# 2007–08 A-League

The 2007–08 A-League was the 31st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the third season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the previous two seasons and on the interest generated by Sydney FC and Adelaide United playing in the 2007 AFC Champions League, and the Socceroos competing in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.
Based on their A-League 2006-07 season performances Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory competed in the 2008 AFC Champions League, making it two consecutive seasons in the competition for Adelaide United. Based on the 2007–08 season of the A-League, the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets qualified for the 2009 AFC Champions League, as the competition's Premiers and Champions respectively.
Changes included:
* The New Zealand Knights, who folded at the conclusion of the 2006–07 season, were replaced by Wellington Phoenix.
* An increase of the squad size, from 20 to 23 players, increasing the salary cap from A$1.6 million to A$1.8 million.

## 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 | Cássio | Diego Walsh | Bobby Petta | | Jonas Salley$^1$ | |
| Central Coast Mariners | André Gumprecht | | | | John Hutchinson$^2$ | |
| Melbourne Victory | Leandro Love | Carlos Hernández | Joe Keenan | Grant Brebner | | |
| Newcastle Jets | Denni | Mário Jardel | Song Jin-hyung | | | Jorge Drovandi |
| Perth Glory | James Robinson | Mate Dragicevic | | | Jerry Karpeh$^1$ | |
| Queensland Roar | Marcinho | Reinaldo | Simon Lynch | | Seo Hyuk-su$^1$ | |
| Sydney FC | Juninho | Patrick da Silva | Terry McFlynn | Michael Enfield | | Michael Bridges$^3$ Michael Herbet$^3$ |
| Wellington Phoenix | Cleberson | Daniel | Felipe | George | | |
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 | Captain | Vice-Captain |
| Adelaide United | Paul Agostino | Michael Valkanis | Travis Dodd |
| Central Coast Mariners | Tony Vidmar | Alex Wilkinson | None |
| Melbourne Victory | Archie Thompson | Kevin Muscat | None |
| Newcastle Jets | Mário Jardel | Jade North | Ante Covic |
| Perth Glory | Stan Lazaridis | Simon Colosimo | None |
| Queensland Roar | Craig Moore | Craig Moore | None |
| Sydney FC | Juninho | Tony Popovic | None |
| Wellington Phoenix | Ahmad Elrich | Ross Aloisi | Tim Brown |

## Pre-Season Challenge Cup

The pre-season cup competition was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The opening round began on 14 July 2007. The competition featured a group stage, with three regular rounds, followed by a two-week finals playoff.
The pre-season cup was won by Adelaide United at the final on 12 August 2007.

## Regular season

The league season took a triple round-robin format over 21 rounds between 24 August 2007 and 20 January 2008 with each team playing the other seven teams three times.

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 30 | 25 | +5 | 34 | Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 2 | Newcastle Jets (C) | 21 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 25 | 21 | +4 | 34 | Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 3 | Sydney FC | 21 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 28 | 24 | +4 | 32 | Qualification for 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship and Finals series |
| 4 | Queensland Roar | 21 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 21 | +4 | 31 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 5 | Melbourne Victory | 21 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 27 | |
| 6 | Adelaide United | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 31 | 29 | +2 | 26 | |
| 7 | Perth Glory | 21 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 27 | 34 | −7 | 20 | |
| 8 | Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 25 | 37 | −12 | 20 | |
* ↑ First place qualifies for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage. Winning the 2008 A-League Grand Final earns qualification for the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage, unless the Grand Final winners are also first place, in which case the Grand Final runner up qualifies.
* ↑ Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

### Round 21
## Finals series

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Final | Final | Final |
| 2 | Newcastle Jets | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | 1 | Central Coast Mariners | 0 |
| 1 | Central Coast Mariners | 0 | 3 | 3 | | | | 2 | Newcastle Jets | 1 |
| | | | | | 2 | Newcastle Jets (a.e.t.) | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Queensland Roar | 2 | | | |
| 3 | Sydney FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Queensland Roar | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | |

### Grand Final
## Season 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 | | Joel Griffiths | Newcastle Jets | | 1 | | | | | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | 2 | | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | | Shane Smeltz | Wellington Phoenix | 1 | | | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | 1 | | | | | | 2 | 1 | 1 | | | |
| 8 | | Alex Brosque | Sydney FC | | 1 | | | | 1 | | 2 | | 2 | | | | | | | | | 1 | | 1 |
| 8 | | Jamie Harnwell | Perth Glory | | | | 1 | | | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | 1 | 1 | | | | | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | | Daniel Allsopp | Melbourne Victory | 1 | | | | | | 1 | | | | | | | 1 | | | | 2 | 1 | | 1 |
| 7 | | John Aloisi | Central Coast Mariners | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | 1 |
| 6 | | Sasho Petrovski | Central Coast Mariners | 1 | | | | 1 | 1 | | | 1 | | 1 | | | | | | 1 | | | | |
| 6 | | Reinaldo | Queensland Roar | | 1 | | | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | | | | | 1 | 1 | | | |
| 6 | | Archie Thompson | Melbourne Victory | | | | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | 1 | 1 | | |
| 6 | | Lucas Pantelis | Adelaide United | | | | | | | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | | 1 | | | | 1 | | 1 |
Goal scored from penalty kick

### Attendance

The attendance records of each of the teams at the end of the home and away season, does not include finals series attendances.
| Team | Hosted | Average | High | Low | Total |
| Melbourne Victory | 10 | 26,064 | 31,884 | 20,938 | 260,642 |
| Queensland Roar | 11 | 16,951 | 31,933 | 8,815 | 186,456 |
| Sydney FC | 11 | 16,373 | 33,458 | 10,732 | 180,107 |
| Newcastle Jets | 11 | 13,209 | 16,433 | 8,112 | 145,303 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 10 | 12,741 | 19,238 | 8,113 | 127,409 |
| Adelaide United | 10 | 12,697 | 25,039 | 10,256 | 126,966 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 10 | 11,683 | 18,345 | 8,039 | 116,833 |
| Perth Glory | 11 | 7,596 | 9,614 | 6,252 | 83,557 |
| {{{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 | 14,610 | 33,458 | 6,252 | 1,227,273 |
* 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 |
| 36,354 | Grand Final | 24 February 2008 | Central Coast Mariners | 0–1 | Newcastle Jets | Sydney Football Stadium | Sunday | Day |
| 36,221 | Finals – Week 2 | 8 February 2008 | Queensland Roar | 2–0 | Sydney FC | Suncorp Stadium | Friday | Night |
| 33,458 | Round 21 | 20 January 2008 | Sydney FC | 2–2 | Melbourne Victory | Sydney Football Stadium | Sunday | Day |
| 31,933 | Round 20 | 13 January 2008 | Queensland Roar | 0–0 | Sydney FC | Suncorp Stadium | Sunday | Twilight |
| 31,884 | Round 12 | 10 November 2007 | Melbourne Victory | 0–0 | Sydney FC | Telstra Dome | Saturday | Night |
| 31,545 | Round 2 | 1 September 2007 | Melbourne Victory | 0–0 | Perth Glory | Telstra Dome | Saturday | Night |
| 27,351 | Round 4 | 16 September 2007 | Melbourne Victory | 0–0 | Central Coast Mariners | Telstra Dome | Sunday | Afternoon |
| 27,123 | Round 10 | 26 October 2007 | Melbourne Victory | 0–2 | Newcastle Jets | Telstra Dome | Friday | Night |
| 25,622 | Round 6 | 28 September 2007 | Melbourne Victory | 2–0 | Queensland Roar | Telstra Dome | Friday | Night |
| 25,598 | Round 9 | 21 October 2007 | Melbourne Victory | 2–1 | Perth Glory | Telstra Dome | Sunday | Afternoon |

### Disciplinary

The Fair Play Award was awarded to Newcastle Jets, the team with the lowest points on the fair play ladder at the conclusion of the home and away season.
| 1 point | Yellow Card |
| 2 points | Second Caution Red Card |
| 3 points | Direct Red Card |
| Team | | | | Points |
| Newcastle Jets | 44 | 0 | 0 | 44 |
| Perth Glory | 34 | 1 | 3 | 45 |
| Sydney FC | 42 | 1 | 2 | 50 |
| Queensland Roar | 45 | 3 | 0 | 51 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 46 | 1 | 2 | 54 |
| Adelaide United | 45 | 3 | 1 | 54 |
| Melbourne Victory | 43 | 1 | 3 | 54 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 44 | 3 | 4 | 62 |
| Sydney FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Melbourne Heart | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sydney Rovers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 343 | 13 | 15 | |

## Awards

* The Premiers' Plate was awarded to Central Coast Mariners, who finished on top of the ladder after the regular season.
* The Championship Trophy was awarded to the Newcastle Jets.
* The Johnny Warren Medal was awarded to Joel Griffiths from the Newcastle Jets for the best player in the league.
* The Coach of the Year was awarded to Gary van Egmond of the Newcastle Jets.
* The Joe Marston Medal was awarded to Andrew Durante of Newcastle Jets.
* The Reebok Golden Boot was awarded to Joel Griffiths of Newcastle Jets (12 goals - regular season).
* The Rising Star award was awarded to Bruce Djite of Adelaide United.
* The Fair Play Award was awarded to the Newcastle Jets.