1988 National Soccer League

The 1988 National Soccer League season, was the 12th season of the National Soccer League in Australia.

NSL 1988
League	National Soccer League
Sport	Association football
Duration	1988
Number of teams	14
NSL season
Champions	Marconi Fairfield
Top scorer	Frank Farina (16)
National Soccer League seasons
← 1987 1989 →

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Wollongong City	26	13	8	5	44	32	+12	34	Qualification for the Finals series
2	Sydney Croatia	26	15	4	7	38	30	+8	34
3	South Melbourne	26	13	8	5	36	29	+7	34
4	Marconi Fairfield (C)	26	12	8	6	46	26	+20	32
5	Sydney Olympic	26	9	9	8	28	22	+6	27
6	Adelaide City	26	10	7	9	36	35	+1	27
7	Sunshine George Cross	26	11	5	10	38	39	−1	27
8	St George-Budapest	26	10	6	10	41	35	+6	26
9	Melbourne Croatia	26	9	6	11	28	33	−5	24
10	Footscray JUST	26	7	9	10	34	32	+2	23
11	APIA Leichhardt	26	8	7	11	28	35	−7	23
12	Preston Makedonia	26	5	12	9	29	35	−6	22
13	Brunswick Juventus (R)	26	7	5	14	31	43	−12	19	Relegation to the Victorian State League
14	Brisbane Lions (R)	26	4	4	18	28	59	−31	12	Relegation to the Brisbane Premier League

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated


Elimination and qualifying Finals			Semi-finals			Preliminary Final			Grand Final



			1	Wollongong City	0 (3)				2	Sydney Croatia	2 (4)

			2	Sydney Croatia (p)	0 (4)				4	Marconi Fairfield (p)	2 (5)

2	Sydney Croatia	2				1	Wollongong City	0

3	South Melbourne	1				4	Marconi Fairfield	2

			3	South Melbourne	1

			4	Marconi Fairfield	2

4	Marconi Fairfield	3

5	Sydney Olympic	1

Player(s) of the Year: Paul Wade (South Melbourne); Frank Farina (Marconi Fairfield)
U-21 Player of the Year: Paul Trimboli (South Melbourne)
Top Scorer: Frank Farina (Marconi Fairfield) – 16 goals
Coach of the Year: Brian Garvey (South Melbourne)