A-LEAGUE 2006-07

The 'A-League's 2006-07 season' was a football (soccer) competition. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the first season and on the interest generated by the Socceroos competing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Fox Sports had signed a AU$120 million deal over 7 years for the exclusive broadcast rights of the A-League, AFC Champions League, and national team matches (excluding matches played in the World Cup Finals).^[1]
The television advertisement campaign used for the 2006-07 season was the same as the previous season, with different music; Scribe's "Not Many" was replaced with Manuel Neztic's "Kickin Down".^[2] The second season was marketed as ''"A-League: Version 2"''.^[3]

2006-07 league participants

Region	Chairman	Coach/Manager	Home ground	Capacity
SA	Nick Bianco	John Kosmina	Hindmarsh Stadium	16,500
NSW	Ian Kiernan	Lawrie McKinna	Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium	20,059
VIC	Geoff Lord	Ernie Merrick	Telstra Dome	56,347
VIC	Geoff Lord	Ernie Merrick	Olympic Park	18,500
NSW	Con Constantine	Nick Theodorakopoulos	EnergyAustralia Stadium	28,000
NSW	Con Constantine	Gary van Egmond	EnergyAustralia Stadium	28,000
NZ	Anthony Lee	Paul Nevin	North Harbour Stadium	25,000
		Barry Simmons ''interim''
		Ricki Herbert
WA	Michelle Phillips	Ron Smith	Members Equity Stadium	18,450
QLD	John Ribot	Miron Bleiberg	Suncorp Stadium	52,000
QLD	John Ribot	Frank Farina	Suncorp Stadium	52,000
NSW	Edmund Capon	Terry Butcher	Aussie Stadium	41,159

Football Federation Australia have stated that the current franchises have a 5 year exclusivity clause in their licenses that prevents any new franchise from being established in the same city or town.
This does not preclude teams from other regions from joining, however no new teams were added to the competition for the 2006-07 season.

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

Newcastle playing Sydney in a pre-season match in Canberra

This competition was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The opening round was July 15 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. ^[4]

Pre-Season Cup group stage

Group A table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	BP
''	'8'	4	2	2	0	5	2	0
''	'8'	4	2	2	0	2	0	0
	'6'	4	1	1	2	5	7	2
	'2'	4	0	2	2	2	6	0

Group B table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	BP
''	'12'	4	3	1	0	7	2	2
''	'3'	4	0	2	2	4	6	1
^[5]	'3'	4	0	3	1	2	3	0
	'3'	4	0	3	1	2	3	0

Pre-Season Cup finals series

Pre-Season Cup attendances

Round	Games	Average	Highest	Lowest	Total
Pre-Season Group Stage	16	4,954	12,006	804	79,252
Pre-Season Finals	7	4,715	10,463	1,104	33,002
'Totals'^[6]	23	4,881	12,006	804	112,254

Regular season

Home and away season

The league season took a triple round-robin format, and took place over 21 rounds between August 25, 2006 and January 21, 2007.

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

League table

★ Melbourne Victory achieved an unbeatable lead after their round 17 match with New Zealand Knights. They were crowned Premiers of the 2006-07 A-League for having the most points during the regular season.

★ Sydney FC were penalised three competition points following round 18 due to salary cap breaches which occurred during the 2005–06 season. ''(For more information see Sydney FC Season 2006-07#Salary cap breaches)''

Finals series

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF" font size=1
| 'Date'
| align=right | 'Home team'
| align=center | 'Score'
| align=left | 'Away team'
| 'Venue'
| 'Crowd'
| 'Report'
|- bgcolor="#EEEEFF"
| align=center colspan=7 | 'Semi-finals - Leg 1'
|- bgcolor="#EEEEFF"
| align=center colspan=7 | 'Semi-finals - Leg 2'
|- bgcolor="#EEEEFF"
| align=center colspan=7 | 'Preliminary final'
|- bgcolor="#EEEEFF"
| align=center colspan=7 | 'Grand final'
The Asian Football Confederation announced on 21 November 2006 that and would represent Australia in the 2007 AFC Champions League. Despite an appeal by the Football Federation Australia, it was determined that the A-League 2005-06 premiers and champions would qualify and not those from the current season. ^[8]
The AFC also indicated that the qualification arrangements would not be reviewed prior to 2009. The FFA have indicated that the premiers and champions of A-League 2006-07 will qualify for the 2008 AFC Champions League - establishing a precedent of maintaining a one year lag between qualification and participation.

2006-07 league records (regular season)

Leading goalscorers

Player	Team	Goals
Daniel Allsopp		'11'
Archie Thompson		'10'
Damian Mori	(6), (2)	'8'
Mark Bridge		'8'
Adam Kwasnik		'7'
Jamie Harnwell		'7'

Most Goal Assists

Player	Team	Goal Assists
Fred		'9'
Leo Bertos		'9'
Jason Spagnuolo		'7'
Matt Thompson		'6'
Nick Carle		'6'
Archie Thompson		'5'

Most Yellow Cards

Player	Team	Yellow Cards
Adrian Leijer		'7'
Nick Carle		'6'
Andrew Durante		'6'
Kevin Muscat		'5'
Terry McFlynn		'5'
Simon Colosimo		'5'

Attendances (regular season)

Highest attendances

★ 55,436: vs , 18 February 2007 (Grand Final)

★ 50,333: vs , 8 December 2006 (Round 16)

★ 47,413: vs , 4 February 2007 (Finals Week 2)

★ 39,730: vs , 2 September 2006 (Round 2)

★ 32,371: vs , 20 January 2007 (Round 21)

★ 32,368: vs , 15 October 2006 (Round 8)

★ 28,937: vs , 12 January 2007 (Round 20)

★ 28,118: vs , 3 November 2006 (Round 11)

★ 27,753: vs , 26 November 2006 (Round 14)

★ 25,921: vs , 1 October 2006 (Round 6)

★ 24,388: vs , 2 February 2007 (Finals Week 2)

★ 22,890: vs , 9 November 2006 (Round 12)

★ 21,112: vs , 26 January 2007 (Finals Week 1)

★ 20,980: vs , 1 January 2007 (Round 18)

★ 20,881: vs , 21 October 2006 (Round 9)

★ 20,606: vs , 26 August 2006 (Round 1)

★ 19,601: vs , 19 January 2007 (Round 21)

★ 19,274: vs , 27 August 2006 (Round 1)

2007 A-League Awards

The 2007 A-League Awards ceremony was held on 27 February 2007 at the Sydney Opera House.^[9]

★ 'Johnny Warren Medal (Player of the Year):' Nick Carle (Newcastle United Jets)

★ 'Rising Star (Young Player of the Year):' Adrian Leijer (Melbourne Victory)

★ 'Coach of the Year:' Ernie Merrick (Melbourne Victory)

★ 'Golden Boot Award (Most Goals in Season):' Danny Allsopp (Melbourne Victory – 11 goals)

★ 'Fair Play Award:' Perth Glory

★ 'Referee of the Year:' Mark Shield

References

1. Historic deal for football
2. Football's new kick-start
3. Version 2.0 launched
4. A-League Pre-Season Schedule Confirmed
5. As the and 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.
6. "Totals" regarding attendances for Pre-Season Cup, including highest and lowest crowds, are excluding the unknown figure for 7th Place Playoff match.
7. These matches were swapped due to concerns over the quality of the pitch at Suncorp Stadium after a second Robbie Williams concert was scheduled days before the Round 17 game.
8. AFC confirm Sydney and Adelaide
9. Nick Carle takes out Johnny Warren Medal, Hyundai A-League, 27 February 2007.

External links

★ A-League official website, including fixtures

★ Football Federation Australia

★ SBS The World Game A-League section

★ FOXSPORTS.com.au A-League section and Official A-League Fantasy competition

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