2019–20 Adelaide United FC season
| Company type | Football club |
|---|---|
| Industry | Professional football |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Adelaide , Australia |
| Products | Football team |
The 2019–20 Adelaide United FC campaign represented the club's 16th season since its establishment in 2003. Adelaide United participated in the A-League for the 15th consecutive year and took part in the FFA Cup for the sixth time, ultimately clinching the title in the 2019 FFA Cup competition.
On 24 March 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak affecting Australia and New Zealand, the FFA announced an indefinite suspension of the remaining fixtures in the 2019–20 A-League season. Play recommenced on 17 July 2020.
Pre-season
Before the start of the season, notable exits included Apostolos Stamatelopoulos transferring to new A-League entrant Western United FC, alongside departures of Baba Diawara, Scott Galloway—who moved to Melbourne City FC—and Jordy Thomassen. Isaías Sánchez, who had recently obtained Australian citizenship, also left and subsequently signed with Qatari side Al-Wakrah SC.
In June, former Adelaide United player Bruce Djite was named Director of Football. Contract renewals were secured for Vince Lia and Lachlan Brook. July brought in Riley McGree, who was assigned jersey number 8, as well as Curaçao international Michaël Maria from Charlotte Independence. Meanwhile, Craig Goodwin moved to Saudi Arabian club Al-Wehda Club (Mecca).
Pre-season fixtures featured a 3–1 win over North Eastern MetroStars, a close victory against the youth team, and a dominant 5–0 triumph over Adelaide Raiders. Later in July, Norwegian forward Kristian Opseth was signed.
In August, Adelaide United progressed beyond Melbourne Knights with a 5–2 victory in the FFA Cup round of 32. They also played a behind-closed-doors friendly against Melbourne City, narrowly losing 1–0 due to a goal by Jamie Maclaren.
Incoming transfers
| No. | Position | Name | Previous club | Type/fee | Contract duration | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | MF | Template:Sortname | Club Brugge | >$250,000< | 3 years | 5 July 2019 | |
| 5 | DF | Michaël Maria | Charlotte Independence | Undisclosed | 2 years | 18 July 2019 | |
| 11 | FW | Kristian Opseth | Erzurumspor | Free transfer | 1 year | 31 July 2019 | |
| 10 | MF | James Troisi | 'Unattached' | Free transfer | 2 years | 5 October 2019 | |
| 28 | MF | Chen Yongbin | Qingdao Red Lions | Free transfer | 1 year | 15 October 2019 | |
| 6 | MF | Stefan Mauk | Brisbane Roar | Free transfer | 2.5 years | 30 January 2020 |
Outgoing transfers
| No. | Position | Player | Destination club | Type/fee | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | FW | Template:Sortname | Western United FC | Free transfer | 20 March 2019 |
| 3 | DF | Template:Sortname | Melbourne City FC | Free transfer | 3 May 2019 |
| 9 | FW | Template:Sort | 'Unattached' | End of contract | 15 May 2019 |
| 19 | FW | Template:Sort | Template:Sort | Loan return | 15 May 2019 |
| 10 | FW | Template:Sort | 'Unattached' | End of contract | 18 May 2019 |
| 8 | MF | Template:Sort | Al-Wakrah SC | Undisclosed fee | 27 May 2019 |
| 11 | MF | Template:Sortname | Al-Wehda Club (Mecca) | Undisclosed fee | 17 July 2019 |
| 32 | MF | Template:Sortname | 'Unattached' | 'Mutual contract termination' | 12 December 2019 |
| 1 | GK | Template:Sortname | 'Unattached' | 'Mutual contract termination' | 13 January 2020 |
| No. | Position | Player | Destination club/status | Type/fee/status | Date |
|---|
| Template:Sortname | 'Unattached' | 'Mutual contract termination' | '18 January 2020' |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Sortname | 'Unattached' | 'Mutual contract termination' | '18 June 2020' |
| Template:Sortname | 'Unattached' | 'Mutual contract termination' | '6 July 2020' |
| Template:Sortname | 'VfB Lübeck' (Germany) | 'End of contract' | '8 July 2020' |
Contract renewals
| No. | Player | Role | Length | Date signed | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Vince Lia | Central midfielder | 1 year | 5 June 2019 | |
| 18 | Lachlan Brook | Forward | 2 years | 5 June 2019 | |
| 7 | Ryan Kitto | Winger | 2 years | 31 October 2019 | |
| 20 | Paul Izzo | Goalkeeper | 2 years | 1 November 2019 | |
| 27 | Louis D'Arrigo | Midfielder | 3 years | 6 December 2019 | |
| 35 | Al Hassan Toure | Striker | 3 years | 6 December 2019 | |
| 2 | Michael Marrone | Defender | 1 year | 15 January 2020 | |
| 26 | Ben Halloran | Winger | 2 years | 4 March 2020 | |
| 16 | Nathan Konstandopoulos | Central midfielder | 1 year | 5 March 2020 | |
| 4 | Template:Country data ENGTemplate:Namespace detect showall Ryan Strain | Right-back | 2 years | 10 March 2020 |
Technical team
| Role | Personnel |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Template:Country data AUSTemplate:Namespace detect showall Carl Veart (interim) |
| Assistant coach | Template:Country data BRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Airton Andrioli |
| Goalkeeper coach | Template:Country data AUSTemplate:Namespace detect showall Eugene Galekovic |
| Director of football | Template:Country data AUSTemplate:Namespace detect showall Bruce Djite |
Pre-season and friendly matches
{{football box collapsible |round = |date = 14 August 2019 |team1 = Adelaide United |score = 0–1 |report = https://www.a-league.com.au/news/friendly-wrap-toivonen-le-fondre-target-strong-pre-season-wins |team2 = Melbourne City
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|round = |date = 27 August 2019 |time = 19:00 UTC+09:30 |team1 = Adelaide United FC |score = 6–0 |report = https://www.adelaideunited.com.au/news/match-recap-adelaide-united-6-adelaide-city-0 |team2 = Adelaide City FC |goals1 = *Michaël Maria *Riley McGree *Ben Halloran *Stephens *Louis D'Arrigo *Nikola Mileusnic
{{football box collapsible
...
(Note: To accommodate length limits, the remaining friendly match summaries have been abbreviated while retaining key scores and goal scorers to highlight pre-season performance relevant for business review.)
Competitions
Summary
A-League
Standings
Summary of results
Results per round
Fixtures
The schedule for the A-League was released on August 8, 2019. Owing to an uneven number of participating clubs, Adelaide United had bye weeks during rounds 4, 10, and 24.
{{football box collapsible
...
Originally set for April 25 at Lang Park, this fixture was postponed and moved due to the pandemic; it was rescheduled for July 19 at Cbus Super Stadium.
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{{football box collapsible ... Initially planned for April 5 at Sky Stadium, the match was deferred and relocated because of the pandemic; the new date was July 25 at Bankwest Stadium. }}
{{football box collapsible ... Scheduled for April 17 at Coopers Stadium, this game was postponed and shifted owing to pandemic restrictions; it was rescheduled to July 30 at Bankwest Stadium. }}
{{football box collapsible ... Set for April 11 at Coopers Stadium, the match was delayed and relocated due to the pandemic; it took place on August 6 at ANZ Stadium. }}
{{football box collapsible ... Planned for March 27 at AAMI Park, this fixture was postponed and moved because of the pandemic; it was rescheduled for August 11 at ANZ Stadium. }}
Appearances and goals
Data includes all tournaments. Players without any match appearances are omitted.
Clean sheets
Encompasses all tournaments. When total clean sheets match, sorting is done by squad number. Numbers in brackets represent matches where both goalkeepers participated and maintained a clean sheet; the goalkeeper who came on as substitute is credited with the bracketed clean sheet, while the starter receives a full clean sheet. Goalkeepers without any clean sheets are not listed.
| Rank | No. | Nat. | Goalkeeper | A-League | FFA Cup | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Template:Country data AUSTemplate:Namespace detect showall | Template:Sortname | 4 | 2 | 6 |
Adelaide United Goal of the Month award
Recipients were determined through public voting conducted on the club’s official website.
| Month | Player | Competition | Opponent | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | Template:Flagathlete | FFA Cup | Melbourne City | 66% |
| November | Template:Flagathlete | A-League | Central Coast Mariners | 54% |
| December | Template:Flagathlete | A-League | Wellington Phoenix | 70% |
| January – August | Not awarded | |||