# 2001 National Soccer League Grand Final

The 2001 National Soccer League Grand Final was held on 3 June 2001 between Wollongong Wolves and South Melbourne at Parramatta Stadium. Soccer Australia deemed Wollongong's 14,000 capacity home ground WIN Stadium too small for the centrepiece of the NSL season. Ironically the crowd attendance was 13,402. Wollongong won the match 2–1, with two goals in as many minutes from Sasho Petrovski and Stuart Young putting them ahead. Although John Anastasiadis got a goal for South Melbourne, it wasn't enough. This won the Wolves their second consecutive National Soccer League championship and their second overall. Matt Horsley won the Joe Marston Medal.

## Route to the Final

As top-two finishers, South Melbourne and Wollongong Wolves were placed into the second week of the final series, with the winner to host the grand final. Wollongong won both legs 2–1 to qualify for the grand final with a 4–2 aggregate. In the preliminary final, South Melbourne defeated fourth-placed Sydney Olympic to qualify for the final.
Soccer Australia chose Parramatta Stadium as the grand final venue, expecting a larger crowd than the WIN Stadium could hold.
The Soccer Australia board initially refused an offer from the Seven Network to show the match live on free-to-air television. The board intended for the match to be played at 3pm, however Seven had pre-existing Australian Football League (AFL) commitments. Eventually, the board changed the time to midday and Seven showed the match live outside of Sydney.

### League Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Melbourne | 30 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 70 | 24 | +46 | 69 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 2 | Wollongong Wolves (C) | 30 | 18 | 7 | 5 | 80 | 40 | +40 | 61 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 3 | Perth Glory | 30 | 18 | 7 | 5 | 73 | 33 | +40 | 61 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 4 | Sydney Olympic | 30 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 58 | 37 | +21 | 57 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 5 | Marconi Fairfield | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 42 | 33 | +9 | 50 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 6 | Melbourne Knights | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 61 | 46 | +15 | 49 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 7 | Adelaide Force | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 54 | 54 | 0 | 43 | |
| 8 | Football Kingz | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 52 | 52 | 0 | 43 | |
| 9 | Parramatta Power | 30 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 42 | 44 | −2 | 42 | |
| 10 | Sydney United | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 46 | 56 | −10 | 42 | |
| 11 | Canberra Cosmos | 30 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 49 | 55 | −6 | 37 | |
| 12 | Brisbane Strikers | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 52 | 56 | −4 | 35 | |
| 13 | Northern Spirit | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 39 | 50 | −11 | 32 | |
| 14 | Newcastle United | 30 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 37 | 56 | −19 | 30 | |
| 15 | Eastern Pride | 30 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 32 | 61 | −29 | 0 | |
| 16 | Carlton | 30 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 90 | −90 | 0 | Withdrew |
* ↑ Eastern Pride were stripped of all their points following a breach of regulations.
* ↑ Carlton withdrew after eight rounds. All games against them were awarded 3–0.

### Finals Bracket

| Elimination finals | Elimination finals | Elimination finals | Elimination finals | Elimination finals | Major/Minor semifinals | Major/Minor semifinals | Major/Minor semifinals | Major/Minor semifinals | Major/Minor semifinals | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 June 2001 | 3 June 2001 | 3 June 2001 |
| | | | | | 2 | Wollongong Wolves | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | Wollongong Wolves | 2 |
| | | | | | 1 | South Melbourne | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | South Melbourne | South Melbourne | 1 |
| | | | | | | | | | | 1 | South Melbourne | 2 | | | |
| 6 | Melbourne Knights (a) | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | 1 | South Melbourne | 2 | | | |
| 6 | Melbourne Knights (a) | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | 4 | Sydney Olympic | 0 | | | |
| 3 | Perth Glory | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | 4 | Sydney Olympic | 0 | | | |
| 3 | Perth Glory | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | Melbourne Knights | Melbourne Knights | Melbourne Knights | 0 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Sydney Olympic | Sydney Olympic | Sydney Olympic | 1 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Sydney Olympic | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | Sydney Olympic | Sydney Olympic | Sydney Olympic | 1 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Marconi Fairfield | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | |

## Match
### Details

| GK | 26 | Dean Anastasiadis |
| DF | 2 | George Sounis |
| DF | 3 | Alvin Ceccoli | 79' |
| DF | 5 | David Cervinski |
| MF | 6 | Matt Horsley (c) |
| MF | 7 | Paul Reid |
| FW | 9 | Sasho Petrovski | | 73' |
| FW | 10 | Stuart Young |
| MF | 15 | David Huxley |
| DF | 17 | Ben Blake |
| MF | 27 | Robbie Middleby | | 90+1' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 1 | Daniel Beltrame |
| DF | 4 | Robert Stanton | | 73' |
| MF | 8 | Max Nicholson |
| FW | 14 | Jay Lucas |
| MF | 23 | Dino Mennillo | | 90+1' |
| Manager: ||
| Ron Corry ||
| Joe Marston Medal: ||
| Matt Horsley (Wollongong Wolves) ||
| GK | 1 | Michael Petkovic |
| MF | 2 | Steve Iosifidis | 36' | 71' |
| DF | 3 | Fausto De Amicis (c) | 89' |
| DF | 4 | Mehmet Durakovic |
| MF | 7 | Steve Panopoulos |
| FW | 8 | Vaughan Coveny |
| MF | 10 | Con Boutsianis |
| FW | 13 | Andrew Vlahos |
| FW | 14 | Vas Kalogeracos | | 65' |
| DF | 16 | Zeljko Susa | | 65' |
| DF | 25 | Simon Colosimo |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 20 | Chris Jones |
| MF | 6 | David Clarkson |
| FW | 9 | Paul Trimboli | | 65' |
| FW | 11 | John Anastasiadis | | 71' |
| MF | 15 | Goran Lozanovski | | 65' |
| Manager: ||
| Mike Petersen ||
| Assistant referees: Fourth official: | Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. |