The A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup competition was an annual tournament held for all Hyundai A-League clubs in July and August in the lead up to the start of the A-League

A-League

The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...

 season. The competition featured a group stage and a knockout stage. Commentators did not give much weight to the competition as a guide for performance during the season proper, as injuries or club strategic policy ruled that many teams did not use their best players and often used experimental tactics. The Pre-Season Cup was removed from 2009-10's A-League schedule in order to give the clubs more control over their own pre-season training.

History

2005

The inaugural A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup was won by Central Coast Mariners after they beat the reigning NSL Champions, Perth Glory 1-0 in the grand final. The event was a huge success and attracted clubs to thoroughly prepare for their A-League endevaours.

2006

The second edition of 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

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

, Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast, Queensland

The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...

, Toowoomba

Toowoomba, Queensland

Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...

, Launceston

Launceston, Tasmania

Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...

, Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

, Wollongong

Wollongong, New South Wales

Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...

, Port Macquarie

Port Macquarie, New South Wales

Port Macquarie is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The city is located on the coast, at the mouth of the Hastings River, and has an estimated population of 44,313....

, Orange

Orange, New South Wales

Orange is a city in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney, at an altitude of . Orange has an estimated population of 39,329 and the city is a major provincial centre....

 and Tamworth

Tamworth, New South Wales

Tamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...

. A new format allowed matches for: third, fifth and seventh place as well as a grand final. A trophy was given to the teams that finished first, second and third. Adelaide United won the Grand Final after beating reigning champions Central Coast Mariners 5-4 on penalties after 1-1 at the end of extra time. Sydney FC finished in third place.

2007

The 2007 edition had an identical format as the 2006 edition, it was won by Adelaide United after they came back from 1-0 down to win the game 2-1, 9,606 spectators attended the grand final and just over 3,500 spectators attended the third place play-off where Brisbane Roar beat Central Coast Mariners 3-1 after the roar received two red cards during the match.

2008

Bunbury

Bunbury, Western Australia

The port city of Bunbury is the third largest city in Western Australia after the State Capital Perth and Mandurah. It is situated south of Perth's central business district...

, Caloundra, Cessnock

Cessnock, New South Wales

Cessnock is a city in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road west of Newcastle. It is the administrative centre of the Cessnock City Council LGA and was named after an 1826 grant of land called Cessnock Estate, which was owned by John Campbell...

, Mandurah and Mount Gambier

Mount Gambier, South Australia

Mount Gambier is the largest regional city in South Australia located approximately 450 kilometres south of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border....

 all hosted matches for the first time. The Format changed again, the third, fifth and seventh place matches were removed and the top team from each group played each other instead of the regular knockout format. Melbourne Victory won the last ever A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup after beating Wellington Phoenix 8-7 in a penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 score at the end of extra time.

Format

In the Pre-Season Cup, the teams were evenly placed into two groups. Each team played the others in the group once over three rounds.

Beginning in 2006, an additional bonus round was then held, with each team playing a cross-over match with a team from a different group. In addition to the standard points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw), there were special bonus points on offer for the bonus round matches:

• 1 bonus point for 2 goals scored by a team,
• 2 bonus points for 3 goals scored by a team, or
• 3 bonus points for 4 or more goals scored by a team.
• 4 bonus points for scoring 5 goals by a player.

This format was edited for the 2007 competition. The bonus round was removed, and the bonus points system introduced into each of the first three rounds. All eight teams then entered a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.

Performances by Club

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third Place
	2	0	0
	1	1	0
	1	0	0
	0	2	0
	0	1	0
	0	0	1
	0	0	1

Premiers

Season	Grand Final Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Location	GF Attendance
2005 A-League 2005-06 The 2005-06 season was the first season of the A-League, a domestic club competition for football in Australia. After over 12 months without a national professional club competition, the first match in the A-League was played on 26 August 2005...	21 August 2005	(1)	1–0		Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium, named Bluetongue Stadium due to sponsorship, is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners Football Club who compete in the A-League... , Gosford (1)	6,609
2006 2006 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup 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,...	19 August 2006	(1)	1–1 (5-4) (PSO)		Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium, named Bluetongue Stadium due to sponsorship, is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners Football Club who compete in the A-League... , Gosford (2)	10,453
2007 2007 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup The 2007 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup competition was held in July and August in the lead-up to the start of the A-League 2007-08 season. The opening round started on 14 July 2007...	12 August 2007	(2)	2–1		Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium is a rectangular stadium located in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian A-League team, Adelaide United.... , Adelaide Adelaide Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...  (1)	9,606
2008 2008 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup The 2008 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup competition was held in July and August 2008, in the lead up to the start of the Australian A-League football 2008-09 season....	6 August 2008	(1)	0–0 (8-7) (PSO)		Westpac Stadium Westpac Stadium Westpac Stadium, is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Due to its shape and silver coloured external walls, it is colloquially known as The Cake-Tin to the locals and other New Zealanders... , Wellington Wellington Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range... (1)	9,208