1999–2000 National Soccer League

The 1999–2000 National Soccer League season, was the 24th season of the National Soccer League in Australia.

NSL 1999–2000
League	National Soccer League
Sport	Association football
Duration	1999–2000
Number of teams	16
NSL season
Champions	Wollongong Wolves
Top scorer	Damian Mori (22)
National Soccer League seasons
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

Overview

1999–2000 was the first season since a 1995–96 rebrand to be officially known as the National Soccer League after Ericsson withdrew their sponsorship shortly before the season.^[1][2]

The league was originally scheduled for 17 teams, however with the late withdrawal of the Southern Stars, (previously Adelaide Sharks and West Adelaide) Soccer Australia was forced to redraw fixtures less than a week out from the season. The rescheduled 34-week season saw each team play two teams four times, and the remaining teams two times.^[3][4][5]

Wollongong Wolves won the championship.^[6] Auckland Kingz and Parramatta Power entered the competition.^[7][8]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Perth Glory	34	19	7	8	60	42	+18	64	Qualification for the Finals series
2	Wollongong Wolves (C)	34	17	9	8	72	44	+28	60	Qualification for the Oceania Club Championship
3	Carlton	34	17	7	10	55	39	+16	58	Qualification for the Finals series
4	Adelaide Force	34	16	8	10	57	37	+20	56
5	Sydney Olympic	34	16	7	11	56	40	+16	55
6	Marconi Fairfield	34	16	7	11	53	49	+4	55
7	Newcastle Breakers	34	14	9	11	44	44	0	51
8	Auckland Kingz	34	15	5	14	57	59	−2	50
9	Brisbane Strikers	34	13	10	11	46	40	+6	49
10	South Melbourne	34	14	7	13	55	51	+4	49
11	Parramatta Power	34	14	5	15	52	47	+5	47
12	Melbourne Knights	34	13	6	15	44	57	−13	45
13	Northern Spirit	34	11	3	20	41	58	−17	36
14	Canberra Cosmos	34	9	9	16	44	64	−20	36
15	Gippsland Falcons	34	7	8	19	23	49	−26	29
16	Sydney United	34	5	5	24	19	58	−39	20

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

Finals series

	Elimination Finals							Major/Minor semi-finals							Preliminary Final					Grand Final
								21 May & 27 May 2000												11 June 2000
								2	Wollongong Wolves	1	0	1								Perth Glory		3 (6)
								1	Perth Glory	2	0	2			4 June 2000					Wollongong Wolves (p)		3 (7)
															2	Wollongong Wolves	2
	6	Marconi Fairfield	0	0	0
								28 May 2000							3	Carlton	1
	3	Carlton SC	1	2	3
								3	Carlton			2
								5	Sydney Olympic			1
	5	Sydney Olympic	4	2	6
	4	Adelaide Force	1	1	2

Grand Final

Main article: 2000 National Soccer League Grand Final

11 June 2000
13:30 AWST

Perth Glory	3 – 3 (a.s.d.e.t.)	Wollongong Wolves
Despotovski   20' Milicevic   33' Harnwell   42'	(report)	Chipperfield   56' Horsley   69' Reid   89'
Penalties
Trajkovski   Harnwell   Schwertz   Naven   Wehrman   Edgar Aldrighi   Edwards   Milicevic   Afkos	6 – 7	Young   Robertson   Ceccoli   Pogliacomi   Petrovski   Horsley   Mennillo   Chipperfield   Reid

Subiaco Oval, Perth

Attendance: 43,242

Referee: Eddie Lennie

PERTH GLORY: GK 23   Jason Petkovic DF 2   Rob Trajkovski DF 3   Jamie Harnwell MF 7   Scott Miller   63' MF 8   Troy Halpin FW 9   Alistair Edwards (c) FW 10   Bobby Despotovski   68' MF 11   Kasey Wehrman MF 15   Edgar Aldrighi MF 21   Ivan Ergić   84' DF 22   Ljubo Miličević   16' Substitutes: GK 20   Tony Franken FW 4   Aurelio Schwertz   75'   68' DF 6   Gareth Naven   84' MF 13   James Afkos   63' DF 14   Dion Valle Manager:   Bernd Stange

WOLLONGONG WOLVES: GK 1   Les Pogliacomi DF 3   Alvin Ceccoli DF 4   Robert Stanton   82' DF 5   David Cervinski   46' MF 6   Matt Horsley (c) MF 7   Paul Reid FW 10   Stuart Young DF 11   Scott Chipperfield   90' MF 13   Noel Spencer   46' FW 17   Esala Masi   66' MF 23   Dino Mennillo   28' Substitutes: GK 20   Daniel Beltrame DF 2   George Sounis   46' FW 14   Sasho Petrovski   66' MF 15   David Huxley DF 21   Mark Robertson   106'   46' Manager:   Nick Theodorakopoulos Joe Marston Medal: :  Scott Chipperfield

Footnotes

1. Cockerill, Michael (16 December 1999). "Eve of extinction". The Age. p. 42.
2. Cockerill, Michael (11 September 1999). "Ericsson exit boosts league". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 57.
3. Lynch, Michael (30 September 1999). "Top coaches label draw reshuffle 'ridiculous'". The Age. p. 45. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
4. Toutsidis, Meno (28 September 1999). "Force flies SA flag alone". The Advertiser. Adelaide. p. 66.
5. Toutsidis, Meno (22 September 1999). "Stars could go out". The Advertiser. Adelaide. p. 114.
6. Lynch, Michael (12 June 2000). "Wolves' title in shootout thriller". The Age. p. 6.
7. Cockerill, Michael (22 September 1999). "Parra seek the Power in yellow jersey". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 42.
8. Millmow, Jonathan (3 September 1999). "Kingz primed for bumper debut season". Evening Post. Wellington. p. 23.

References