A-League Stadiums
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A-League: guide to season 2019-20 The beginnings and the growth of A-League ................................................................................ 3 Competition format ...................................................................................................................... 3 2018-19 Season ............................................................................................................................. 4 Regular Season Champion ......................................................................................................... 4 Hyundai A-League Champion .................................................................................................... 4 Curiosities along 15 years of Hyundai A-League ........................................................................... 5 Plantillas de los equipos A-League temporada 2019-2020 ........................................................... 6 Perth Glory ................................................................................................................................ 6 Sydney FC .................................................................................................................................. 8 Melbourne Victory .................................................................................................................. 10 Adelaide United ....................................................................................................................... 12 Melbourne City ........................................................................................................................ 14 Wellington Phoenix ................................................................................................................. 16 Newcastle Jets ......................................................................................................................... 18 Western Sydney Wanderers ................................................................................................... 20 Brisbane Roar .......................................................................................................................... 22 Central Coast Mariners ........................................................................................................... 24 Western United ....................................................................................................................... 26 A-League stadiums ...................................................................................................................... 28 2 The beginnings and the growth of A-League Australian Professional League is celebrating a birthday: it has just turned 15. Better known as A-League, it was established by Football Federation Australia (FFA) as a successor to the previous format, the National Soccer League (NSL). It is a close league which does not practice promotion and relegation, although this wants to be adapted in the future. This is a young competition with an ever-increasing growth. Its format is being changed this season with the newcomers Western United joining to the professional league making a total of eleven teams. There were 10 teams participating last season. Last time A-League had 11 teams was 2010-2011 season. It was reduced then to ten teams because a team became defunct due to financial reasons. FFA is currently planning to expand A-League but trying not to repeat years ago mistakes. Among the teams that have requested a place there are newly established clubs and clubs from the Australian semi-professional League (NPL), from a level below A-League. One more team is expected to join A-League for season 2020-2021 (Macarthur FC), to increase numbers of teams in the competition. Competition format 2019-2020 season will start on 11 October. As a novelty, this season will count on the participation of 11 teams and calendar will have to be modified in relation to last season, being adjusted from 27 to 29 matchdays. The most important changes are shown below. I. 2019-2020 season will have 29 matchdays with 26 matches for each team (13 home and 13 away). There will be three days off for each team along the season. II. There is a priority for teams to take a day off competition when they play AFC Champions League depending on the calendar of the continental tournament. III. Each club will play at least twice against each other. An asymmetric calendar was set to fit the calendar up to 29 matchdays and 26 matches each club, each team will play three times against six rivals and only two with the remaining four. These six games combination will depend on several factors: - To maximise TV audience. - To promote games with historical rivalry or derbies. - To make the most of games with good and regular attendance. The only thing that did not change in relation to last years is the title-deciding play-off. There are two chances to win titles in A-League. On one hand, the Premier League (Regular Season Champion) and on the other hand the ‘Grand Final’ Champion (A-League Championship). The top six clubs at the conclusion of the regular season progress to play-off, 1st and 2nd qualified wait for a rival in semi-finals meanwhile 3rd plays against 6th and 4th against 5th. You can find the official Hyundai A-League 2019-20 calendar on the link below. http://media.news.com.au/multimedia/2019/A-League/Hyundai-A-League-2019-20-Season- Draw.pdf 3 2018-19 Season Regular Season Champion A team was champion for first time last regular season. Perth Glory was crowned A-League Premier with 60 points. It has been the first time in the competition history that a Western Australian team secures the top of the A-League table at the end of regular season. Glory manager Tony Popovic became champion for second time. He won first time with Western Sydney Wanderers. Popovic was a newly appointed manager on both occasions. Perth Glory conceded the least goals (23 goals) and was the highest goal scorer (56 goals) during Regular Season. They just lost 3 out of 27 games played. Hyundai A-League Champion To get A-League Championship title teams have to be qualified in regular season within top six on the table and pass through play-off knockouts The A-League 2018-19 champions were Sydney FC. They finished 2nd in the regular season. As a 2nd qualified, Sydney FC played two more games: semi-finals, where they 6-1 thrashing of Melbourne and the final against Perth Glory, where match ended 0-0 and was decided in a penalty-shootout with Sydney winning 1-4. Photograph: a-league.com.au 4 Curiosities along 15 years of Hyundai A-League 15 seasons goes a long way. Find some of the anecdotes and information that were left during these three lustra by Australian professional football: 1. Adelaide United player Carl Veart scored the first goal ever. It came at 19th minute game vs Newcastle Jets on 26 August 2005. 2. There are currently seven players who are still playing in the A-League since the beginnings of the competition: Nigel Boogard, Alex Wilkinson, Liam Reddy, Vince Lia, Glen Moss, Tarek Elrich y Andrew Durante. The last one is the player with more games played: 313. 3. Competition top scorer is Besart Berisha with 106 goals in 171 games. 4. The highest numbers of goals scored by a team in a game is eight goals. Adelaide United (2010-2011 season), Wellington Phoenix (2018-2019 season) and Newcastle Jets (temp 2017-2018) did it. 5. Ernie Merrick is the coach with more games ever on the bench of any A-League team. He has coached three teams in total and is now leading Newcastle Jets squad. Next season is his thirteenth overall.. 6. Diego Castro, former Getafe player -among another teams- is the Spanish top scorer throughout A-League history, with 39 goals up to now. He will be trying to continue adding goals for his team, Perth Glory. 7. Isaías Sánchez who left Adelaide United last season is the Spanish player with more games played in the A-League with a total of 150 games, and he obtained Australian citizenship after being more than five years in the South Australian Club. Foto: Diego Castro e Isaías Sánchez (a-league.com.au) 5 Plantillas de los equipos A-League temporada 2019-2020 In the following pages you will find all eleven team’s squads. They are ordered for last season standings and have the full squad with most important data of teams participating on 2019- 2020 in Australia. Perth Glory Coach: Tony Popovic Stadium: HBF Average age: 27,3 Player to follow: Diego Castro TITLE 1 x Regular League 18/19 GOALKEEPER Name Age Nacionality Liam Reddy 38 Tando Velaphi 32 DEFENDER Name Age Nacionality Tomislav Mrcela 28 Alex Grant (N) 25 Dino Djulbic 36 Ivan Franjic 36 Dane Ingham (N) 20 Jacob Tratt (N) 24 Luca Boodnar 19 6 Riliey Warland 17 Gregory Wüthrich 24 James Meredith 31 N* Jugador Nuevo MIDFIELDER Name Age Nacionality Neil Kilkenny 32 Osama Malik 28 Juande 33 Jake Brimmer 21 Brandon Wilson 22 Diego Castro 37 Su-Beon Kim (N) 28 Kristian Popovic 18 Ethan Brooks 19 N* Jugador nuevo FORWARD Name Age Nacionality Christhoper Ikonomidis 24 Joel Chianese 29 Chris Harold 33 Bruno Fornaroli (N) 21 Nick D’Agostino (N) 22 N* Jugador nuevo @PerthGloryfc - FORNAROLI - HARLOLD - MRCELA - TRATT - LOWRY - KILKENNY 7 - CHIANESE - JUANDE - FRANJIC - BRIMMER - REDDY Sydney FC Coach: Steve Corica Stadium: - Nestrata Jubilee Average age: 25,8 - Leichhardt Oval Player to follow: Le Fondre TITLE 3 x Regular League 09/10 - 16/17 -17/18 4 x Grand Final A-League 05/06 - 09/10 - 16/17 - 18/19 1 x FFA Cup Australia 2017 GOALKEEPER Name Age Nacionality