page_title: History of Sydney FC
section_title: Season 1 – 2005–2006
hierarchical_section_title: History of Sydney FC / Pre-League / Season 1 – 2005–2006
caption_attribution_description: English: Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory FC ticket for 28 August 2005, the inaugural A-League match of the two clubs, which I actually attended.
context_section_description: Sydney FC entered the inaugural A-League season as heavy favourites for the title, and hosted their first league match against Melbourne Victory on 28 August 2005. This event drew a then-record crowd for a regular season match in Australia. The stated figure was 35,208 although this is likely to be an underestimation of the true crowd size. A large number of people who 'walked up' to the game was unmanageable for ticket sellers at the gate, and for only the second time in the history of the SCG Trust (the operators of Sydney Football Stadium), the gates were opened twenty minutes after the game had started, permitting around two–thousand fans to enter for free.
  The season saw mixed results for Sydney in the new competition, including a 5–0 loss to Melbourne in October followed by a 5–1 win over Central Coast Mariners a month later. With a place in the finals-series on the line, Sydney lost just one of their last seven games to secure second place at the conclusion of the twenty–one game regular season, seven points behind Adelaide United. Sydney had beaten Adelaide 2–1 in the final round and again faced them in the Major Semi–Final. Over two legs, they defeated Adelaide 4–3 on aggregate, ensuring a home Grand Final which produced a sell–out crowd of 41,689 (above the stated capacity of Sydney Football Stadium). On 5 March 2006 they faced Central Coast Mariners, the nearest club to Sydney by distance, in the inaugural A-League Grand Final. Sydney won the match 1–0 after Dwight Yorke set up Steve Corica for the deciding goal, to claim the first A-League Championship.
  During the off-season, coach Pierre Littbarski left the club following a dispute over his contract which involved a significant pay cut from his reported $700,000 first year salary. He was replaced by former England international and Motherwell manager Terry Butcher on 17 May 2006. Preparing for their second season, Sydney FC recruited Ruben Zadkovich (previously on a short-term contract with Sydney FC), Alex Brosque (Queensland Roar) and Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand Knights).
caption: Ticket for the inaugural Sydney FC game
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