# 2006–07 A-League

The 2006–07 A-League was the 30th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the second season of the A-League since its establishment the previous season. 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 A$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).
The television advertisement campaign used for the 2006–07 season was the same as the previous season, with different music. Scribe's song "Not Many" was replaced with Manuel Neztic's "Kickin Down". The second season was marketed as "A-League: Version 2".

## Clubs

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Adelaide United | Adelaide | Hindmarsh Stadium | 17,000 |
| Central Coast Mariners | Gosford | Bluetongue Stadium | 20,119 |
| Melbourne Victory | Melbourne | Olympic Park Stadium | 18,500 |
| Melbourne Victory | Melbourne | Telstra Dome | 56,347 |
| Newcastle Jets | Newcastle | Energy Australia Stadium | 26,164 |
| New Zealand Knights | Auckland | North Harbour Stadium | 25,000 |
| Perth Glory | Perth | Members Equity Stadium | 18,156 |
| Queensland Roar | Brisbane | Suncorp Stadium | 52,500 |
| Sydney FC | Sydney | Aussie Stadium | 42,500 |

### Foreign players

| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Visa 3 | Visa 4 | Non-Visa foreigner(s) | Former player(s) |
| Adelaide United | Diego | Fernando | Qu Shengqing | Bobby Petta | | Romário$^4$ |
| Central Coast Mariners | André Gumprecht | Jamie McMaster | Wayne O'Sullivan | | John Hutchinson$^2$ | |
| Melbourne Victory | Alessandro | Fred | James Robinson | Grant Brebner | | Geoffrey Claeys Claudinho$^4$ |
| New Zealand Knights | Darren Bazeley | Malik Buari | Neil Emblen | Dani Rodrigues | Fernando$^3$ Alen Marcina$^3$ Gao Leilei$^3$ Li Yan$^3$ Hamza Mohammed$^3$ Sean Devine$^1$ Scot Gemmill$^3$ | Dean Gordon$^3$ |
| Newcastle Jets | Milton Rodríguez | Tim Brown | Steven Old | | Vaughan Coveny$^1$ | |
| Perth Glory | Leo Bertos | Jeremy Christie | Danny Hay | | Mark Lee$^1$ Stuart Young$^1$ | |
| Queensland Roar | Reinaldo | Marcus Wedau | Simon Lynch | Remo Buess | Zhang Yuning$^3$ Stuart McLaren$^1$ Seo Hyuk-su$^1$ | |
| Sydney FC | Jeremy Brockie | Terry McFlynn | | | Jonas Salley$^1$ | Benito Carbone$^4$ Dwight Yorke |
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 | Qu Shengqing | Ross Aloisi | None |
| Central Coast Mariners | Tony Vidmar | Noel Spencer Alex Wilkinson | None |
| Melbourne Victory | Archie Thompson | Kevin Muscat | Archie Thompson |
| New Zealand Knights | Scot Gemmill | Darren Bazeley | None |
| Newcastle Jets | Paul Okon | Paul Okon | None |
| Perth Glory | Stan Lazaridis | Jamie Harnwell | None |
| Queensland Roar | None | Chad Gibson | None |
| Sydney FC | Dwight Yorke | Mark Rudan | None |

## Pre-Season Challenge Cup

This competition was held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League season. The opening round was 15 July 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.
The pre-season cup was won by Adelaide United at the final on 19 August 2006.

## Regular season

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

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne Victory (C) | 21 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 41 | 20 | +21 | 45 | Qualification for 2008 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 2 | Adelaide United | 21 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 32 | 27 | +5 | 33 | Qualification for 2008 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series |
| 3 | Newcastle Jets | 21 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 32 | 30 | +2 | 30 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 4 | Sydney FC | 21 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 29 | 19 | +10 | 29 | Qualification for Finals series |
| 5 | Queensland Roar | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 25 | 27 | −2 | 29 | |
| 6 | Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 26 | −4 | 24 | |
| 7 | Perth Glory | 21 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 24 | 30 | −6 | 20 | |
| 8 | New Zealand Knights | 21 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 39 | −26 | 19 | Disbanded at end of season |
* ↑ Sydney FC were penalised three competition points following round 18 due to salary cap breaches which occurred during the 2005–06 season
* ↑ New Zealand Knights cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

### Results
#### Round 21
## Finals series

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Final | Final | Final |
| 2 | Adelaide United | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 6 |
| 1 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | 2 | Adelaide United | 0 |
| | | | | | 2 | Adelaide United (p) | 1 (4) | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | Newcastle Jets | 1 (3) | | | |
| 4 | Sydney FC | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | |
| 3 | Newcastle Jets | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | |

### Semi-finals

Newcastle Jets won 3–2 on aggregate.
Melbourne Victory won 2–1 on aggregate.

### Grand Final

The Asian Football Confederation announced on 21 November 2006 that Adelaide United and Sydney FC would represent Australia in the 2007 AFC Champions League. Despite an appeal by the Football Federation Australia, it was determined that the 2005–06 A-League premiers and champions would qualify and not those from the current season.
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.

## Season statistics
### Leading goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Archie Thompson | Melbourne Victory | 15 |
| 2 | Daniel Allsopp | Melbourne Victory | 12 |
| 3 | Damian Mori | Central Coast Mariners (6), Queensland Roar (2) | 8 |
| 3 | Mark Bridge | Newcastle Jets | 8 |
| 5 | Adam Kwasnik | Central Coast Mariners | 7 |
| 5 | Jamie Harnwell | Perth Glory | 7 |

### Most yellow cards

| Rank | Player | Team | Yellow Cards |
| 1 | Adrian Leijer | Melbourne Victory | 7 |
| 2 | Nick Carle | Newcastle Jets | 6 |
| 2 | Andrew Durante | Newcastle Jets | 6 |
| 4 | Kevin Muscat | Melbourne Victory | 5 |
| 4 | Terry McFlynn | Sydney FC | 5 |
| 4 | Simon Colosimo | Perth Glory | 5 |

### Attendances

| Team | Hosted | Average | High | Low | Total |
| Melbourne Victory | 11 | 27,728 | 50,333 | 15,563 | 305,011 |
| Queensland Roar | 10 | 16,465 | 32,371 | 10,040 | 164,653 |
| Sydney FC | 10 | 14,999 | 20,881 | 9,871 | 149,986 |
| Adelaide United | 11 | 12,162 | 16,378 | 8,785 | 133,782 |
| Newcastle Jets | 10 | 11,442 | 20,980 | 4,635 | 114,420 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 11 | 9,828 | 15,404 | 4,644 | 108,112 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | 7,671 | 9,978 | 6,251 | 76,709 |
| New Zealand Knights | 11 | 3,014 | 7,304 | 1,632 | 33,156 |
| {{{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 | 12,927 | 50,333 | 1,632 | 1,085,829 |

### Highest attendances

* 55,436: Melbourne Victory vs Adelaide United, 18 February 2007 (Grand Final)
* 50,333: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, 8 December 2006 (Round 16)
* 47,413: Melbourne Victory vs Adelaide United, 4 February 2007 (Finals Week 2)
* 39,730: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, 2 September 2006 (Round 2)
* 32,371: Queensland Roar vs Sydney FC, 20 January 2007 (Round 21)

## Awards

The 2007 A-League Awards ceremony was held on 27 February 2007.
| Award | Winner | Club |
| Johnny Warren Medal | Nick Carle | Newcastle Jets |
| Young Footballer of the Year | Adrian Leijer | Melbourne Victory |
| Golden Boot Award | Danny Allsopp | Melbourne Victory |
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Michael Theoklitos | Melbourne Victory |
| Coach of the Year | Ernie Merrick | Melbourne Victory |
| Fair Play Award | Perth Glory | Perth Glory |
| Referee of the Year | Mark Shield |