2005–06 A-League

Clubs

Foreign players

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

Preliminary Competitions

Two competitions were held prior to the start of the A-League season.

Oceania Club Championship Qualification

Main article: 2005 Australian Club World Championship Qualifying Tournament

This three-round competition was held in May 2005 to determine Australia's qualifier for the 2005 season of the Oceania Club Championship. It consisted of all Australian A-League clubs (i.e. all clubs except for the New Zealand Knights) and granted Perth Glory – the reigning NSL champions – a bye into the semi-finals.

Sydney FC qualified for and subsequently won the 2005 Oceania Club Championship entitling it to a place in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship to be played in Tokyo.

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

Main article: 2005 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup

The inaugural pre-season cup was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The competition featured a group stage and a knockout stage. Commentators did not give much weight to the competition as a guide for performance during the season proper, as injuries or club strategic policy ruled that many teams did not use their best players and often used experimental tactics.

Group stage

Finals

|12 August|Melbourne Victory|1|Central Coast Mariners|3 |14 August|Sydney FC|0|Perth Glory|1 |21 August|Central Coast Mariners|1|Perth Glory|0}}

The Central Coast Mariners were the inaugural Pre-season Challenge Cup winners.

Regular season

The A-League season commenced on 26 August 2005 with two Friday night fixtures. Games each round were held throughout the weekend, though certain rounds also featured Thursday night games. As there was no concurrent cup competition, midweek fixtures were uncommon unless they were held on Australian public holidays. A three-week break was also scheduled in December to coincide with the 2005 FIFA Club World Cup in Tokyo.

League table

Results

Round 1

Summary

Summary

Summary Baird

Summary

Round 2

Summary

Summary Bingley Middleby

Summary

Summary Muscat Despotovski

Round 3

Summary

Summary

Summary Devine

Summary Johnson

Round 4

Summary Yorke Gumprecht Spencer

Summary Qu

Summary

Summary Thompson Musialik Carle

Round 5

Summary

Summary McFlynn

Summary

Summary

Round 6

Summary Leijer

Summary

Summary Yorke

Summary Qu

Round 7

Summary

Summary Harnwell Despotovski Sekulovski

Summary Petrovski

Summary Muscat Diaco

Round 8

Summary Corbo Carle Zelic

Summary Muscat Thompson

Summary Heffernan Spencer

Summary Baird

Round 9

Summary Carney

Summary Pantelis

Summary

Summary Sekulovski

Round 10

Summary

Summary

Summary Petrie

Summary

Round 11

Summary Thompson

Summary

Summary Talay Petrovski

Summary Rees Despotovski

Round 12

Sekulovski Despotovski

Dodd

Round 13

Hutchinson

Round 14

Osman

Christie Muscat

Veart

Round 15

Veart

Corica

Ward Hutchinson

Round 16

Thompson Mori

Devine Carney

Brown Gumprecht

Qu Veart Brosque

Round 17

Reinaldo

Round 18

Qu

Milicic

Round 19

Coyne Sekulovski

Round 20

McKay Brosque Richter Reinaldo

Spencer

Rudan

Round 21

Yorke

Byrnes

Brosque Petrie

Picken Ward

Finals series

After the home and away season, the finals series began, with the top four teams. The finals series used a modified Page playoff system, with the difference that each first-round game would be played over two legs. The winner of the finals series, Sydney FC was crowned as the A-League champion. Adelaide United, as the holder of the top position on the league ladder, were named the 2005–06 premiers.

Standard cup rules – such as the away goals rule (two-leg ties only), extra time and penalty shootouts were used to decide drawn games. |RD1-legs=2 |RD1-date1=February 10 & 17 |RD1-team1=Adelaide United |RD1-seed1=1 |RD1-score1-1=2 |RD1-score1-2=1 |RD1-score1-agg=3 |RD1-team2=Sydney FC |RD1-seed2=2 |RD1-score2-1=2 |RD1-score2-2=2 |RD1-score2-agg=4 |RD1-date2=February 12 & 19 |RD1-team3=Central Coast Mariners |RD1-score3-1=1 |RD1-score3-2=1 |RD1-score3-agg=2 |RD1-seed3=3 |RD1-team4=Newcastle Jets |RD1-score4-1=0 |RD1-score4-2=1 |RD1-score4-agg=1 |RD1-seed4=4 |RD2-date=26 February |RD2-seed1=1 |RD2-team1=Adelaide United |RD2-score1=0 |RD2-seed2=3 |RD2-team2=Central Coast Mariners |RD2-score2=1 |RD3-date=5 March |RD3-seed1=2 |RD3-team1=Sydney FC |RD3-score1=1 |RD3-seed2=3 |RD3-team2=Central Coast Mariners |RD3-score2=0

Semi-finals

Dodd Corica

Petrovski

Preliminary final

Grand Final

Statistics

Attendance

Highest attendance

• 41,689: Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners, 5 March 2006 (grand final)
• 30,377: Sydney FC vs Adelaide United, 19 February 2006 (Semi-final Leg2)
• 25,557: Sydney FC vs Adelaide United, 3 February 2006 (Round 21)
• 25,208: Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory, 28 August 2005 (Round 1)
• 23,142: Queensland Roar vs Sydney FC, 23 September 2005 (Round 5)
• 20,725: Queensland Roar vs New Zealand Knights, 28 August 2005 (Round 1)
• 18,276: Sydney FC vs Adelaide United, 9 October 2005 (Round 7)
• 18,206: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, 16 October 2005 (Round 8)
• 17,960: Melbourne Victory vs Perth Glory, 4 September 2005 (Round 2)

Leading goalscorers

Disciplinary records

Biggest victories

Highest aggregate scores

Other honours

• First goal – Carl Veart (Adelaide United vs Newcastle Jets, Round 1)
• First hat trick – Ante Milicic (Newcastle Jets vs New Zealand Knights, Round 11)
• First red card – Richie Alagich (Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory, Round 3)

Awards

AFC Champions League

Although Australia became a member of the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, Australian teams were not invited to participate in the 2006 AFC Champions League competition.

The AFC later determined that qualification for the 2007 AFC Champions League would be based on the 2005–06 A-League competition, despite that ACL matches will commence after the completion of the 2006–07 A-League season. Adelaide as Premiers and Sydney as Champions were the representatives.

Notes

References

References

1. (15 July 2005). "Eastern promise arrives right on Qu". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
2. (31 July 2008). "Dodd Gets The Nod As Skipper". FTBL.
3. (15 April 2005). "Mariners announce soccer captain". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
4. Lynch, Michael. (30 April 2016). "Archie Thompson should play on after leaving Melbourne Victory". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
5. (2 May 2014). "Archie Thompson, Adrian Leijer sign new deals with Melbourne Victory". [[The Guardian]].
6. (31 October 2013). "Kevin Muscat appointed as new Melbourne Victory coach". [[The Guardian]].
7. "Player Profile - Danny Hay". [[New Zealand Football.
8. (23 December 2005). "Knights cut skipper Hay". [[Special Broadcasting Service.
9. (26 August 2006). "Hyundai A-League set for big start". [[Football Federation Australia]].
10. (30 April 2005). "Ned Zelic signs with Newcastle Jets". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
11. (10 February 2006). "Jets look to shut down Mariners". [[ABC News (Australia).
12. Roach, Stewart. (7 June 2006). "Easy come, easy go: Okon signs for Jets as captain Zelic quits". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
13. Young, Richie. (17 August 2007). "'Our Form Will Return' - North". FTBL.
14. Davidson, John. (17 August 2017). "Deane: I had to wash my own kit at Glory". FTBL.
15. (6 May 2005). "Harnwell named Glory captain". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
16. (3 May 2005). "Roar name inaugural captain". [[ABC News (Australia).
17. (30 June 2005). "Yorke goes Down Under". [[The Guardian]].
18. (2 March 2006). "Long time coming for Rudan". [[Special Broadcasting Service.