1999–2000 National Soccer League

24th season of top-tier soccer league in Australia

Sports season

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 →

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

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) Champions

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

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

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

References

Australia - List of final tables (RSSSF)

Soccer in Australia

National teams

Men's	Senior B U-23 U-20 U-17 Futsal Beach Paralympic
Women's	Senior U-23 U-20 U-17 Futsal

League competitions

Men's

Level 1	A-League Men
Level 2	National Second Division National Premier Leagues ACT NSW Northern NSW Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia Northern Territory NorZone Premier League Southern Zone Premier League
Level 3–9	Capital Football Premier League State League NSW League One League Two Northern NSW State League 1 Northern Territory Division 1 Queensland Premier League Premier League 2 South Australia State League 1 State League 2 Tasmania Northern Championship Northern Social League Southern Championship Southern League One Southern League Two Southern League Three Southern League Four Victoria VPL 1 VPL 2 State League 1 State League 2 State League 3 State League 4 State League 5 Western Australia State League 1 State League 2

Women's

Level 1	A-League Women
Level 2	National Premier Leagues Women's ACT NSW Northern NSW Queensland South Australia Victoria WA

Cup competitions

National	Australia Cup
State	Capital Football Federation Cup Waratah Cup NNSWF State Cup Football SA Federation Cup Milan Lakoseljac Cup Dockerty Cup Football West State Cup