# 1987 National Soccer League

The 1987 National Soccer League season was the 11th season of the National Soccer League, the former top Australian professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1977. The season saw the format returned to a single league of fourteen teams instead of the two-conference system. Sydney City SC withdrew from the competition after round 1, reducing the competition to 13 teams. The finals series for the Championship was also removed and replaced with the standard non-Championship defining play-offs with the actual Championship determined by a first past the post, won by APIA Leichhardt.

## Teams

    Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
| Team | Location | Stadium(s) | Capacity |
| Adelaide City | Adelaide | Hindmarsh Stadium Olympic Sports Field | 16,500 8,000 |
| APIA Leichhardt | Sydney (Leichhardt) | Lambert Park Belmore Oval | 7,000 19,000 |
| Brunswick Juventus | Melbourne (Brunswick East) | Olympic Village Olympic Park | 12,000 18,500 |
| Footscray JUST | Melbourne (Footscray) | Schintler Reserve | ? |
| Heidelberg United | Melbourne (Heidelberg West) | Olympic Village Deakin Reserve | 12,000 10,000 |
| Marconi Fairfield | Sydney (Fairfield) | Marconi Stadium | 9,000 |
| Melbourne Croatia | Melbourne (Sunshine North) | Olympic Park | 12,000 |
| Preston Makedonia | Melbourne (Preston) | B.T. Connor Reserve | 8,000 |
| South Melbourne | Melbourne (Albert Park) | Middle Park Olympic Park | 18,000 12,000 |
| St George-Budapest | Sydney (Albert Park) | St George Stadium | 12,000 |
| Sunshine George Cross | Melbourne (Fraser Rise) | Chaplin Reserve | 5,000 |
| Sydney Croatia | Sydney (Edensor Park) | Croatian Sports Centre | 12,000 |
| Sydney Olympic | Sydney (Belmore) | St George Stadium King Tomislav Park | 12,000 |

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | APIA Leichhardt (C) | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 39 | 21 | +18 | 35 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 2 | Preston Makedonia | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 32 | 22 | +10 | 29 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 3 | St George-Budapest | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 31 | 24 | +7 | 29 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 4 | Marconi Fairfield | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 41 | 25 | +16 | 27 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 5 | Sydney Croatia | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 31 | 25 | +6 | 26 | Qualification for the Finals series |
| 6 | South Melbourne | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 32 | 34 | −2 | 25 | |
| 7 | Sydney Olympic | 24 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 29 | 32 | −3 | 23 | |
| 8 | Brunswick Juventus | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 23 | −5 | 23 | |
| 9 | Melbourne Croatia | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 22 | 30 | −8 | 23 | |
| 10 | Adelaide City | 24 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 29 | 23 | +6 | 22 | |
| 11 | Footscray JUST | 24 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 27 | −10 | 22 | |
| 12 | Sunshine George Cross | 24 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 26 | 42 | −16 | 15 | |
| 13 | Heidelberg United (R) | 24 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 25 | 44 | −19 | 13 | Relegation to the Victorian State League |
| 14 | Sydney City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |
* ↑ The Finals series was not considered the championship for the 1987 National Soccer League.

### Results

| Home \ Away | ADE | API | BRU | FOO | HEI | MAR | MEL | PRE | SOU | STG | SGC | SCR | SOL |
| Adelaide City | — | 0–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| APIA Leichhardt | 2–2 | — | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| Brunswick Juventus | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Footscray JUST | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Heidelberg United | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | — | 1–5 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 6–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 |
| Marconi Fairfield | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | — | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Melbourne Croatia | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Preston Makedonia | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–0 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| South Melbourne | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | — | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| St George-Budapest | 1–0 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 3–2 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Sunshine George Cross | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Sydney Croatia | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–5 | 6–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | — | 0–1 |
| Sydney Olympic | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–4 | — |

## Finals series

A top five Finals series was played at the end of the regular season. The Finals series was not considered the Championship for this season.

### Grand Final
## Season statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Frank Farina | Marconi Fairfield | 16 |
| 2 | Rod Brown | APIA Leichhardt | 14 |
| 3 | Paul Lewis | Melbourne Croatia | 10 |
| 3 | Steve Smith | Preston Makedonia | 10 |
| 5 | Joe Mullen | Adelaide City | 9 |
| 5 | Robbie Slater | Sydney Croatia | 9 |
| 5 | Charlie Villani | Adelaide City | 9 |
| 8 | Ron Campbell | Preston Makedonia | 8 |
| 8 | John Markovski | Sunshine George Cross | 8 |
| 8 | Paul Wade | South Melbourne | 8 |

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Robbie Slater | Sydney Croatia | Melbourne Croatia | 6–1 (H) | 29 March 1987 |
| Frank McGrellis | Brunswick Juventus | Heidelberg United | 3–1 (H) | 5 July 1987 |
| Paul Trimboli | Sunshine George Cross | South Melbourne | 3–0 (H) | 19 July 1987 |
| Frank Farina | Marconi Fairfield | Heidelberg United | 5–1 (A) | 9 August 1987 |
| Goce Dimovski | Preston Makedonia | APIA Leichhardt | 4–0 (H) | 13 September 1987 |
| Frank Farina | Marconi Fairfield | Sydney Croatia | 5–0 (A) | 11 October 1987 |

## Awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Referee's Player of the Year | Andrew Zinni | Brunswick Juventus |
| Player's Player of the Year | Frank Farina | Marconi Fairfield |
| U-21 Player of the Year | John Markovski | Sunshine George Cross |
| Coach of the Year | Rale Rasic | APIA Leichhardt |