2006 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup

The 2006 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup was a series in the Australian A-League football competition held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the main 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. [1]

Pre-Season Cup group stage

Date Home team Score Away team Venue Crowd Report
Round 1
15 July Central Coast Mariners 2-1 Perth Glory Bluetongue Stadium 5,680 report
15 July Queensland Roar 1-2 Sydney FC Carrara Stadium 7,132 (Gold Coast) report
16 July Melbourne Victory 0-1 Adelaide United Aurora Stadium 6,834 (Launceston) report
16 July New Zealand Knights 1-1 Newcastle Jets North Harbour Stadium 804 report
Round 2
22 July Sydney FC 2-1 Newcastle Jets Canberra Stadium 7,226 (Canberra) report
22 July Central Coast Mariners 0-0 Adelaide United Wade Park 4,344 (Orange) report
22 July Perth Glory 1-1 Melbourne Victory Dorrien Gardens ~2,000 (West Perth) report
22 July Queensland Roar 1-1 New Zealand Knights Maroochydore Soccer Club 3,347 (Maroochydore) report
Round 3
29 July New Zealand Knights 0-0 Sydney FC North Harbour Stadium 3,121 report
29 July Melbourne Victory 1-3 Central Coast Mariners Olympic Park, Melbourne 6,593 report
29 July Newcastle Jets 0-0 Queensland Roar Port Macquarie Regional Stadium 2,822 (Pt Macquarie) report
30 July Perth Glory 0-0 Adelaide United Dorrien Gardens 3,038 (West Perth) report
Bonus round
4 August Adelaide United 1-0 New Zealand Knights Hindmarsh Stadium 12,006 report
5 August Newcastle Jets 2-3 Melbourne Victory Scully Park Oval 3,100 (Tamworth) report
6 August Queensland Roar 0-0 Central Coast Mariners Clive Burghofer Stadium 4,571 (Toowoomba) report
6 August Sydney FC 3-0 Perth Glory WIN Stadium 6,634 (Wollongong) report

Group A table

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA BP
Central Coast Mariners 84220520
Adelaide United 84220200
Melbourne Victory 64112572
Perth Glory 24022260

Group B table

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA BP
Sydney FC 124310722
Newcastle Jets 34022461
New Zealand Knights [2] 34031230
Queensland Roar [2] 34031230

Pre-Season Cup finals series

The finals series will be held over two weekends - 11 August to 13 August, and 18 August to 20 August.

Date Home team Score Away team Venue Crowd Report
Playoffs
11 August New Zealand Knights 0-1 Perth Glory North Harbour Stadium 1,104 report
11 August Sydney FC 1-2 Adelaide United WIN Stadium 4,210 (Wollongong) report
11 August Melbourne Victory 0-0 (4-2) Queensland Roar Epping Stadium 2,117 report
12 August Central Coast Mariners 2-1 (aet) Newcastle Jets Bluetongue Stadium 7,567 report
Finals
18 August New Zealand Knights 1-2 Queensland Roar North Harbour Stadium Unknown report
18 August Melbourne Victory 1-0 Perth Glory Olympic Park, Melbourne 2,215 report
19 August Central Coast Mariners 1-1 (4-5) Adelaide United Bluetongue Stadium 10,463 report
19 August Sydney FC 2-0 Newcastle Jets Campbelltown Stadium 5,326 report
  Playoffs Finals
                 
              Grand final  
  A1  Central Coast Mariners 2      Central Coast Mariners 1 (4)
  B2  Newcastle Jets 1      Adelaide United (PEN) 1 (5)
                 
              Third place playoff  
  A2  Adelaide United 2      Sydney FC 2
  B1  Sydney FC 1      Newcastle Jets 0
                 
              Fifth place playoff  
  A3  Melbourne Victory (PEN) 0 (4)      Melbourne Victory 1
  B4  Queensland Roar 0 (2)      Perth Glory 0
                 
              Seventh place playoff  
  A4  New Zealand Knights 0      New Zealand Knights 1
  B3  Perth Glory 1      Queensland Roar 2

Pre-Season Cup attendances

Round Games Average Highest Lowest Total
Pre-Season Group Stage 164,95412,00680479,252
Pre-Season Finals 74,71510,4631,10433,002
Totals[3] 234,88112,006804112,254

Top goalscorers

3 goals:

2 goals:

1 goal:

References

  1. ↑ "A-League Pre-Season Schedule Confirmed". 1 June 2006.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 As the New Zealand Knights and Queensland Roar were tied on points, goal difference, goals for, goals against, and points earned in the "Bonus Round", the sixth degree of disambiguity, number of red cards received, was used. See official A-League press release for more details.
  3. ↑ "Totals" regarding attendances for Pre-Season Cup, including highest and lowest crowds, are excluding the unknown figure for 7th Place Playoff match.