Who are the teams in the A League?
Posted by Jasper Reed in A-League | 5 February 2006
Continuing the introduction to the new league, we look at where the teams are based.
Who are the teams?
The team franchises were specifically awarded to all corners of the continent to give an even spread of teams and engage as many people as possible. This makes for a some long away trips (the distance between Perth and New Zealand is the furthest in world football for a domestic league match) and local derbies are almost non existent. In an ideal world logistically the teams would be concentrated in the heavily populated Eastern states (New South Wales and Victoria), but that would hardly be fair, would it?
There will be more in depth analysis on the 8 teams, their colours, rivals, coaches and players over the next few weeks, but for now the teams are, alphabetically:
Adelaide United (South Australia)
Central Coast Mariners (New South Wales)
Melbourne Victory (Victoria)
Newcastle United (New South Wales)
New Zealand Knights (New South Wales)
Perth Glory (Western Australia)
Queensland Roar (Queensland)
Sydney FC (New South Wales)
Is there any international competition?
What, apart from New Zealand?! Yes, the top 2 teams each season progress to be Australia’s representative in the Asian Champions League. There has already been some international exposure for the league with Sydney FC contesting the World Club Championship in December by virtue of winning the pre season competition.
What is the standard of the A League?
Sydney’s 5th place in the club World Championship was a pretty good indication of where the standard is right now. There are some outstanding players on the rise, and some old timers winding down, so in this respect it’s much like the lower half of The Championship. Some games have been hotly contested, skilful encounters whilst others have been woeful. The standard is likely to improve once the teams have a couple of seasons playing together and as more overseas based players are tempted to return.
