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The 2003–04 National Soccer League season was the 28th and final season of the National Soccer League in Australia. Perth Glory were crowned both premiers and champions after winning both the league and grand final.

Overview

The season was remembered as the end of an era for the national league, following the announcement in 2003 that the national competition would be wholly scrapped in response to the Crawford Report into soccer in Australia. The end of the NSL led to the formation of the A-League, a new national competition that began in 2005.

The season was played as a single league, home-and-away format with top six teams qualifying for a finals series. Adelaide City withdrew from the competition shortly before the start of the season, leading to the hasty formation of Adelaide United to take their place.

At the beginning of the season, it became obvious that the title would be fought between Perth Glory and Parramatta Power. The Champions Glory lost several of their title-winning squad, most notably their dominant midfield, most of whom to the Power. Parramatta, backed by the Leagues Club, bought big for the last year including notably Ante Milicic and Sasho Petrovski, looking to simply buy the title.

This tactic seemed to be working for a large part of the season, as Power held off major challengers Perth, including a memorable 6–0 hiding, Glory's worst-ever loss. However, a turning point came and Perth began to close the gap both in results and performance terms, and won the Premiership by 6 points in the end. Neither of these sides were ever really matched by other sides during the season. Perhaps the surprise of the season was Adelaide United, who surprised all by making the finals and nearly breaking Perth's all-time average season record attendance in the process, with the biggest crowds of the season. This was most notable as the club was thrown together just a few weeks before the season to take the place of former heavyweight Adelaide City.

In the finals series, notably Perth were comprehensively beaten in both legs of the major semi-final, while Adelaide progressed to the minor semi-final in their first ever season, only to be thrashed by Glory, just highlighting the gap between the top two sides and the rest of the league.

The last ever NSL Grand Final was held at Parramatta Stadium, due to Power winning the major semi-final. The Final was attended by a very measly crowd of just over 9,000, and played in thick rain from kick-off. Power's slick passing game was somewhat hurt by the poor conditions, and the game turned into something of a scrap. No goals were scored in 90 minutes of football, so the game went to extra-time where young Glory striker Nik Mrdja slotted to give Glory their fifth National League title and second NSL Championship, while Power finished the season with nothing to show for their quality and dominance.

Regular season

League table

Home and away season

Round 1

Wollongong Wolves	0 – 1	Sydney United
	Report	Vrkic 19' (Pen)

Football Kingz	1 – 2	Newcastle United
Ngata 74'	Report	Masi 19' Wheelhouse 29'

Melbourne Knights	1 – 1	Marconi Stallions
Pelikan 46'	Report	Maloney 27'

Northern Spirit	1 – 3	Brisbane Strikers
Hutchinson 53'	Report	Morley 15', 45' Rose 62'

Round 2

Newcastle United	2 – 1	Northern Spirit
Wheelhouse 2' (Pen), 77' (Pen)	Report	Macallister 28'

Brisbane Strikers	1 – 1	Sydney Olympic
Pilic 53'	Report	Bakis 63'

Marconi Stallions	2 – 1	Wollongong Wolves
Maloney 9', 18'		Majurovski 73'

Sydney United	2 – 1	Football Kingz
Langdon 58', Zmire 62', Ozbey  85'	Report	Cunico 73' (OG)

Perth Glory	3 – 0	Melbourne Knights
Mori 82', Pondeljak 87', Caceres 88'	Report

Adelaide United	0 – 2	Parramatta Power
	Report	Elrich 5', Milicic 52'

Round 3

Wollongong Wolves	0 – 4	South Melbourne FC
	Report	Coveny 16', 53', Curcija 78', Poutakidis 92'

Northern Spirit	4 – 0	Sydney Olympic
Richter 47', Ferguson 57', Macallister 68', Petrie 81'	Report

Parramatta Power	4 – 1	Football Kingz
Dodd 33', 36', 73', Elrich 94'	Report	Martin 57'

Marconi Stallions	1 – 1	Newcastle United
Renaud  72', Costanzo 92'	Report	Middleby 54', Thomas  72'

Melbourne Knights	3 – 4	Adelaide United
Vasilevski 53', Marinos 57', 90'	Report	Alagich 45', Aloisi 62', Brooks 65', Veart 83'

Round 4

Newcastle United	1 – 1	Parramatta Power
Ceccoli 28' (o.g.)	Report	Dodd 45'

Football Kingz	1 – 3	Perth Glory
Ngata 64'	Report	Despotovski 48', Pondeljak 57', Mori 67'

Melbourne Knights	1 – 2	Wollongong Wolves
Pelikan 11'		Young 7', Hawrysiuk 83'

South Melbourne FC	0 – 1	Brisbane Strikers
	Report	Brain 47'

Sydney Olympic	1 – 0	Sydney United
Baird 62'	Report

Marconi Stallions	2 – 1	Northern Spirit
Harris 21', Spiteri 54'	Report	Petrie 40'

Round 5

Adelaide United	1 – 0	Brisbane Strikers
Veart 38'	Report

Football Kingz	1 – 2	Melbourne Knights
Ngata 4'	Report	Pelikan 26', Oksuz 72'

Sydney Olympic	1 – 2	Marconi Stallions
Schirripa 92'		Webb 8', Spiteri 80'

Sydney United	0 – 2	Parramatta Power
	Report	Milicic 15', 92'

South Melbourne	4 – 1	Newcastle United
Coveny 24' (pen.), 39', 76', Perosh 56' (o.g.)	Report	Owens 30'

Northern Spirit	3 – 5	Perth Glory
O'Sullivan 6', 34', Osman 38'	Report	Pondeljak 11', Mori 12', Despotovski 14', Hassell 43', 48'

Round 6

Newcastle United	2 – 3	Adelaide United
Owens 16', R. Griffiths 61'	Report	Veart 64' (pen.), 78', Vidmar 73'

Marconi Stallions	1 – 2	Parramatta Power
Anabalon 46'	Report	Buonavoglia 33', Thompson 76'

Melbourne Knights	0 – 1	Northern Spirit
		Macallister 2'

Sydney Olympic	0 – 2	Perth Glory
	Report	Mori 37', 76'

Wollongong Wolves	1 – 2	Football Kingz
Hawrysiuk 2'		Hickey 9', Ngata 48' (pen.)

Round 7

Brisbane Strikers	2 – 1	Newcastle United
Morley 36', Brownlie 45'	Report	Tsekenis 90'

Parramatta Power	6 – 0	Perth Glory
Milicic 8', 37', 44', Buonavoglia 29', 49', Colosimo 90'	Report

Sydney Olympic	0 – 2	Melbourne Knights
	Report	Pelikan 19', 41'

Northern Spirit	3 – 0	Wollongong Wolves
Petrie 35', 64', 80'	Report

South Melbourne	2 – 0	Marconi Stallions
Boutsianis 62', Coveny 69'	Report

Round 8

Wollongong Wolves	0 – 1	Sydney Olympic
	Report	Cardozo 74' (pen.)

Football Kingz	0 – 2	Northern Spirits
	Report	Macallister 55', Ferguson 68' (pen.)

Parramatta Power	4 – 0	Melbourne Knights
Kovacic 37' (o.g.), Milicic 54', 62', Dodd 78'	Report

Perth Glory	1 – 0	South Melbourne
Despotovski 62' (pen.)	Report

Sydney United	3 – 0	Brisbane Strikers
Collina 7', Doumanis 56' (pen.), 89'

Round 9

Wollongong Wolves	3 – 1	Parramatta Power
Arrarte 29', Hawrysiuk 41', 54'	Report	Ceccoli 33'

Marconi Stallions	1 – 0	Brisbane Strikers
Carle 68'	Report

Sydney Olympic	2 – 2	Football Kingz
Ishida 10', Cardozo 36'		Rowley 3', Souris 45' (o.g.)

Melbourne Knights	0 – 5	South Melbourne
	Report	Panopoulos 14', Trimboli 22', 34', Coveny 39', Curcija 89'

Adelaide United	1 – 4	Perth Glory
Kemp 19'	Report	Pondeljak 15', 92', Mori 16', Despotovski 49'

Round 10

Newcastle United	0 – 1	Sydney Olympic
		Caravella 84'

Brisbane Strikers	4 – 2	Parramatta Power
Moon 34', Rose 71', 86', Morley 90'	Report	Milicic 11', Rech 58'

Football Kingz	3 – 1	Marconi Stallions
Tambouras 28', Martin 65', Midtsian 78'	Report	Carle 86' (pen.)

Northern Spirit	0 – 1	Sydney United
	Report	Šantalab 4'

Wollongong Wolves	2 – 1	Perth Glory
Young 3', Nwaogazi 54'	Report	Mori 69'

South Melbourne	2 – 1	Adelaide United
Kovacevic 23', 61'	Report	Veart 70'

Round 11

Adelaide United	2 – 2	Wollongong Wolves
Valkanis 48', Saric 81'	Report	Nwaogazi 20', Blake 90'

Newcastle United	1 – 0	Perth Glory
Masi 82'	Report

Parramatta Power	3 – 0	Northern Spirit
Milicic 19', 47', Elrich 96'	Report

Brisbane Strikers	1 – 0	Melbourne Knights
Moon 66'	Report

South Melbourne	6 – 0	Football Kingz
Curcija 3', 57', 72', 85', Laurie 34', Tunbridge 90'

Sydney United	1 – 1	Marconi Stallions
Collina 80'	Report	Spiteri 53'

Round 12

Wollongong Wolves	1 – 1	Brisbane Strikers
Nwaogazi 46'	Report	Brain 13'

Football Kingz	1 – 3	Adelaide United
Ngata 80'	Report	Pellegrino 50', Smeltz 76', Veart 86'

Sydney Olympic	0 – 1	Parramatta Power
		Milicic 78'

Melbourne Knights	1 – 1	Newcastle United
Razov 49'		R. Griffiths 58'

Northern Spirit	3 – 1	South Melbourne
Petrie 45', 56', Fisher 88'	Report	Curcija 54'

Perth Glory	2 – 0	Sydney United
Mori 20', Mrdja 81'	Report

Round 13

Newcastle United	2 – 0	Wollongong Wolves
R. Griffiths 6', Libbesson 91'	Report

Adelaide United	1 – 0	Northern Spirit
Saric 8'	Report

Brisbane Strikers	1 – 1	Football Kingz
McLaren 10'	Report	Rowley 14'

Marconi Stallions	0 – 2	Perth Glory
	Report	Mori 68', Despotovski 73'

South Melbourne	4 – 2	Sydney Olympic
Tunbridge 7', Poutakidis 25', Curcija 32', Boutsianis 78'		Augerinos 36', Bakis 62'

Sydney United	3 – 1	Melbourne Knights
Babic 47', Cunico 56', Parisi 66'	Report	Vasilevski 83'

Round 14

Newcastle United	2 – 0	Football Kingz
Johnson 34', Deans 55'	Report

Brisbane Strikers	3 – 1	Northern Spirit
Morley 56', Brownlie 82', Pilic 87'	Report	Kwasnik 46'

Marconi Stallions	0 – 1	Melbourne Knights
	Report	Marinos 92'

Sydney United	0 – 1	Wollongong Wolves
	Report	Nwaogazi 47'

Adelaide United	1 – 1	Sydney Olympic
Thompson 87'	Report	Cardozo 62'

South Melbourne	2 – 1	Parramatta Power
Coveny 34' (pen.), 62' (pen.)	Report	Rech 15'

Round 15

Football Kingz	0 – 1	Sydney United
	Report	Haliti 45'

Wollongong Wolves	3 – 3	Marconi Stallions
Young 2', 68', Nwaogazi 81'	Report	Carle 45', Maloney 52', Brosque 77'

Parramatta Power	1 – 2	Adelaide United
Petrovski 44'	Report	Aloisi 10', Veart 18'

Sydney Olympic	1 – 1	Brisbane Strikers
Bakis 53'		Pilic 12'

Melbourne Knights	0 – 2	Perth Glory
	Report	Mrdja 32', 74'

Northern Spirit	1 – 1	Newcastle United
Thomas 62' (o.g.)	Report	Masi 34'

Round 16

Perth Glory	6 – 1	Brisbane Strikers
Despotovski 26', Byrnes 45', Hassell 55', Caceres 74', Pondeljak 76', Mrdja 84'	Report	Brownlie 55' (pen.)

South Melbourne	2 – 3	Wollongong Wolves
Boutsianis 67', Coveny 81'	Report	Arrarte 13', Nwaogazi 76', Balabanel 90'

Sydney Olympic	1 – 0	Northern Spirit
Baird 47' (pen.)	Report

Football Kingz	1 – 2	Parramatta Power
Schjerven 34'	Report	Gumprecht 20', Rech 62'

Newcastle United	0 – 1	Marconi Stallions
	Report	Maloney 29'

Adelaide United	2 – 1	Melbourne Knights
Veart 15', Terminello 31'	Report	Trajanovski 4'

Round 17

Parramatta Power	4 – 0	Newcastle United
Dodd 57', Petrovski 62', 84', Milicic 71'

Brisbane Strikers	1 – 0	South Melbourne
Grierson 79'

Perth Glory	4 – 0	Football Kingz
Murphy 29', Faria 56', Mrdja 62', 78'

Wollongong Wolves	1 – 1	Melbourne Knights
Young 50' (pen.)		Trajanovski 66'

Round 18

Newcastle United	0 – 1	South Melbourne
		Curcija 7'

Parramatta Power	5 – 1	Sydney United
Milicic 8', Pantelis 28', 33', Zorbas 40', Doumanis 92' (o.g.)		B. Šantalab 67'

Melbourne Knights	1 – 0	Football Kingz
Marth 45'

Brisbane Strikers	1 – 0	Adelaide United
Morley 10'

Perth Glory	3 – 2	Northern Spirit
Murphy 9', Pondeljak 42', Despotovski 85'		Richter 25', Tomasevic 92'

Marconi Stallions	1 – 0	Sydney Olympic
Carle 79' (pen.)

Round 19

Perth Glory	2 – 0	Sydney Olympic
Murphy 76', 84'

Football Kingz	1 – 1	Wollongong Wolves
Martin 13'		Dragas 76'

Northern Spirit	2 – 0	Melbourne Knights
Hutchinson 21', Milligan 58'

South Melbourne	1 – 0	Sydney United
Coveny 65' (pen.)

Parramatta Power	2 – 2	Marconi Stallions
Milicic 4', Rech 76'		Brosque 46', Spiteri 81'

Round 20

Newcastle United	1 – 0	Brisbane Strikers
Wheelhouse 20'

Wollongong Wolves	4 – 1	Northern Spirit
Hughes 35', Young 38', 65', Nwaogazi 64'		Richter 84'

Perth Glory	4 – 1	Parramatta Power
Mrdja 18', 52', Despotovski 27' (pen.), Caceres 90'		Sekulovski 74'

Sydney United	1 – 1	Adelaide United
Šantalab 89'		Alagich 76'

Melbourne Knights	1 – 1	Sydney Olympic
Marth 89' (pen.)		Caravella 3'

Marconi Stallions	1 – 0	South Melbourne
Maloney 38'

Round 21

Sydney Olympic	5 – 2	Wollongong Wolves
Caravella 44', Cardozo 57', 92', Nikas 63', Goutzioulis 89'		Nwaogazi 16', Majurovski 75'

Melbourne Knights	1 – 3	Parramatta Power
Oksuz 52'		Rech 27', 76', 92'

Brisbane Strikers	2 – 0	Sydney United
McCloughan 20', Pilic 84'

Adelaide United	1 – 0	Marconi Stallions
Veart 3'

Northern Spirit	1 – 0	Football Kingz
Richter 60'

Round 22

Perth Glory	2 – 0	Adelaide United
Mori 30', 34'

South Melbourne	4 – 0	Melbourne Knights
Leijer 23' (o.g.), Sarkies 41', Curcija 52', Tunbridge 90'

Football Kingz	2 – 4	Sydney Olympic
Hickey 51', Rowley 94'		Cardozo 8', Juric 28', Bojić 58', Ishida 63'

Parramatta Power	4 – 3	Wollongong Wolves
Milicic 14', Rech 40', Petrovski 49', Gumprecht 63'		van Blerk 3', Nwaogazi 23', Sabljak 42'

Sydney United	2 – 0	Newcastle United
B. Šantalab 22', Austin 40'

Brisbane Strikers	0 – 2	Marconi Stallions
		Maloney 66', Carle 87'

Round 23

Adelaide United	2 – 0	South Melbourne
Budin 6', Aloisi 31'

Perth Glory	2 – 0	Wollongong Wolves
Despotovski 33', Mori 62'

Marconi Stallions	2 – 1	Football Kingz
Gibson 31', Carle 61'		Harries 92'

Sydney Olympic	2 – 0	Newcastle United
Cardozo 72', 79'

Parramatta Power	3 – 2	Brisbane Strikers
Milicic 12', 37', Pantelis 47'		Fitzsimmons 56', Rose 81'

Round 24

Wollongong Wolves	0 – 1	Adelaide United
		Brooks 80'

Perth Glory	2 – 0	Newcastle United
Mori 27', Caceres 85'

Football Kingz	2 – 0	South Melbourne
Hickey 19', Ngata 59'

Marconi Stallions	3 – 0	Sydney United
Brosque 23', Harris 45', Gibson 66'

Northern Spirit	0 – 1	Parramatta Power
		Petrovski 23'

Melbourne Knights	2 – 0	Brisbane Strikers
R. Vargas 27', Oksuz 88'

Round 25

Adelaide United	1 – 0	Football Kingz
Veart 58'

Newcastle United	0 – 2	Melbourne Knights
		Pelikan 64', 75' (pen.)

Parramatta Power	3 – 2	Sydney Olympic
Rech 4', Milicic 34', Thompson 82'		Caravella 3', P. Cardozo 43'

Brisbane Strikers	0 – 1	Wollongong Wolves
		Nwaogazi 34'

Sydney United	2 – 4	Perth Glory
Šantalab 69', Heffernan 78'		Mrdja 28', 38', 92', Hassell 70'

South Melbourne	1 – 2	Northern Spirit
Coveny 71'		Kwasnik 52', Richter 68'

Round 26

Perth Glory	2 – 2	Marconi Stallions
Mori 83', Mrdja 86'		Spiteri 21', 76'

Football Kingz	4 – 3	Brisbane Strikers
Hay 42', Ngata 45' (pen.), 81' (pen.), Christie 76'		McKay 7', Rose 54', Fitzsimmons 57'

Northern Spirit	2 – 1	Adelaide United
Kwasnik 27', 69'		Vidmar 45'

Wollongong Wolves	3 – 0	Newcastle United
Nwaogazi 10', Young 19', Sabljak 83'

Finals

Bracket

Elimination Final 1 (3rd v 6th)

Adelaide United	3–0	Brisbane Strikers
Veart 31' Agius 67' Brooks 92'	(Report)

Brisbane Strikers	4–1	Adelaide United
Moon 45' Rose 58' Brain 82' Grierson 87'	(Report)	Veart 65'

• Adelaide United progress on away goals rule (4–4 on aggregate)

Elimination Final 2 (4th v 5th)

South Melbourne	2–0	Marconi Stallions
Curcija 20', 60'	(Report)

• South Melbourne progress 2–0 on aggregate

Major semi Final (1st v 2nd)

Parramatta Power	4–2	Perth Glory
Ceccoli 9' Petrovski 41' Zorbas 45' Milicic 75'	(Report)	Despotovski 46' Harnwell 56'

Perth Glory	0–2	Parramatta Power
	(Report	Elrich 15' Petrovski 65'

• Parramatta Power progress 6–2 on aggregate

Minor semi Final

Adelaide United	2–1 (a.e.t.)	South Melbourne
Aloisi 71' Alagich 105' (pen.)	(Report	Curcija 12'

Preliminary Final

Perth Glory	5–0	Adelaide United
Despotovski 10', 81' Mori 51', 69' Mrdja 88'	(Report)

Grand Final

Parramatta Power	0 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Perth Glory
	(Report)	Mrdja 98'

PARRAMATTA POWER: GK 1 Clint Bolton DF 3 Alvin Ceccoli (c) DF 4 Simon Colosimo DF 5 Michael Beauchamp FW 7 Travis Dodd MF 8 Andre Gumprecht  86' FW 9 Ante Milicic  68' DF 13 Paul O'Grady FW 14 Sasho Petrovski FW 21 Ahmad Elrich MF 22 Peter Zorbas  97' Substitutes: GK 20 Daniel Beltrame MF 6 Matt Thompson  97' MF 10 Fernando Rech  68' MF 11 Lucas Pantelis DF 16 Jacek Sobczyk Manager: Nick Theodorakopoulos Joe Marston Medal: Ahmad Elrich Assistant Referees: Fourth Official:

PERTH GLORY: GK 1 Jason Petkovic DF 3 Matthew Bingley DF 5 Shaun Murphy (c) FW 10 Bobby Despotovski  82' MF 11 Jade North DF 12 Mark Byrnes  62' MF 15 Tom Pondeljak FW 16 Damian Mori DF 19 Jamie Harnwell FW 21 Adrian Caceres DF 24 Jamie Coyne  95' Substitutes: GK 20 Vince Matassa MF 4 Bradley Hassell  95' MF 6 Wayne Srhoj MF 8 Anthony Danze FW 9 Nik Mrdja  82' Manager: Mich d'Avray

Individual awards

• Johnny Warren Medal (Player of the Year): Ante Milicic (Parramatta Power)
• U-21 Player of the Year: Alex Brosque (Marconi Stallions)
• Top Scorer(s): Ante Milicic (Parramatta Power – 20 goals)

References

1. "Golden goal earns Perth NSL glory". ABC News. 4 April 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2024.

External links

• OzFootball Archives - 2003–04 NSL Season

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