| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia New Zealand | 
| Dates | 15 July – 19 August 2006 | 
| Teams | 8 | 
| Defending champions | Central Coast Mariners | 
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Adelaide United (1st title) | 
| Runner-up | Central Coast Mariners | 
| Third place | Sydney FC | 
| Fourth place | Newcastle Jets FC | 
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 24 | 
| Goals scored | 44 (1.83 per match) | 
| Attendance | 112,254 (4,677 per match) | 
The 2006 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup was a series in the Australian A-League football competition held in July and August in the lead up to the start of the main season. The opening round was 15 July 2006. The competition featured a group stage, with three regular rounds and a bonus round, followed by a two-week finals playoff. The bonus group round matched up teams against opponents from the other group, and also offered the incentive of "bonus points" based on goals scored (1 point for 2 goals, 2 points for 3 goals, 3 points for 4 or more goals).
The Pre-Season Cup was used to enhance the A-League's profiles by playing pre-season games in regional centres including the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Launceston, Canberra, Wollongong, Port Macquarie, Orange and Tamworth.[1]
Group stage
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Qualification | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Coast Mariners | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 8 | Advance to semi-finals | 
| 2 | Adelaide United | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 3 | Melbourne Victory FC | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 6 | |
| 4 | Perth Glory | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 
| Central Coast Mariners | 2–1 | Perth Glory | 
|---|---|---|
| Petrie  7' Kwasnik  8' | Bertos  62' | 
| Perth Glory | 1–1 | Melbourne Victory FC | 
|---|---|---|
| Young  59' | Allsopp  51' | 
| Melbourne Victory FC | 1–3 | Central Coast Mariners | 
|---|---|---|
| Thompson  4' | Kwasnik  35' O'Grady  63' Spencer  77' | 
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Qualification | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney FC | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 12 | Advance to semi-finals | 
| 2 | Newcastle Jets FC | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | |
| 3 | New Zealand Knights | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3[A] | |
| 4 | Queensland Roar | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3[A] | 
| Queensland Roar | 1–2 | Sydney FC | 
|---|---|---|
| Smits  31' | 
 | 
| New Zealand Knights | 1–1 | Newcastle Jets FC | 
|---|---|---|
| Richter  39' | Bridge  57' | 
| Sydney FC | 2–1 | Newcastle Jets FC | 
|---|---|---|
| Topor-Stanley  2' Middleby  25' | McFlynn  68' (o.g.) | 
Bonus round
| Newcastle Jets FC | 2–3 | Melbourne Victory FC | 
|---|---|---|
| North  17' Carle  65' (pen.) | Report | Thompson  4' Muscat  62' (pen.) Allsopp  84' | 
| Sydney FC | 3–0 | Perth Glory | 
|---|---|---|
| Brosque  26', 27' Petrovski  57' | Report | 
Knockout stage
Bracket
| Playoffs | Finals | |||||||
| A1 | Central Coast Mariners | 2 | ||||||
| Grand final | ||||||||
| B2 | Newcastle Jets FC | 1 | ||||||
| Central Coast Mariners | 1 (4) | |||||||
| Adelaide United (pen.) | 1 (5) | |||||||
| A2 | Adelaide United | 2 | ||||||
| Third place | ||||||||
| B1 | Sydney FC | 1 | ||||||
| Sydney FC | 2 | |||||||
| Newcastle Jets FC | 0 | |||||||
| A3 | Melbourne Victory FC (pen.) | 0 (4) | ||||||
| Fifth place | ||||||||
| B4 | Queensland Roar | 0 (2) | ||||||
| Melbourne Victory FC | 1 | |||||||
| Perth Glory | 0 | |||||||
| A4 | New Zealand Knights | 0 | ||||||
| Seventh place | ||||||||
| B3 | Perth Glory | 1 | ||||||
| New Zealand Knights | 1 | |||||||
| Queensland Roar | 2 | |||||||
Playoffs
| Sydney FC | 1–2 | Adelaide United | 
|---|---|---|
| Carney  43' | Dodd  16' Rees  90' | 
| Melbourne Victory FC | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | Queensland Roar | 
|---|---|---|
| Penalties | ||
| Muscat  Vargas  Thompson  Sarkies  | 4–2 |  Lynch  Fitzsimmons  Ognenovski  Gibson | 
| Central Coast Mariners | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Newcastle Jets FC | 
|---|---|---|
| Petrie  52' (pen.) O'Grady  96' | Coveny  25' | 
Seventh place play-off
| New Zealand Knights | 1–2 | Queensland Roar | 
|---|---|---|
| Bazeley  65' | Reinaldo  49' Vidošić  88' | 
Fifth place play-off
Third place play-off
| Sydney FC | 2–0 | Newcastle Jets FC | 
|---|---|---|
| Petrovski  40' Rudan  68' | 
Final
| Central Coast Mariners | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Adelaide United | 
|---|---|---|
| Gumprecht  77' | Veart  7' | |
| Penalties | ||
| 4–5 | ||
Attendances
| Round | Games | Average | Highest | Lowest | Total | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Season Group Stage | 16 | 4,954 | 12,006 | 804 | 79,252 | 
| Pre-Season Finals | 7 | 4,715 | 10,463 | 1,104 | 33,002 | 
| Totals[2] | 23 | 4,881 | 12,006 | 804 | 112,254 | 
Top goalscorers
3 goals:
.svg.png.webp) Carl Veart (Adelaide United) Carl Veart (Adelaide United)
.svg.png.webp) Danny Allsopp (Melbourne Victory FC) Danny Allsopp (Melbourne Victory FC)
.svg.png.webp) Alex Brosque (Sydney FC) Alex Brosque (Sydney FC)
.svg.png.webp) Sasho Petrovski (Sydney FC) Sasho Petrovski (Sydney FC)
2 goals:
.svg.png.webp) Adam Kwasnik (Central Coast Mariners) Adam Kwasnik (Central Coast Mariners)
.svg.png.webp) Paul O'Grady (Central Coast Mariners) Paul O'Grady (Central Coast Mariners)
 Stewart Petrie (Central Coast Mariners) Stewart Petrie (Central Coast Mariners)
.svg.png.webp) Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory FC) Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory FC)
 Stuart Young (Perth Glory) Stuart Young (Perth Glory)
1 goal:
.svg.png.webp) Travis Dodd (Adelaide United) Travis Dodd (Adelaide United)
.svg.png.webp) Kristian Rees (Adelaide United) Kristian Rees (Adelaide United)
 Andre Gumprecht (Central Coast Mariners) Andre Gumprecht (Central Coast Mariners)
.svg.png.webp) Noel Spencer (Central Coast Mariners) Noel Spencer (Central Coast Mariners)
.svg.png.webp) Kevin Muscat (Melbourne Victory FC) Kevin Muscat (Melbourne Victory FC)
 Darren Bazeley (New Zealand Knights) Darren Bazeley (New Zealand Knights)
.svg.png.webp) Jonti Richter (New Zealand Knights) Jonti Richter (New Zealand Knights)
 Dani Rodrigues (New Zealand Knights) Dani Rodrigues (New Zealand Knights)
.svg.png.webp) Mark Bridge (Newcastle Jets FC Mark Bridge (Newcastle Jets FC
.svg.png.webp) Nicky Carle (Newcastle Jets FC) Nicky Carle (Newcastle Jets FC)
 Vaughan Coveny (Newcastle Jets FC) Vaughan Coveny (Newcastle Jets FC)
.svg.png.webp) Jade North (Newcastle Jets FC) Jade North (Newcastle Jets FC)
 Leo Bertos (Perth Glory) Leo Bertos (Perth Glory)
.svg.png.webp) Spase Dilevski (Queensland Roar) Spase Dilevski (Queensland Roar)
 Reinaldo (Queensland Roar) Reinaldo (Queensland Roar)
.svg.png.webp) Tim Smits (Queensland Roar) Tim Smits (Queensland Roar)
.svg.png.webp) Dario Vidosic (Queensland Roar) Dario Vidosic (Queensland Roar)
.svg.png.webp) David Carney (Sydney FC) David Carney (Sydney FC)
.svg.png.webp) Robbie Middleby (Sydney FC) Robbie Middleby (Sydney FC)
.svg.png.webp) Mark Rudan (Sydney FC) Mark Rudan (Sydney FC)
.svg.png.webp) Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Sydney FC) Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Sydney FC)
References
- ↑ "A-League Pre-Season Schedule Confirmed". 1 June 2006. Archived from the original on 30 August 2006.
- ↑ "Totals" regarding attendances for Pre-Season Cup, including highest and lowest crowds, are excluding the unknown figure for 7th Place Playoff match.