The A-League is a football (soccer) competition due to start in Australia in August 2005. Following the ending of the National Soccer League, the Australian Soccer Association announced the formation of a new 8-team competition. Each club comes from one city in Australia or New Zealand, in an attempt to concentrate player talent within regions. The cities represented are: Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, Gosford and Auckland (New Zealand). Officials are aiming for average crowds of 10,000 people per game, and a turnover of $50million in the first year. The league will be sponsored by Hyundai, and two games per week will be televised on Fox Sports.

Before the start of the 2005-06 season, many clubs must still finalise players, coaching staff, team jerseys, sponsorship packages and work on building community relationships.

Format

The competition will consist of 21 home-and-away rounds, with the top 4 teams entering a finals series, ending with a grand final in February, 2006. Each club will have a roster of 20 players, controlled by a salary cap of $1.5million, in order to promote an even competition. The roster must include at least three under-20 players. In order to combat fears that the salary cap would reduce the capacity of the clubs to attract crowds through big-name players, the league allows each team to have one 'marquee' player, whose salary is privately funded, and not included in the team's salary cap. The salary cap is expected to increase to $2million in the fifth year.

Logo

The logo for the A-League was designed by Sydney's Coast Design, and is aimed at reflecting the company's new image and the brand's underlying cores. The spherical and three-dimensional logo shape depicts a football, while the two toned ochre colours represent the sun, earth and desert, which are typically Australian. The 'glow' emanating from the centre of the logo depicts the playing season's spring and summer time span, providing warmth and life. The eight 'A' figures that make up the ball shape represent the eight foundation clubs.

Clubs

The eight foundation clubs are:

• Adelaide United FC
  • Chairman: Gordon Pickard
    
  • Coach: John Kosmina
    
  • Home ground: Hindmarsh Stadium (16,500 capacity)
    

• New Zealand Knights Football Club
  • Chairman: Anthony Lee
    
  • Coach: John Adshead
    
  • Home ground: North Harbour Stadium (25,000)
    

• Queensland Roar FC
  • Chairman: Gary Wilkins
    
  • Coach: Miron Bleiberg
    
  • Home ground: Suncorp Stadium (52,000)
    

• Central Coast Mariners FC
  • Chairman: Ian Kiernan
    
  • Coach: Lawrie McKinna
    
  • Home ground: Express Advocate Stadium , Gosford (20,059)
    

• Melbourne Victory FC
  • Chairman: Geoff Lord
    
  • Coach: Ernie Merrick
    
  • Home ground: Telstra Dome (52,000)
    

• Newcastle United Jets
  • Chairman: Con Constantine
    
  • Coach: John Paul de Marigny
    
  • Home ground: Energy Australia Stadium (28,000)
    

• Perth Glory FC
  • Chairman: Nick Tana
    
  • Coach: Steve McMahon
    
  • Home ground: Members Equity Stadium (18,450)
    

• Sydney FC
  • Chairman: Walter Bugno
    
  • Coach: Pierre Littbarski
    
  • Home ground: Aussie Stadium (41,159)
    

The future

While making a relatively modest start in order to ensure future stability, the league is interested in introducing more teams to the competition. The eight foundation clubs have exclusivity clauses for their respective cities valid for 5 years, but there is room to add more teams, including Townsville, Canberra and Hobart. There is also a possibility that the competition may spread into Asia.

External links

• A-League official website
• Football Federation Australia
• SBS The World Game A-League section