality show, Football Superstar, offered as a prize, to the winner, a contract with an A-League club. The clubs that have participated so far are Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar

Current Clubs

There are currently nine clubs from Australia and one New Zealand playing in the A-League. Only four of these clubs, Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar (as Queensland Roar), Newcastle 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.^[10][11]

On March 1, 2011 the FFA officially announced that the licence held by franchise North Queensland Fury had been revoked due to financial reasons.^[12]

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. Some have questioned the logic in expanding the league so soon as many clubs are struggling to stay afloat and think by expanding they are only diluting the playing talent even further.

Before the introduction of the A-League, FFA chairman Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into other cities, mentioning Canberra, Hobart, Wollongong, Geelong, Bendigo, Cairns, Ballarat, Albury, Wodonga, Launceston, Christchurch, Auckland, Sunshine Coast and possibly Darwin.^{[13][14][15][16]}

On 29 September 2009 West Sydney were given an A-League license for the 2011–12 season.^[17][18] On 2 October, the club was officially named Sydney Rovers FC.^[19] This was to be short lived as on the 10 December 2010 it was officially announced that Sydney Rovers FC would not be admitted to the competition and that the league administration would commence the search for a new Western Sydney Franchise.^[20] Consortiums from Wollongong, Tasmania and Canberra are seeking to convince the FFA to instead award the 12th licence to their bids.

Squad and salary cap

An A-League squad must have between 20 and 23 players, with a maximum of 5 players from outside Australia (and New Zealand, in the case of Wellington Phoenix).^[21] The squad must also include at least three under-20 players^[22] and may have one additional player from the Asian Football Confederation.

For the 2010-11 season, each club has a salary cap of A$2.35 million (excluding Marquee, guest and replacement players) on top of Additional Services Agreements (ASA's) that can be worth up to A$275,000^[21] – much less than the millions of dollars a year that individual star players earn in Europe's top football leagues. The minimum salary is A$46,215.^[21][23]

These players 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;
⁴Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of ten games).

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. Arguably the best-known example of a marquee player in the A-League was the prominent former FA 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 A$150,000 outside the salary cap. On 19 April 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.^[27]

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 does not have a team 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:

Other venues used by A-League clubs include:

Notes:

1. ^ ^{a b} Olympic Park Stadium was Melbourne Victory's home stadium during the 2005–06 season. 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.
2. ^ Due to the existing contract with Docklands, the newly built Melbourne Rectangular Stadium was the Victory's home stadium on a limited basis for the 2010–11 season and became the team's permanent home stadium from 2011 onwards.

Crowds

Average crowds for the regular season are listed below. These figures do not include finals, international friendlies or AFC Champions League matches.

Referees

The A-League also features some of Australia and New Zealand's top match officials.^[65] Referees include:

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.^[66]

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

Oceania Club Championship

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.

AFC Champions League

See also: Australian clubs in the AFC Champions League

Two A-League clubs have participated in the AFC Champions League competition each season^[67] 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.

All Time A-League Leaders

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.

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.

NAB Young Footballer

The NAB Young Footballer Award is awarded to a youth (under 20) player judged by a panel of experts to be the best young performer throughout the season.

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.

Goalkeeper of the Year Award

Manager of the Year Award

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).

Zurich Referee of the Year

Foreign Player of the Year

Solo Goal of the Year

TV Coverage

From the start of the inaugural 2005 season, TV coverage has been restricted to the subscription-only Fox Sport channel which obtained exclusive rights until 2012, which means that A-League games, as well as Socceroos matches, cannot be viewed free-to-air. That decision has been the source of much debate among the football community in Australia. On one hand, it is recognised that the injection of funds from the Fox contract assisted the league in its inception years, however, on the other hand the lack of free-to-air viewing prevented the majority of Australians, without pay-TV, from accessing the A-League on TV. The point of debate is whether the combination of Fox cash plus restrictions to free-to-air TV has either helped or hindered the A-League more in those crucial early years.

• 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 (the two Melbourne-based clubs) many 'rivalries' have formed between A-League sides:

• Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory: "The Cross Border Rivalry" 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.

• Melbourne Heart v Melbourne Victory: "Melbourne derby" The two teams first met on 8 October 2010 in a lively game at AAMI Park in front of 25,897 fans. Melbourne Heart came out on top with a 2-1 victory. Although the crowd was dominated by Victory fans, the Heart fans made their presence known. Aziz Behich was sent off after receiving two yellow cards. Even though they have only played three games, the rivalry is one of the most intense and well respected in the A-league, producing noticeable atmosphere and the largest crowds in the league, along with controversy with 11 goals and 2 reds cards in only three games.

• 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.

• Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners: Labelled "The F3 Derby" by commentators,^[68] 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. One of the most famous clashes, 26 December 2009, was hotly contested after former Roar star Charlie Miller left the club to join the Gold Coast.

• Sydney FC v Central Coast Mariners: The NSW derby. The two clubs, close geographically, contested two of the first finals for A-League teams- the 2005 Oceania Club Championship and the inaugural A-League grand final, both won by Sydney 1-0. The two have a reputation for playing high scoring games, including a 5-4 win to Sydney.

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 Stats - A-League statistics from all seasons collated and classified