The 2008–09

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's Association football, soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently ...

season was the club's fourth

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

season since the inception in the Australian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league since it first started in 2005. The club competed in the

2008–09 A-League The 2008–09 A-League was the 32nd season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the fourth season of the A-League competition since its establishment in 2004. Two new clubs, North Queensland Thunder and Gold Coast Galaxy had received tentati ...

2008 AFC Champions League The 2008 AFC Champions League was the 27th AFC Champions League, the top-level Asian club football tournament, and the 6th under the current AFC Champions League title. It was the last AFC Champions League before the competition expanded to 32 te ...

and

2008 FIFA Club World Cup The 2008 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth FIFA Club World Cup, a football tournament for the champion clubs from each of FIFA's six continental c ...

. For the 2008–09 season, Adelaide United made some significant signings to strengthen the squad, most notably striker Cristiano from Willem II for two years on a free transfer. Another key signing to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of

Richie Alagich Richie Alagich (born 30 October 1973) is an Australian retired footballer. Club career Early career Born in Woodville, South Australia, Alagich played representative football for his home state from 1985 through to 1991. He started his professi ...

was Alemão formerly of

CA Juventus CA most often refers to: * Canada, a country by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code * California, U.S. state by postal abbreviation CA or ca may also refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U ...

Saša Ognenovski Sasa Ognenovski (; born 3 April 1979) is an Australian retired soccer player who played as a central defender, who played for the Australia national team on 22 occasions, and who last played for Sydney FC in the A-League. He is currently work a ...

joined the club from

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional Association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's Australian soccer league system ...

to help shore up the defence, midfielder Paul Reid joined from Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., while promising youngsters

Scott Jamieson Scott Alexander Jamieson (born 13 October 1988) is an Australian retired soccer player who played as a left back. Club career Blacktown City Jamieson was born in Auburn, Sydney. He has previously played for the Blacktown City in the New S ...

, Daniel Mullen,

Mark Birighitti Mark Romano Birighitti (born 17 April 1991) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for A-League Men side Perth Glory. Born in Perth, Birighitti played youth football at the Australian Institute of Sport before makin ...

and Robert Younis also signed.

Bobby Petta Alfred Manuel "Bobby" Petta (born 6 August 1974) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a left winger (association football), winger. Formed at Feyenoord, he spent most of his career in Britain, most notabl ...

, Shaun Ontong,

Milan Susak Milan Susak (, born 29 January 1984) is an Australian retired footballer who last played for Yangon United as a defender. He is currently a trainer at the youth soccer team of western Sydney. Club career Early years Susak is also of Serbian ...

Dez Giraldi Dezmon "Dez" Wallace Giraldi (born 24 March 1986) is an Australian former soccer player. Club career Giraldi signed with A-League club Adelaide United for the 2006–07 season, after a four-week stint with the Central Coast Mariners during th ...

and Robert Bajic were all released,

Bruce Djite Bruce José Djité (French pronunciation: ; born 25 March 1987) is an Australian executive and former association football (soccer) player. he is South Australian executive director of the Property Council of Australia. Djite made a name for ...

was sold for an A-League record of A$850,000 to Genclerbirligi, whilst

Nathan Burns Nathan Burns (born 7 May 1988) is a retired Australian people, Australian professional Association football, footballer who played for the Australia men's national soccer team, Australian national team. Club career Adelaide United He formerly ...

also transferred to pursue his European dreams, joining Greek first division outfit

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

for A$500,000. Kristian Sarkies, Lucas Pantelis and

Fabian Barbiero Fabian Giuseppe Barbiero (born 2 May 1984) is an Australian footballer who plays for MetroStars, as a central midfielder. Biography Club career Before joining Adelaide United Barbiero played for the North Eastern MetroStars. Barbiero signed ...

all had their contracts renewed. This season, Adelaide United passed the one millionth spectator milestone of total crowds since the inception of the A-League. They reached this achievement when their 7,052nd fan passed through the gate, for the Round 3 match against Wellington. Adelaide United are only the third A-League club to do so thus far, the other two being Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC. The round 18 A-League match against

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

at the

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

saw $23,002 donated to the

Starlight Foundation The Starlight Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1982. Starlight's programs include providing hospital wear, games, and deliveries to hospitalized children. The programs are provided directly to children through Starlight ...

as $1 from every ticket sold for the match went to the charity. By the end of round 27, Adelaide had drawn level for first, equalling Melbourne's 38 points on the ladder, having needed to win 2–0 against the Central Coast Mariners away to win the premiership and only securing a 1–0 win. Adelaide was pushed down to second because of goal difference. The Reds, along with Melbourne, the Queensland Roar and Central Coast, proceeded to the finals where they lost 1–0 against Melbourne Victory in the grand final at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. An early highlight for the season was Adelaide's run to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

against

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a ...

. Because of this performance, Adelaide participated in the

. They played in the play-off round against

Waitakere United Waitakere United was a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They were one of the franchises in the ISPS Handa Premiership. They played their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeū and The Trusts Arena. History Waitakere Uni ...

on 11 December, defeating them 2–1. The Reds' next game was played against AFC Champions League rivals, Gamba Osaka, in the quarterfinal round on 14 December in

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

, Japan. This match, despite Adelaide's grown skill since their first meeting with ACL champions, was won by Gamba Osaka 0–1. Adelaide's last appearance in the Club World Cup was against

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

, from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, to determine the fifth-placed club. The match was played on 18 December, and Adelaide defeated Al-Ahly 0–1. This season also saw the introduction of the

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

W-League team and the

A-League National Youth League A-League Youth, formerly known as the National Youth League and Y-League is a defunct Australian national soccer youth developmental and under-21s league, founded by Football Federation Australia and later run by the Australian Professional Le ...

team. Former Adelaide player

, along with Michael Barnett and former Socceroos

Tony Vidmar Antony Vidmar (born 4 July 1970) is an Australian soccer coach and former player, who serves as an assistant coach with the Australia and head coach of Australia. He was a member of the Australia national team, competed at the 1992 Summer Olympic ...

and

Joe Mullen Joseph Patrick Mullen (born February 26, 1957) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins betwe ...

joined the coaching staff of these teams.

Players

Squad information

First Team roster

Youth Team roster

Transfers

First Team

In Out

Youth Team

In Out

Technical staff

Statistics

Squad statistics

¹ – does not include own goal(s)
* – player(s) who competed in the ACL but not in the

season or the CWC
** – player(s) who competed in the CWC but not in the

season or the ACL

Goal scorers

Attendance at home games

Competitions

Pre-season

A-League

League table

Matches

Finals series

FIFA Club World Cup

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Adelaide United season Adelaide United FC seasons

2008 FIFA Club World Cup participants seasons