Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian association football club based on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The club was formed in 2004 under the backing of the technical director Alex Tobin and Ian Kiernan who would be the first chairman of the club. [1] They played their first competitive match in the A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup against Queensland Roar on the 23 July 2005 with their first league match being on the 26 August 2005 against Perth Glory which they would win 1-0. [2] They would later go on to reach the first A-League Grand Final on 5 March 2006 before losing to Sydney FC by a single goal. [3]
The club was formed in 2004 to be one of the original teams in the A-League, which replaced the National Soccer League. The team had great early successes, winning the first A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup and coming second in the first A-League Championship. Lawrie McKinna was the club's first manager, for five seasons, in which time the team won an A-League Premiership and competed in the AFC Champions League.
Following McKinna's time in charge Graham Arnold was appointed as the club's head coach. Under Arnold, the side won another A-League Premiership and their first A-League Championship, as well as progressing past the group stage of the AFC Champions League for the first time.
In 2021, Nick Montgomery was appointed the head coach role, and under him the club would win another A-League Championship, as well as progressing to the Australia Cup final for the first time.
After Montgomery's tenure, Mark Jackson became the club's head coach, leading the club to a historic treble, winning the A-League Men Premiership. A-League Men Championship and AFC Cup in his first season.
The club has won the A-League Men Premiership three times, the A-League Men Championship three times, the A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup once and the AFC Cup once. This list shows the team's competitive records since their inaugural 2005-06 season. Top scorers in bold also won the A-League Men Golden Boot that season.
Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2004 and entered the A-League as one of the eight original teams for the inaugural 2005–06 season.
Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues.
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory entered the competition in the inaugural season as the only Victorian-based club in the newly revamped domestic Australian league.
Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL).
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club, nicknamed the Reds, was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation. They currently hold a licence from the Australian Professional Leagues. Established in 2003, the club was formed to replace Adelaide City and West Adelaide in the final season of the National Soccer League, and has remained the only A-League club from South Australia. Adelaide United's home ground is at Coopers Stadium in the inner north-western suburb of Hindmarsh.
Tony Popovic is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of A-League club Melbourne Victory.
Stephen Christopher Corica is an Australian soccer manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Australian club Sydney FC. In December 2023, Corica was announced as the inaugural manager of A-League expansion club Auckland FC.
Lawrie McKinna is a Scottish-Australian former football player, coach, and former Mayor of Gosford City Council.
John Paul Hutchinson is a football manager and former player who is head coach of J1 League club Yokohama F. Marinos. He played as a central midfielder for Eastern Pride, Northern Spirit, Manly United, Chengdu Blades and Central Coast Mariners, for whom he served as captain. Born in Australia, he represented the Malta national team.
Alvin Ceccoli is an Australian footballer who played for three A-League clubs and was capped internationally for Australia.
Graham James Arnold is an Australian soccer manager and former player. Arnold was first appointed to work as a head coach of the Australian national soccer team in 2000. After head coach Frank Farina was sacked in 2005, Arnold worked with Guus Hiddink for the 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign, in which they made the second round of the finals. After Hiddink left, he became interim coach of the Socceroos. Arnold went on to qualify Australia's U23 men's national soccer team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Arnold then went on to assist Pim Verbeek for qualification of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Arnold's next move was to take the manager role at struggling A-League club the Central Coast Mariners between 2010 and 2013, where he guided the club to a Premiership and a Championship. He is a member of the Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame. Arnold went on to win two Premierships, one Championship and an FFA Cup with Sydney FC. In August 2018, Arnold was appointed head coach of the Socceroos - Australia's senior men's national soccer team.
The 2010–11 season was the 42nd season of national competitive association football in Australia and 128th overall.