The 2007–08 A-League was the 31st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the third season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the previous two seasons and on the interest generated by Sydney FC and Adelaide United playing in the 2007 AFC Champions League, and the Socceroos competing in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.

A-League
Season2007–08
Dates24 August 2007 – 24 February 2008
ChampionsNewcastle Jets (1st title)
PremiersCentral Coast Mariners
(1st title)
AFC Champions LeagueNewcastle Jets,
Central Coast Mariners
Matches played111
Goals scored223 (2.01 per match)
Top goalscorerJoel Griffiths
(12 goals)
Best goalkeeperMichael Theoklitos
Biggest home winCentral Coast Mariners 3–0 Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix 4–1 Perth Glory
Adelaide United 4–1 Melbourne Victory
Adelaide United 4–1 Wellington Phoenix
Queensland Roar 3–0 Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix 3–0 Perth Glory
Melbourne Victory 3–0 Wellington Phoenix
Central Coast Mariners 3–0 Newcastle Jets
Biggest away winNewcastle Jets 1–4 Perth Glory
Perth Glory 1–4 Queensland Roar
Central Coast Mariners 2–5 Melbourne Victory
Highest scoringCentral Coast Mariners 4–5 Sydney FC
Longest winning run4 games
Newcastle Jets
Longest unbeaten run6 games
Melbourne Victory
Longest winless run11 games
Perth Glory
Longest losing run4 games
Adelaide United
Wellington Phoenix
Highest attendance33,458
Lowest attendance6,252
Average attendance14,610 ( 1683)

Based on their A-League 2006-07 season performances Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory competed in the 2008 AFC Champions League, making it two consecutive seasons in the competition for Adelaide United. Based on the 2007–08 season of the A-League, the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets qualified for the 2009 AFC Champions League, as the competition's Premiers and Champions respectively.

Changes included:

Clubs edit

Team Location Stadium Capacity
Adelaide United Adelaide Hindmarsh Stadium 17,000
Central Coast Mariners Gosford Bluetongue Stadium 20,119
Melbourne Victory Melbourne Telstra Dome 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 Aussie Stadium 42,500
Wellington Phoenix Wellington Westpac Stadium 34,500

Foreign players edit

Club Visa 1 Visa 2 Visa 3 Visa 4 Non-Visa foreigner(s) Former player(s)
Adelaide United   Cássio   Diego Walsh   Bobby Petta   Jonas Salley1
Central Coast Mariners   André Gumprecht   John Hutchinson2
Melbourne Victory   Leandro Love   Carlos Hernández   Joe Keenan   Grant Brebner
Newcastle Jets   Denni   Mário Jardel   Song Jin-hyung   Jorge Drovandi
Perth Glory   James Robinson   Mate Dragicevic   Jerry Karpeh1
Queensland Roar   Marcinho   Reinaldo   Simon Lynch   Seo Hyuk-su1
Sydney FC   Juninho   Patrick da Silva   Terry McFlynn   Michael Enfield   Michael Bridges3
  Michael Herbet3
Wellington Phoenix   Cleberson   Daniel   Felipe   George

The following 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, or National Team Replacement Players;
4Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of ten games)

Salary cap exemptions and captains edit

Club Marquee Captain Vice-Captain
Adelaide United   Paul Agostino[4]   Michael Valkanis[5][6]   Travis Dodd[7]
Central Coast Mariners   Tony Vidmar[8]   Alex Wilkinson[9] None
Melbourne Victory   Archie Thompson[10][11]   Kevin Muscat[12][13] None
Newcastle Jets   Mário Jardel[14]   Jade North[15]   Ante Covic[citation needed]
Perth Glory   Stan Lazaridis[16]   Simon Colosimo[17] None
Queensland Roar   Craig Moore[18]   Craig Moore[19] None
Sydney FC   Juninho[20]   Tony Popovic[21] None
Wellington Phoenix   Ahmad Elrich[22]   Ross Aloisi[23]   Tim Brown[23][24]

Pre-Season Challenge Cup edit

The pre-season cup competition was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The opening round began on 14 July 2007. The competition featured a group stage, with three regular rounds, followed by a two-week finals playoff.

The pre-season cup was won by Adelaide United at the final on 12 August 2007.

Regular season edit

The league season took a triple round-robin format over 21 rounds between 24 August 2007 and 20 January 2008 with each team playing the other seven teams three times.[25]

League table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Central Coast Mariners 21 10 4 7 30 25 +5 34 Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series[a]
2 Newcastle Jets (C) 21 9 7 5 25 21 +4 34
3 Sydney FC 21 8 8 5 28 24 +4 32 Qualification for 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship and Finals series
4 Queensland Roar 21 8 7 6 25 21 +4 31 Qualification for Finals series
5 Melbourne Victory 21 6 9 6 29 29 0 27
6 Adelaide United 21 6 8 7 31 29 +2 26
7 Perth Glory 21 4 8 9 27 34 −7 20
8 Wellington Phoenix[b] 21 5 5 11 25 37 −12 20
Source: ultimatealeague.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ First place qualifies for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage.
    Winning the 2008 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage, unless the Grand Final winners are also first place, in which case the Grand Final runner up qualifies.
  2. ^ Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Round 1 edit

24 August 2007 Sydney FC 0–1 Central Coast Mariners Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20:00 UTC+10 Report
Summary
Petrovski   7' Attendance: 18,457
Referee: Peter Green

Round 2 edit

1 September 2007 Sydney FC 2–2 Adelaide United Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
17:00 UTC+10 Talay  13'
Brosque   74'
Report
Summary
Alagich   9'
Burns   76'
Attendance: 14,233
Referee: Mark Shield

Round 3 edit

9 September 2007 Perth Glory 0–0 Sydney FC Members Equity Stadium, Perth
15:00 UTC+8 Report
Summary
Attendance: 7,907
Referee: Craig Zetter

Round 4 edit

14 September 2007 Sydney FC 1–2 Wellington Phoenix Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20:00 UTC+10 Casey   6' Report
Summary
Felipè   8'
Daniel   29' (pen.)
Attendance: 11,491
Referee: Matthew Breeze
15 September 2007 Newcastle Jets 1–0 Adelaide United EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
19:00 UTC+10 Bridge   81' Report
Summary
Attendance: 13,627
Referee: Angelo Nardi
16 September 2007 Perth Glory 1–2 Queensland Roar Members Equity Stadium, Perth
17:00 UTC+8 Harnwell   14' Report
Summary
McCloughan   21'
McKay   84'
Attendance: 7,203
Referee: Ben Williams

Round 5 edit

22 September 2007 Wellington Phoenix 2–2 Adelaide United Westpac Stadium, Wellington
19:00 UTC+12 Felipe   65'
Smeltz   87'
Report
Summary
Diego   70'
Djite   78'
Attendance: 12,127
Referee: Ben Williams
22 September 2007 Queensland Roar 0–1 Sydney FC Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
19:00 UTC+10 Report
Summary
Patrick   69' Attendance: 16,582
Referee: Mark Shield
23 September 2007 Central Coast Mariners 1–0 Perth Glory Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
19:00 UTC+10 Petrovski   80' Report
Summary
Attendance: 9,274
Referee: Craig Zetter

Round 6 edit

29 September 2007 Sydney FC 1–0 Newcastle Jets Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
19:00 UTC+10 Brosque   36' Report
Summary
Attendance: 13,755
Referee: Craig Zetter
30 September 2007 Wellington Phoenix 4–1 Perth Glory Westpac Stadium, Wellington
17:00 UTC+12 R.Aloisi   14'
Smeltz   42'
Coveny   55'
Lochhead   83'
Report
Summary
Celeski   10' Attendance: 10,127
Referee: Peter Green

Round 7 edit

5 October 2007 Queensland Roar 2–1 Wellington Phoenix Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
20:00 UTC+10 Zullo   4'
Kruse   45+1'
Report
Summary
Smeltz   90+5' Attendance: 12,458
Referee: Craig Zetter

Round 8 edit

12 October 2007 Adelaide United 4–1 Melbourne Victory Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
19:30 UTC+9:30 Milicevic   14' (o.g.)
Dodd   15', 54'
Pantelis   90+2'
Report
Summary
Thompson   45+2' Attendance: 13,372
Referee: Mark Shield
12 October 2007 Perth Glory 3–3 Sydney FC Members Equity Stadium, Perth
20:00 UTC+8 Harnwell   53'
Robinson   59'
Prentice   69'
Report
Summary
Brosque   40', 90+3'
Patrick   72'
Attendance: 6,876
Referee: Matthew Breeze

Round 9 edit

Round 10 edit

27 October 2007 Queensland Roar 3–3 Perth Glory Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
19:00 UTC+10 Marcinho   45+3'
Lynch   69' (pen.), 86'
Report
Summary
Moore   18' (o.g.)
Harnwell   43'
Coyne   90+3'
Attendance: 16,715
Referee: Ben Williams
28 October 2007 Sydney FC 3–2 Central Coast Mariners Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
15:00 UTC+10 Brosque   16', 26'
Popovic   32'
Report
Summary
Hutchinson   27', 56' Attendance: 17,652
Referee: Mark Shield

Round 11 edit

Round 12 edit

9 November 2007 Newcastle Jets 1–4 Perth Glory EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
20:00 UTC+11 J. Griffiths   49' Report
Summary
Durante   25' (o.g.)
J. Simpson   51'
Rukavytsya   63', 90+1'
Attendance: 8,112
Referee: Peter Green

Round 13 edit

17 November 2007 Wellington Phoenix 1–1 Sydney FC Westpac Stadium, Wellington
19:00 UTC+12 R.Aloisi   29' Report
Summary
Talay   90+3' (pen.) Attendance: 8,062
Referee: Peter Green
18 November 2007 Perth Glory 0–1 Central Coast Mariners Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+9 Summary Owens   13' Attendance: 7,310
Referee: Craig Zetter

Round 14 edit

Round 15 edit

30 November 2007 Wellington Phoenix 1–2 Adelaide United Westpac Stadium, Wellington
19:30 UTC+12 Daniel   69' (pen.) Report
Summary
Agostino   9'
Pantelis   79'
Attendance: 18,345
Referee: Craig Zetter
22 December 2007[26] Central Coast Mariners 4–5 Sydney FC Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
19:00 UTC+11 Jedinak   3'
J.Aloisi   16'
Owens   63' (pen.)
Kwasnik   86'
Report
Summary
Fyfe   33'
McFlynn   50'
Biddle   71'
Santalab   76'
Talay   90+5' (pen.)
Attendance: 17,514
Referee: Matthew Breeze
2 December 2007 Perth Glory 3–1 Melbourne Victory Members Equity Stadium, Perth
17:00 UTC+9 Harnwell   18'
Rukavytsya   27', 46'
Report
Summary
Caceres   38' Attendance: 8,030
Referee: Ben Williams

Round 16 edit

8 December 2007 Melbourne Victory 2–2 Adelaide United Telstra Dome, Melbourne
19:00 UTC+11 Muscat   71' (pen.)
Alagich   90+2' (o.g.)
Report
Summary
Agostino   18', 50' Attendance: 22,466
Referee: Peter Green

Round 17 edit

15 December 2007 Sydney FC 2–4 Perth Glory Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
19:00 UTC+11 Corica   50'
Bridges   90'
Report
Summary
Celeski   34', 35', 77' (pen.)
Bertos   49'
Attendance: 12,402
Referee: Michael Hester

Round 18 edit

28 December 2007 Adelaide United 1–3 Sydney FC Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
19:30 UTC+10:30 Sarkies   20' Report
Summary
Santalab   44'
Corica   54'
Middleby   66'
Attendance: 25,039
Referee: Matthew Breeze
30 December 2007 Perth Glory 1–4 Queensland Roar Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+9 Rizzo   57' Report
Summary
Kruse   34'
Reinaldo   42'
Minniecon   59'
McCloughan   74'
Attendance: 9,614
Referee: Peter Green
31 December 2007 Central Coast Mariners 2–5 Melbourne Victory Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
18:00 UTC+11 Jedinak   32'
J.Aloisi   63'
Report
Summary
Caceres   4'
Allsopp   23', 61'
Thompson   36'
Muscat   43' (pen.)
Attendance: 18,686
Referee: Mark Shield

Round 19 edit

Round 20 edit

13 January 2008 Perth Glory 3–2 Adelaide United Members Equity Stadium, Perth
19:00 UTC+9 Robinson   12'
Rukavytsya   45+1'
Harnwell   62'
Report
Summary
Djité   8'
Dodd   59'
Attendance: 8,025
Referee: Ben Williams

Round 21 edit

20 January 2008 Sydney FC 2–2 Melbourne Victory Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
17:00 UTC+11 Corica   4'
Brosque   62'
Report
Summary
Milligan   46' (o.g.)
Allsopp   76'
Attendance: 33,458
Referee: Peter O'Leary

Finals series edit

Semi-finals edit

8 February 2008 Queensland Roar 2–0 Sydney FC Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
20:07 UTC+10
(Delayed Kickoff)
Report
Summary
Attendance: 36,221
Referee: Mark Shield

Preliminary-final edit

17 February 2008 Newcastle Jets 3–2 (a.e.t.) Queensland Roar EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
18:00 UTC+11
Report
Summary
Reinaldo   90+2' (pen.), 118' (pen.) Attendance: 16,021
Referee: Peter Green

Grand Final edit

Season statistics edit

Leading scorers edit

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   Joel Griffiths Newcastle Jets 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
9   Shane Smeltz Wellington Phoenix 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1
8   Alex Brosque Sydney FC 1 1 2 2 1 1
8   Jamie Harnwell Perth Glory 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
7   Daniel Allsopp Melbourne Victory 1 1 1 2 1 1
7   John Aloisi Central Coast Mariners 2 1 1 1 1 1
6   Sasho Petrovski Central Coast Mariners 1 1 1 1 1 1
6   Reinaldo Queensland Roar 1 1 2 1 1
6   Archie Thompson Melbourne Victory 1 1 1 1 1 1
6   Lucas Pantelis Adelaide United 1 1 1 1 1 1

  Goal scored from penalty kick

Attendance edit

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

Team Hosted Average High Low Total
Melbourne Victory 10 26,064 31,884 20,938 260,642
Queensland Roar 11 16,951 31,933 8,815 186,456
Sydney FC 11 16,373 33,458 10,732 180,107
Newcastle Jets 11 13,209 16,433 8,112 145,303
Central Coast Mariners 10 12,741 19,238 8,113 127,409
Adelaide United 10 12,697 25,039 10,256 126,966
Wellington Phoenix 10 11,683 18,345 8,039 116,833
Perth Glory 11 7,596 9,614 6,252 83,557
{{{T9}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{{T10}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{{T11}}} 0 0 0 0 0
{{{T12}}} 0 0 0 0 0
League total 84 14,610 33,458 6,252 1,227,273

* 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 edit

Attendance Round Date Home Score Away Venue Weekday Time of Day
36,354 Grand Final 24 February 2008 Central Coast Mariners 0–1 Newcastle Jets Sydney Football Stadium Sunday Day
36,221 Finals – Week 2 8 February 2008 Queensland Roar 2–0 Sydney FC Suncorp Stadium Friday Night
33,458 Round 21 20 January 2008 Sydney FC 2–2 Melbourne Victory Sydney Football Stadium Sunday Day
31,933 Round 20 13 January 2008 Queensland Roar 0–0 Sydney FC Suncorp Stadium Sunday Twilight
31,884 Round 12 10 November 2007 Melbourne Victory 0–0 Sydney FC Telstra Dome Saturday Night
31,545 Round 2 1 September 2007 Melbourne Victory 0–0 Perth Glory Telstra Dome Saturday Night
27,351 Round 4 16 September 2007 Melbourne Victory 0–0 Central Coast Mariners Telstra Dome Sunday Afternoon
27,123 Round 10 26 October 2007 Melbourne Victory 0–2 Newcastle Jets Telstra Dome Friday Night
25,622 Round 6 28 September 2007 Melbourne Victory 2–0 Queensland Roar Telstra Dome Friday Night
25,598 Round 9 21 October 2007 Melbourne Victory 2–1 Perth Glory Telstra Dome Sunday Afternoon

Disciplinary edit

The Fair Play Award was awarded to Newcastle Jets, 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
Newcastle Jets 44 0 0 44
Perth Glory 34 1 3 45
Sydney FC 42 1 2 50
Queensland Roar 45 3 0 51
Wellington Phoenix 46 1 2 54
Adelaide United 45 3 1 54
Melbourne Victory 43 1 3 54
Central Coast Mariners 44 3 4 62
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 343 13 15

Awards edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Kiwis alive as Townsville pulls pin". Fox Sports. 19 March 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2007.
  2. ^ "The time is right to go into the ref's book". The Age. 31 December 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2007.
  3. ^ "A-League lifts its salary cap to $1.8m". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 April 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2007.
  4. ^ "Agostino Scores on His Debut". FTBL. 17 August 2007. United's marquee Paul Agostino scored in...
  5. ^ "Injured Adelaide United skipper out for season". Brisbane Times. 10 September 2007.
  6. ^ "Valkanis and Costanzo Stay With Adelaide". FTBL. 12 February 2008. Valkanis, a member of Adelaide United's inaugural squad back in 2003, was appointed captain prior to the 2007/08 season
  7. ^ "Dodd Gets The Nod As Skipper". FTBL. 31 July 2008. Travis was vice-captain last year
  8. ^ "Vidmar announces retirement". ABC News. 14 February 2008. Vidmar joined the Mariners as a marquee signing in the 2006–07 season
  9. ^ "Captain Wilkinson promoted to Centurion". Central Coast Mariners. Football Federation Australia. 8 February 2011. Wilkinson took the captain-s armband from an injured Noel Spencer late in the second season of the Hyundai A-League
  10. ^ Lynch, Michael (30 April 2016). "Archie Thompson should play on after leaving Melbourne Victory". The Sydney Morning Herald. As Victory's inauguaral marquee signing...
  11. ^ "Archie Thompson, Adrian Leijer sign new deals with Melbourne Victory". The Guardian. 2 May 2014. Victory's first ever signing, and scorer, will join up with new marquee Besart Berisha next season, after agreeing a new deal with the club that takes him inside the salary cap
  12. ^ "Muscat Takes on Coaching Role". FTBL. 29 August 2007. MELBOURNE Victory skipper Kevin Muscat has signed a new two-year contract that sees him taking on a coaching role as well as the captaincy
  13. ^ "Kevin Muscat appointed as new Melbourne Victory coach". The Guardian. 31 October 2013. Phoenix's Ernie Merrick was the Victory's inaugural coach and Muscat the club's inaugural captain
  14. ^ "Jardel flies in for Jets". The World Game. SBS. 14 August 2007.
  15. ^ "North heading to Korea". Newcastle Jets. 13 December 2008. North is a Newcastle Jets foundation player, having been with the club since the 2005/06 Hyundai A-League season, and was instated as captain last season.
  16. ^ Cockerill, Michael (14 December 2006). "Sydney stars on the radar as Smith goes Glory seeking". The Sydney Morning Herald. One player who will still be at the Glory next season is marquee signing Stan Lazaridis
  17. ^ "Colosimo new Perth skipper". The World Game. SBS. 8 August 2007. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
  18. ^ Ritson, Jon (24 July 2007). "Moore Signs With Roar". FourFourTwo. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012.
  19. ^ "Moore has his hands full". A-League. 28 September 2008. Queensland Roar captain Craig Moore might be....
  20. ^ Cockerill, Michael (1 August 2007). "Sydney FC end marquee mess with Juninho swoop". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  21. ^ "Poppa's Yer Ante in Family Affair". FTBL. 19 September 2007. ROAR striker Ante Milicic says there will be no love lost when he faces brother-in-law and Sydney FC captain Tony Popovic this Saturday.
  22. ^ Maddaford, Terry (13 May 2008). "Soccer: Phoenix patient for marquee player". The New Zealand Herald. Of the marquee player – they had Socceroo Ahmad Elrich filling that role for the latter part of last season...
  23. ^ a b "Aloisi named captain of Phoenix". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 June 2007.
  24. ^ "Durante named Wellington Phoenix skipper". Nine MSN. 17 July 2008. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Midfielder Brown filled the vice-captain's role with the Phoenix last season, also taking the field with the captain's armband despite a frustrating run of injuries.
  25. ^ Hyundai A-League 2007–08 Season Draw[permanent dead link], A-League, 23 April 2007.
  26. ^ Match postponed due to heavy rain affecting pitch conditions.