# 2008–09 A-League

The 2008–09 A-League was the 32nd season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the fourth season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Two new clubs, North Queensland Thunder and Gold Coast Galaxy had received tentative licences from the FFA but these were revoked for the 2008–09 season on 12 March 2008. Expansion plans are on hold until the 2009–10 season. Based on their 2007–08 performances, the Central Coast Mariners and the Newcastle Jets competed in the 2009 AFC Champions League for the first time.
Changes to the league included:
* The introduction of both a youth league and women's league aligned with A-League clubs.
* An increase in the salary cap to A$1.9 million.
* The addition of a Junior Marquee player. (A player under the age of 23 who has up to A$150,000 of his salary outside of the cap.
* Injury replacement players can only match the injured players' salary, or have any excess included within the total Salary Cap.

## Clubs

| 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

| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Visa 3 | Visa 4 | Non-Visa foreigner(s) | Former player(s) |
| Adelaide United | Alemão | Cássio | Cristiano | Diego Walsh | Jonas Salley$^1$ | |
| Central Coast Mariners | André Gumprecht | | | | Andrea Merenda$^3$ John Hutchinson$^2$ | |
| Melbourne Victory | Ney Fabiano | Carlos Hernández | José Luis López | | Grant Brebner$^1$ | |
| Newcastle Jets | Jesper Håkansson | Song Jin-hyung | | | | Edmundo Zura |
| Perth Glory | Adrian Trinidad | Amaral | James Robinson | Eugène Dadi | Victor Sikora$^3$ | |
| Queensland Roar | Reinaldo | Sergio van Dijk | Charlie Miller | | Henrique$^3$ Seo Hyuk-su$^1$ | |
| Sydney FC | Bobby Petta | Terry McFlynn | Michael Enfield | | | |
| Wellington Phoenix | Daniel | Gao Leilei | Chris Greenacre | | Manny Muscat$^2$ | Fred$^4$ |
The following do not fill a Visa position: $^1$Those 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); $^2$Australian residents (and New Zealand residents, in the case of Wellington Phoenix) who have chosen to represent another national team; $^3$Injury Replacement Players, or National Team Replacement Players; $^4$Guest Players (eligible to play a maximum of ten games)

### Salary cap exemptions and captains

| Club | Marquee | Junior Marquee | Captain | Vice-Captain |
| Adelaide United | Paul Agostino | None | Travis Dodd | Lucas Pantelis |
| Central Coast Mariners | None | None | Alex Wilkinson | None |
| Melbourne Victory | Archie Thompson | Nick Ward | Kevin Muscat | None |
| Newcastle Jets | Edmundo Zura | Adam D'Apuzzo | Jade North Matt Thompson | Ante Covic Adam Griffiths |
| Perth Glory | None | Nikita Rukavytsya | Jamie Coyne | None |
| Queensland Roar | Craig Moore | None | Craig Moore | None |
| Sydney FC | John Aloisi | Mark Bridge | Steve Corica | None |
| Wellington Phoenix | None | None | Andrew Durante | Tim Brown Jon McKain Richard Johnson |

## Pre-season Challenge Cup

All A-League clubs played the pre-season cup competition held in July and August, and were drawn into two groups. Group A consisted of Adelaide United, Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory. Group B was Central Coast Mariners, Queensland Roar, Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix.
The winner of each group, Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix, met in Wellington on 6 August 2008 for the Pre-Season Cup Final. With the score at 0–0 after 90 minutes, the game went to penalties, Melbourne Victory eventually prevailing 8–7, thus becoming the first team in A-League history to claim all three available trophies, after winning the Premiership and Championship in the 2006–07 season.

## Regular season

The 2008–09 A-League season was played over 21 rounds, followed by a finals series.

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne Victory (C) | 21 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 39 | 27 | +12 | 38 | Qualification for 2010 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 2 | Adelaide United | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 31 | 19 | +12 | 38 | Qualification for 2010 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 3 | Queensland Roar | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 36 | 25 | +11 | 36 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 4 | Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 35 | 32 | +3 | 28 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 5 | Sydney FC | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 33 | 32 | +1 | 26 | |
| 6 | Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 23 | 31 | −8 | 26 | |
| 7 | Perth Glory | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 44 | −13 | 22 | |
| 8 | Newcastle Jets | 21 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 21 | 39 | −18 | 18 | |

### Finals series

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Final | Final | Final |
| 2 | Adelaide United | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 1 | Melbourne Victory | 2 | 4 | 6 | | | | 2 | Adelaide United | 0 |
| | | | | | 2 | Adelaide United | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | Queensland Roar | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Central Coast Mariners | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | |
| 3 | Queensland Roar | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | |

## Statistics
### Leading scorers

| Total | Player | Player | Team | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round | Goals per Round |
| Total | Player | Player | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 12 | | Shane Smeltz | Wellington Phoenix | 1 | 2 | | | | 1 | 2 | | | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | 1 | | 2 | | | |
| 11 | | Matt Simon | Central Coast Mariners | 1 | | 1 | | 2 | | 1 | | | 2 | 1 | | | | | | 1 | | 2 | | |
| 11 | | Daniel Allsopp | Melbourne Victory | | 2 | 2 | | | | 2 | | | | | | 1 | | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 11 | | Sergio van Dijk | Queensland Roar | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 10 | | Eugène Dadi | Perth Glory | | 1 | 2 | | 1 | | | | | | 1 | | | 2 | 1 | | | | 2 | | |
| 10 | | Nikita Rukavytsya | Perth Glory | | 1 | | | | 1 | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | | 2 | | | | | | 1 | | 1 |
| 8 | | Archie Thompson | Melbourne Victory | | | 1 | | 2 | | | | | | 1 | 1 | | | | | 1 | | | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | | Cristiano | Adelaide United | | | 2 | | | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | 1 |
| 8 | | Charlie Miller | Queensland Roar | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | 1 | | | 1 | | 1 | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | | Travis Dodd | Adelaide United | 1 | 1 | | | | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | | | | | | | |
| 7 | | Joel Griffiths | Newcastle Jets | 1 | 1 | | | 1 | | | | | 1 | 1 | | | | 1 | | 1 | | | | |
| 6 | | Mile Jedinak | Central Coast Mariners | | | 1 | | | 1 | 2 | | | | | | 1 | | 1 | | | | | | |
| 6 | | Sasho Petrovski | Central Coast Mariners | | 2 | | | | 1 | | | | | 1 | | 1 | | | | 1 | | | | |
| 5 | | Ney Fabiano de Oliveira | Melbourne Victory | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | |
| 5 | | Kevin Muscat | Melbourne Victory | | 1 | | 1 | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | 1 |
| 5 | | Alex Brosque | Sydney FC | | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 |
| As of the end of the home and away season |||||||||||||||||||||||||
* A goal was scored from a penalty kick
* Two goals were scored from penalty kicks

### Attendance

These are the attendance records of each of the teams at the end of the home and away season. The table does not include finals series attendances.
| Team | Hosted | Average | High | Low | Total |
| Melbourne Victory | 11 | 24,516 | 31,564 | 18,036 | 269,671 |
| Queensland Roar | 10 | 12,995 | 19,111 | 9,118 | 129,947 |
| Sydney FC | 10 | 12,375 | 18,251 | 8,502 | 123,754 |
| Adelaide United | 11 | 11,712 | 23,002 | 7,832 | 128,832 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 11 | 10,465 | 15,546 | 7,865 | 115,110 |
| Newcastle Jets | 10 | 9,729 | 16,022 | 6,268 | 97,294 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | 7,942 | 12,581 | 4,433 | 79,415 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 11 | 7,193 | 10,516 | 5,500 | 79,124 |
| {{{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 | 12,180 | 31,564 | 4,433 | 1,023,147 |
* 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

| Attendance | Round | Date | Home | Score | Away | Venue | Weekday | Time of Day |
| 53,273 | Grand Final | 28 February 2009 | Melbourne Victory | 1–0 | Adelaide United | Telstra Dome | Saturday | Night |
| 34,736 | Major SF (L2) | 14 February 2009 | Melbourne Victory | 4–0 | Adelaide United | Telstra Dome | Saturday | Night |
| 31,654 | Round 9 | 25 October 2008 | Melbourne Victory | 0–2 | Sydney FC | Telstra Dome | Saturday | Night |
| 28,905 | Round 21 | 23 January 2009 | Melbourne Victory | 2–0 | Wellington Phoenix | Telstra Dome | Friday | Night |
| 27,196 | Round 15 | 6 January 2009 | Melbourne Victory | 1–0 | Adelaide United | Telstra Dome | Tuesday | Night |
| 25,398 | Round 17 | 27 December 2008 | Melbourne Victory | 3–2 | Sydney FC | Telstra Dome | Saturday | Night |
| 24,812 | Round 4 | 12 September 2008 | Melbourne Victory | 1–0 | Adelaide United | Telstra Dome | Friday | Night |
| 24,003 | Round 20 | 16 January 2009 | Melbourne Victory | 3–0 | Central Coast Mariners | Telstra Dome | Friday | Night |
| 23,705 | Minor SF (L2) | 13 February 2009 | Queensland Roar | 2–1 | Central Coast Mariners | Suncorp Stadium | Friday | Night |
| 23,447 | Round 18 | 2 January 2009 | Melbourne Victory | 2–1 | Queensland Roar | Telstra Dome | Friday | Night |

## Awards

* The Premiers' Plate was awarded to the Melbourne Victory, who finished on top of the ladder after the regular season.
* The Johnny Warren Medal was awarded to Shane Smeltz from the Wellington Phoenix.
* The Coach of the Year was awarded to Aurelio Vidmar of Adelaide United.
* The Reebok Golden Boot was awarded to Shane Smeltz of the Wellington Phoenix (12 goals - regular season).
* The Rising Star award was awarded to Scott Jamieson of Adelaide United.
* The Fair Play Award was awarded to the Queensland Roar.
* Goalkeeper of the Year was awarded to Eugene Galekovic of Adelaide United.
* Referee of the Year was awarded to Matthew Breeze.
* Foreign Player of the Year was awarded to Charlie Miller of the Queensland Roar.