1996–97 NSL Cup - Misplaced Pages

Football tournament season

1996–97 NSL Cup
National Soccer League Cup
Tournament details
Country	Australia
Dates	15 September – 6 October 1996
Teams	16
Defending champions	South Melbourne
Final positions
Champions	Collingwood Warriors (1st title)
Runner-up	Marconi Fairfield
Tournament statistics
Matches played	23
Goals scored	59 (2.57 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Francis Awaritefe (3 goals)
← 1995–96 2014 FFA Cup →

The 1996–97 NSL Cup was the 21st and final edition of the NSL Cup, which was the main national association football knockout cup competition in Australia. The NSL Cup was sponsored by Johnnie Walker and known as the Johnnie Walker Cup for sponsorship purposes.

South Melbourne were the defending champions, having defeated Newcastle Breakers to win their second title in the previous season's final, but they were eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual winners Collingwood Warriors.

Collingwood Warriors defeated Marconi Fairfield 1–0 in the final to win their first NSL Cup title.

Teams

The NSL Cup was a knockout competition with 16 teams taking part all trying to reach the Final in October 1996. The competition consisted of 13 out of 14 teams from the National Soccer League (with the exclusion of Perth Glory) plus Brisbane Lions and two state representative sides of Northern NSW Soccer Federation and South Australian Soccer Federation.

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs remaining
First round	Wednesday 18 September 1996	8	16 → 8
Quarter-finals	Saturday 21 September 1996	4	8 → 4
Semi-finals	Saturday 28 September 1996	2	4 → 2
Final	Sunday 6 October 1996	1	2 → 1

Bracket

Round of 16		Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final



Adelaide City	1

West Adelaide	0
		Adelaide City	0 (1)

		Collingwood Warriors (p)	0 (3)
South Australian Select XI	1

Collingwood Warriors (a.e.t.)	2
				Collingwood Warriors	3

				South Melbourne	1
South Melbourne	4

Gippsland Falcons	2
		South Melbourne	1

		Melbourne Knights	0
Canberra Cosmos	2

Melbourne Knights	4
						Collingwood Warriors	1

						Marconi-Fairfield	0
Wollongong City	1

Marconi-Fairfield	4
		Marconi-Fairfield	3

		Newcastle Breakers	1
Northern NSW Select XI	2

Newcastle Breakers	12
				Marconi-Fairfield	5

				Brisbane Strikers	0
Sydney United	0

Sydney Olympic	2
		Sydney Olympic	1

		Brisbane Strikers	3
Brisbane Strikers (a.e.t.)	2

Brisbane Lions	1

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Adelaide City	1–0	West Adelaide	0–0	1–0
South Australian Select XI	1–2	Collingwood Warriors	1–0	0–2 (a.e.t.)
South Melbourne	4–2	Gippsland Falcons	1–2	3–0
Canberra Cosmos	2–4	Melbourne Knights	1–2	1–2
Wollongong City	1–4	Marconi-Fairfield	1–0	1–3
Northern NSW Select XI	2–12	Newcastle Breakers	1–7	1–5
Sydney United	0–2	Sydney Olympic	0–1	0–1
Brisbane Strikers	2–1	Brisbane Lions	0–1	2–0 (a.e.t.)

Wollongong City v Marconi Fairfield

4 September 1996	Wollongong City	0–1	Marconi Fairfield	Wollongong
19:30 AEST		Report	Ravanello ?'	Stadium: Balls Paddock Referee: Simon Micallef

Marconi Fairfield v Wollongong City

13–14 September 1996	Marconi Fairfield	3–1	Wollongong City	Sydney
	?', ?', ?'	Report	?'	Stadium: Marconi Stadium

Marconi Fairfield won 4–1 on aggregate

UTS Olympic v Sydney United

6 September 1996	UTS Olympic	1–0	Sydney United	Sydney
19:30 AEST	Tome 77'	Report		Stadium: Sydney United Sports Centre Referee: Brett Hugo

Sydney United v UTS Olympic

10 September 1996	Sydney United	0–1	UTS Olympic	Sydney
		Report	Tome 65'	Stadium: Sydney United Sports Centre Referee: Simon Micallef

UTS Olympic won 2–0 on aggregate

South Melbourne v Gippsland Falcons

6 September 1996	South Melbourne	1–2	Gippsland Falcons	Melbourne
19:30 AEST	Spink 22'	Report	Krncevic 20' Villani 34'	Stadium: Bob Jane Stadium Referee: Gerry Connolly

Gippsland Falcons v South Melbourne

13 September 1996	Gippsland Falcons	0–3	South Melbourne	Morwell
19:30 AEST		Report	?', ?', ?'	Stadium: Falcons Park

South Melbourne won 4–2 on aggregate

Brisbane Strikers v Brisbane Lions

7 September 1996	Brisbane Strikers	0–1	Brisbane Lions	Brisbane
19:00 AEST		Report	Allen 18'	Stadium: Perry Park Referee: Daniel Crawford

Brisbane Lions v Brisbane Strikers

15 September 1996	Brisbane Lions	0–2 (a.e.t.)	Brisbane Strikers	Brisbane
15:00 AEST		Report	Brown 27' Hunter 111'	Stadium: Richlands Stadium Referee: Matthew Shield

Brisbane Strikers won 2–1 on aggregate

Canberra Cosmos v Melbourne Knights

7 September 1996	Canberra Cosmos	1–2	Melbourne Knights	Canberra
19:00 AEST	Armstrong 61'	Report	Pondeljak 65' Markovski 85'	Stadium: Bruce Stadium Referee: Con Diomis

Melbourne Knights v Canberra Cosmos

13 September 1996	Melbourne Knights	2–1	Canberra Cosmos	Melbourne
19:30 AEST	Pondeljak 57' Markovski 72' (pen.)	Report	Kelly 90' (pen.)	Stadium: Knights Park Referee: Gerry Connolly

Melbourne Knights won 4–2 on aggregate

Northern NSW Soccer Federation XI v Newcastle Breakers

12 September 1996	Northern NSW Soccer Federation XI	1–7	Newcastle Breakers	Newcastle
19:00 AEST	Tredinnick 56'	Report	Bennett 3', 70' Ironside 56' Sprod 75' Eldridge 81' Heath 83', 89'	Stadium: Jack McLaughlin Oval Referee: G. Leverton

Newcastle Breakers v Northern NSW Soccer Federation XI

18 September 1996	Newcastle Breakers	5–1	Northern NSW Soccer Federation XI	Newcastle
19:00 AEST	Pryce 12' Halpin 44' Ironside 69' Lowe 73' McGuire 85'	Report	Bailey 18'	Stadium: Breakers Stadium Referee: Matthew Breeze

Newcastle Breakers won 12–2 on aggregate

Adelaide City v West Adelaide

15 September 1996	Adelaide City	0–0	West Adelaide	Adelaide
19:30 ACST		Report		Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium Referee: B. Panella

West Adelaide v Adelaide City

18 September 1996	West Adelaide	0–1	Adelaide City	Adelaide
20:00 ACST		Report	Gibson 37'	Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium

Adelaide City won 1–0 on aggregate

Collingwood Warriors v South Australian Soccer Federation XI

15 September 1996	Collingwood Warriors	0–1	South Australian Soccer Federation XI	Adelaide
19:30 ACST		Report	Maxwell 17'	Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium Referee: Wayne Dade

South Australian Soccer Federation XI v Collingwood Warriors

18 September 1996	South Australian Soccer Federation XI	0–2 (a.e.t.)	Collingwood Warriors	Adelaide
17:30 ACST		Report	Babic 18' Taliadoros 91'	Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium

Collingwood Warriors won 2–1 on aggregate

Quarter-finals

Marconi Fairfield v Newcastle Breakers

20 September 1996	Marconi Fairfield	3–1	Newcastle Breakers	Sydney
	Awaritefe 24', 38' Maloney 43'	Report	Ironside 76'	Stadium: Marconi Stadium Referee: G. Leverton

Brisbane Strikers v UTS Olympic

21 September 1996	Brisbane Strikers	3–1	UTS Olympic	Sydney
	Battistin 22' Brown 38' Brayshaw 40'	Report	Zelic 74'	Stadium: Marconi Stadium Referee: Gerry Connolly

South Melbourne v Melbourne Knights

21 September 1996	South Melbourne	1–0	Melbourne Knights
	Curcija 12'	Report		Referee: Gerry Connolly

Adelaide City v Collingwood Warriors

22 September 1996	Adelaide City	0–0 (a.e.t.) (1–3 p)	Collingwood Warriors	Adelaide
		Report		Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium Referee: Con Diomis

Semi-finals

South Melbourne v Collingwood Warriors

27 September 1996	South Melbourne	1–3	Collingwood Warriors	Melbourne
	Spink 47'	Report	Vlahos 25', 74' Taliadoros 70'	Stadium: Bob Jane Stadium

Marconi Fairfield v Brisbane Strikers

28 September 1996	Marconi Fairfield	5–0	Brisbane Strikers	Sydney
	Foster 8' Longo 64' Awaritefe 68', 86' Bingley 77'	Report		Stadium: Marconi Stadium Referee: Eddie Lennie

Final

Main article: 1996 NSL Cup final (October) 6 October 199615:00 AEST

Collingwood Warriors	1–0	Marconi Fairfield
Boutsianis 46'	Report

Bob Jane Stadium, MelbourneAttendance: 2,327Referee: Eddie Lennie

References

Tuffnell, Dwyght. "NEW BOYS SHOCK ELITE". Australian Soccer Weekly. Vol. 17, no. 794. p. 3.
Esamie, Thomas. "1996/97 National Soccer League Cup". OzFootball. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
"Falcons test four players in pre-season National Cup". The Age. 6 September 1996. p. 36. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
Gatt, Ray (9 August 1996). "Cup could be a knockout". The Australian. New national league club Perth Glory have been given permission to miss the Johnnie Walker Cup so they can maximise preparations for their entry into the Ericsson Cup...

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1996–97 in Australian soccer

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National teams

Men's	Senior 1996 OFC Nations Cup finals 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying U23 1996 Summer Olympics finals U20 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship qualifying, finals U17 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship qualiyfing
Women's	Senior

League competitions

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