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Hey there, I'm Peter (the good one), and I'm going to be covering Australian Football! Not that rubbish Aussie Rules football mind. No, I mean the Beautiful Game. The reason you're all here (Unless you're here for my incandescent talent, in which case that's good too).
So how does the top flight of Australia work? Not at all like European football. They don't actually work as football clubs, but rather as franchises (like most American sports leagues), with each team requiring a license to compete, rather than getting into the league by merit alone. There is no promotion or relegation, and it is not connected to the lower, regional leagues. It was founded in 2004, with the first season in 2005, to replace the defunct National Soccer League.
Name: Hyundai A-League
Inaugural Season: 2005-2006
Competing Teams:
1. Adelaide United
Each team can have a maximum of 5 players registered (more can be at the club, but can't play in matches) who are from abroad (known as Visa players). Of these, one is designated as the Marquee player, who is exempt from the salary cap. The salary cap applies to all teams and limits their squad to an annual salary of AUS$2.35m for all players. The marquee player does not count towards this total, and so can be paid a lot more than the average (allowing teams to compete with other countries to sign expensive players). The highest paid Australian player is also designated as the clubs single Domestic Marquee player, and is also exempt from the salary cap. Still with me? Good.
These rules are put in place purely to stop large spending by clubs which would leave them in debt, as is the case in Europe (Portsmouth being the best current example).
Structure: As for league structure...bear with me, this can get slightly complicated. To start with, each team plays each other 3 times - home, away, home, or away, home, away (the team that hosts the home ties twice alternates each year per matchup). This brings us to a total of 27 matches per team. At the end of the regular season, which runs throughout the summer, there is a finals series held. The team who topped the league is the winner, or Premier, of the league for that season.
This series comprises the top 6 teams in the league (I know! You can come 6th and still win!). I really...I really can't explain this properly through words - an example will show you. Take each team's name as their position in the table at the end of the regular season.
Minor Semi Final
1. Team 3 vs Team 6
2. Team 4 vs Team 5
Minor Final
Winner 1 vs Winner 2
Major Final
Team 1 vs Team 2
Preliminary Final
Winner of Minor Final vs Loser of Major Final
Grand Final
Winner Major Final vs Winner Preliminary Final
The winner goes is declared the Champion for that season, and is given a spot in the next season's Asian Champions League, along with the Premier.^That's a lotta finals, no wonder Aussie attendances aren't as big as Europe. Which handily brings me on to...
Attendance:
Australia's national sports are Rugby and Cricket. There isn't really much place for football, but that doesn't stop a fairly decent crowd showing up for most games. For example, the opening game of the season, Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, attracted 40,000 people - one of the highest the league had ever seen (In fact, Melbourne are arguably the best supported club in the country, with 6 out of the top 10 attendances this season being set at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne). Whereas average attendances range from 26,000 (Melbourne Victory) to 4,000 (Gold Coast United), this can all be chalked up to the massive distances teams have to travel to play each other, with Perth travelling 2,250 miles to face Brisbane.
Winners:Premiers:
2005-06: Adelaide United
2006-07: Melbourne Victory
2007-08: Central Coast Mariners
2008-09: Melbourne Victory
2009-10: Sydney FC
2010-11: Brisbane Roar
Champions:
2005-06: Sydney FC
2006-07: Melbourne Victory
2007-08: Newcastle Jets
2008-09: Melbourne Victory
2009-10: Sydney FC
2010-11: Brisbane Roar