2007–08_A-League

A-League
Season	2007–08
Dates	24 August 2007 – 24 February 2008
Champions	Newcastle Jets (1st title)
Premiers	Central Coast Mariners; (1st title)
AFC Champions League	Newcastle Jets,; Central Coast Mariners
Matches played	111
Goals scored	223 (2.01 per match)
Top goalscorer	Joel Griffiths ; (12 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Michael Theoklitos
Biggest home win	Central Coast Mariners 3–0 Wellington Phoenix; Wellington Phoenix 4–1 Perth Glory; Adelaide United 4–1 Melbourne Victory; Adelaide United 4–1 Wellington Phoenix; Queensland Roar 3–0 Wellington Phoenix; Wellington Phoenix 3–0 Perth Glory; Melbourne Victory 3–0 Wellington Phoenix; Central Coast Mariners 3–0 Newcastle Jets
Biggest away win	Newcastle Jets 1–4 Perth Glory; Perth Glory 1–4 Queensland Roar; Central Coast Mariners 2–5 Melbourne Victory
Highest scoring	Central Coast Mariners 4–5 Sydney FC
Longest winning run	4 games; Newcastle Jets
Longest unbeaten run	6 games; Melbourne Victory
Longest winless run	11 games; Perth Glory
Longest losing run	4 games; Adelaide United; Wellington Phoenix
Highest attendance	33,458
Lowest attendance	6,252
Average attendance	14,610 ( 1683)
	← 2006–07 2008–09 →

2007–08 A-League

31st season of top-tier soccer league in Australia

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.

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

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.^[1]
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.^[2]^[3]

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[table_note_res_GS0.34539599127387-26] 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.

[table_note_WP0.34539599127387-27] Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

[wellingtondecision-1] [1]
"Kiwis alive as Townsville pulls pin". Fox Sports. 19 March 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2007.

[2] [2]
"The time is right to go into the ref's book". The Age. 31 December 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2007.

[smhsalarycap-3] [3]
"A-League lifts its salary cap to $1.8m". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 April 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2007.

[4] [4]
"Agostino Scores on His Debut". FTBL. 17 August 2007. United's marquee Paul Agostino scored in...

[5] [5]
"Injured Adelaide United skipper out for season". Brisbane Times. 10 September 2007.

[6] [6]
"Valkanis and Costanzo Stay With Adelaide". FTBL. 12 February 2008. Valkanis, a member of Adelaide United's inaugural squad back in 2003, was appointed captain prior to the 2007/08 season

[7] [7]
"Dodd Gets The Nod As Skipper". FTBL. 31 July 2008. Travis was vice-captain last year

[8] [8]
"Vidmar announces retirement". ABC News. 14 February 2008. Vidmar joined the Mariners as a marquee signing in the 2006–07 season

[9] [9]
"Captain Wilkinson promoted to Centurion". Central Coast Mariners. Football Federation Australia. 8 February 2011. Wilkinson took the captain-s armband from an injured Noel Spencer late in the second season of the Hyundai A-League

[10] [10]
Lynch, Michael (30 April 2016). "Archie Thompson should play on after leaving Melbourne Victory". The Sydney Morning Herald. As Victory's inauguaral marquee signing...

[11] [11]
"Archie Thompson, Adrian Leijer sign new deals with Melbourne Victory". The Guardian. 2 May 2014. Victory's first ever signing, and scorer, will join up with new marquee Besart Berisha next season, after agreeing a new deal with the club that takes him inside the salary cap

[12] [12]
"Muscat Takes on Coaching Role". FTBL. 29 August 2007. MELBOURNE Victory skipper Kevin Muscat has signed a new two-year contract that sees him taking on a coaching role as well as the captaincy

[13] [13]
"Kevin Muscat appointed as new Melbourne Victory coach". The Guardian. 31 October 2013. Phoenix's Ernie Merrick was the Victory's inaugural coach and Muscat the club's inaugural captain

[14] [14]
"Jardel flies in for Jets". The World Game. SBS. 14 August 2007.

[15] [15]
"North heading to Korea". Newcastle Jets. 13 December 2008. North is a Newcastle Jets foundation player, having been with the club since the 2005/06 Hyundai A-League season, and was instated as captain last season.

[16] [16]
Cockerill, Michael (14 December 2006). "Sydney stars on the radar as Smith goes Glory seeking". The Sydney Morning Herald. One player who will still be at the Glory next season is marquee signing Stan Lazaridis

[17] [17]
"Colosimo new Perth skipper". The World Game. SBS. 8 August 2007. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2008.

[18] [18]
Ritson, Jon (24 July 2007). "Moore Signs With Roar". FourFourTwo. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012.

[19] [19]
"Moore has his hands full". A-League. 28 September 2008. Queensland Roar captain Craig Moore might be....

[20] [20]
Cockerill, Michael (1 August 2007). "Sydney FC end marquee mess with Juninho swoop". The Sydney Morning Herald.

[21] [21]
"Poppa's Yer Ante in Family Affair". FTBL. 19 September 2007. ROAR striker Ante Milicic says there will be no love lost when he faces brother-in-law and Sydney FC captain Tony Popovic this Saturday.

[22] [22]
Maddaford, Terry (13 May 2008). "Soccer: Phoenix patient for marquee player". The New Zealand Herald. Of the marquee player – they had Socceroo Ahmad Elrich filling that role for the latter part of last season...

[NixCaptaincy-23] [23]
"Aloisi named captain of Phoenix". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 June 2007.

[24] [24]
"Durante named Wellington Phoenix skipper". Nine MSN. 17 July 2008. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Midfielder Brown filled the vice-captain's role with the Phoenix last season, also taking the field with the captain's armband despite a frustrating run of injuries.

[25] [25]
Hyundai A-League 2007–08 Season Draw^{[permanent dead link]}, A-League, 23 April 2007.

[28] [26]
Match postponed due to heavy rain affecting pitch conditions.

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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

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Non-Visa foreigner(s)	Former player(s)
Adelaide United	Cássio	Diego Walsh	Bobby Petta		Jonas Salley¹
Central Coast Mariners	André Gumprecht				John Hutchinson²
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 Karpeh¹
Queensland Roar	Marcinho	Reinaldo	Simon Lynch		Seo Hyuk-su¹
Sydney FC	Juninho	Patrick da Silva	Terry McFlynn	Michael Enfield		Michael Bridges³ Michael Herbet³
Wellington Phoenix	Cleberson	Daniel	Felipe	George

Club	Marquee	Captain	Vice-Captain
Adelaide United	Paul Agostino^[4]	Michael Valkanis^[5]^[6]	Travis Dodd^[7]
Central Coast Mariners	Tony Vidmar^[8]	Alex Wilkinson^[9]	None
Melbourne Victory	Archie Thompson^[10]^[11]	Kevin Muscat^[12]^[13]	None
Newcastle Jets	Mário Jardel^[14]	Jade North^[15]	Ante Covic^{[citation needed]}
Perth Glory	Stan Lazaridis^[16]	Simon Colosimo^[17]	None
Queensland Roar	Craig Moore^[18]	Craig Moore^[19]	None
Sydney FC	Juninho^[20]	Tony Popovic^[21]	None
Wellington Phoenix	Ahmad Elrich^[22]	Ross Aloisi^[23]	Tim Brown^[23]^[24]

24 August 2007	Sydney FC	0–1	Central Coast Mariners	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	Petrovski 7'	Attendance: 18,457 Referee: Peter Green

25 August 2007	Queensland Roar	2–2	Adelaide United	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
19:00 UTC+10	McKay 45' Ognenovski 76'	Report Summary	Burns 8' Djité 47'	Attendance: 16,828 Referee: Ben Williams

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^{[lower-alpha 1]}
2	Newcastle Jets (C)	21	9	7	5	25	21	+4	34
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^{[lower-alpha 2]}	21	5	5	11	25	37	−12	20

26 August 2007	Perth Glory	0–0	Newcastle Jets	Members Equity Stadium, Perth
15:00 UTC+8		Report Summary		Attendance: 8,508 Referee: Simon Przydacz

31 August 2007	Central Coast Mariners	3–0	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
20:00 UTC+10	Mrdja 9', 35' Kwasnik 13'	Report Summary		Attendance: 9,052 Referee: Peter Green

1 September 2007	Sydney FC	2–2	Adelaide United	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
17:00 UTC+10	Talay 13' Brosque 74'	Report Summary	Alagich 9' Burns 76'	Attendance: 14,233 Referee: Mark Shield

2 September 2007	Newcastle Jets	1–1	Queensland Roar	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
17:00 UTC+10	J. Griffiths 89'	Report Summary	Reinaldo 70'	Attendance: 13,144 Referee: Simon Przydacz

6 September 2007	Queensland Roar	0–1	Central Coast Mariners	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
20:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	Kwasnik 55'	Attendance: 8,815 Referee: Mark Shield

7 September 2007	Adelaide United	1–1	Melbourne Victory	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
19:30 UTC+9:30	Dodd 83' (pen.)	Report Summary	Vargas 80'	Attendance: 12,231 Referee: Peter Green

9 September 2007	Wellington Phoenix	0–1	Newcastle Jets	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
17:00 UTC+12		Report Summary	Thompson 77'	Attendance: 11,478 Referee: Peter O'Leary

14 September 2007	Sydney FC	1–2	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20:00 UTC+10	Casey 6'	Report Summary	Felipè 8' Daniel 29' (pen.)	Attendance: 11,491 Referee: Matthew Breeze

15 September 2007	Newcastle Jets	1–0	Adelaide United	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
19:00 UTC+10	Bridge 81'	Report Summary		Attendance: 13,627 Referee: Angelo Nardi

16 September 2007	Melbourne Victory	0–0	Central Coast Mariners	Telstra Dome, Melbourne
17:00 UTC+10		Report Summary		Attendance: 27,351 Referee: Mark Shield

21 September 2007	Newcastle Jets	2–2	Melbourne Victory	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
20:00 UTC+10	A Griffiths 5' Musialik 21'	Report Summary	Thompson 65' Caceres 83'	Attendance: 11,179 Referee: Matthew Breeze

22 September 2007	Wellington Phoenix	2–2	Adelaide United	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
19:00 UTC+12	Felipe 65' Smeltz 87'	Report Summary	Diego 70' Djite 78'	Attendance: 12,127 Referee: Ben Williams

23 September 2007	Central Coast Mariners	1–0	Perth Glory	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
19:00 UTC+10	Petrovski 80'	Report Summary		Attendance: 9,274 Referee: Craig Zetter

28 September 2007	Melbourne Victory	2–0	Queensland Roar	Telstra Dome, Melbourne
20:00 UTC+10	Muscat 68' (pen.) Thompson 85'	Report Summary		Attendance: 25,622 Referee: Ben Williams

29 September 2007	Sydney FC	1–0	Newcastle Jets	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
19:00 UTC+10	Brosque 36'	Report Summary		Attendance: 13,755 Referee: Craig Zetter

30 September 2007	Adelaide United	2–1	Central Coast Mariners	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
16:30 UTC+9:30	Djite 19', 88'	Report Summary	Petrovski 37'	Attendance: 11,019 Referee: Matthew Breeze

30 September 2007	Wellington Phoenix	4–1	Perth Glory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
17:00 UTC+12	R.Aloisi 14' Smeltz 42' Coveny 55' Lochhead 83'	Report Summary	Celeski 10'	Attendance: 10,127 Referee: Peter Green

5 October 2007	Queensland Roar	2–1	Wellington Phoenix	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
20:00 UTC+10	Zullo 4' Kruse 45+1'	Report Summary	Smeltz 90+5'	Attendance: 12,458 Referee: Craig Zetter

6 October 2007	Sydney FC	0–1	Melbourne Victory	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
19:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	Allsopp 82'	Attendance: 18,436 Referee: Mark Shield

2007–08_A-League

Clubs

Foreign players

Salary cap exemptions and captains

Pre-Season Challenge Cup

Regular season

League table

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Finals series

Semi-finals

Preliminary-final

Grand Final

Season statistics

Leading scorers

Attendance

Top 10 attendances

Disciplinary

Awards

See also

References

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7 October 2007	Central Coast Mariners	1–1	Newcastle Jets	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
17:00 UTC+10	Pondeljak 62'	Report Summary	Bridge 82'	Attendance: 12,622 Referee: Matthew Breeze

12 October 2007	Adelaide United	4–1	Melbourne Victory	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
19:30 UTC+9:30	Milicevic 14' (o.g.) Dodd 15', 54' Pantelis 90+2'	Report Summary	Thompson 45+2'	Attendance: 13,372 Referee: Mark Shield

12 October 2007	Perth Glory	3–3	Sydney FC	Members Equity Stadium, Perth
20:00 UTC+8	Harnwell 53' Robinson 59' Prentice 69'	Report Summary	Brosque 40', 90+3' Patrick 72'	Attendance: 6,876 Referee: Matthew Breeze

14 October 2007	Newcastle Jets	2–1	Wellington Phoenix	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
15:00 UTC+10	Holland 17' J. Griffiths 40'	Report Summary	Old 90+4'	Attendance: 11,947 Referee: Ben Williams

19 October 2007	Newcastle Jets	1–1	Queensland Roar	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
20:00 UTC+10	J. Griffiths 49' (pen.)	Report Summary	Kruse 1'	Attendance: 12,326 Referee: Mark Shield

20 October 2007	Sydney FC	0–1	Adelaide United	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
19:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	Pantelis 53'	Attendance: 12,922 Referee: Matthew Breeze

21 October 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1–2	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
17:00 UTC+12	Elrich 24'	Report Summary	Heffernan 16' Petrovski 90+1'	Attendance: 10,560 Referee: Peter Green

26 October 2007	Melbourne Victory	0–2	Newcastle Jets	Telstra Dome, Melbourne
20:00 UTC+10		Report Summary	A. Griffiths 8' J. Griffiths 88'	Attendance: 27,123 Referee: Matthew Breeze

27 October 2007	Queensland Roar	3–3	Perth Glory	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
19:00 UTC+10	Marcinho 45+3' Lynch 69' (pen.), 86'	Report Summary	Moore 18' (o.g.) Harnwell 43' Coyne 90+3'	Attendance: 16,715 Referee: Ben Williams

28 October 2007	Sydney FC	3–2	Central Coast Mariners	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
15:00 UTC+10	Brosque 16', 26' Popovic 32'	Report Summary	Hutchinson 27', 56'	Attendance: 17,652 Referee: Mark Shield