As the Hyundai A-League reaches Round 9, the two top teams on the ladder – and the finalists in tonight’s Westfield FFA Cup Final – have achieved some all-time record-breaking feats.
Melbourne City’s Uruguayan talisman Bruno Fornaroli is a prime example.
With seven goals from his first eight games this season the striker’s all-time Hyundai A-League tally stands at 32 goals in 37 games, a rate of 0.86 goals per game.
This is the highest strike rate seen by any player in Australian national league football (for players with at least 20 games played) surpassing the great Mark Viduka’s rate of 0.83 from 40 goals in 48 games in the mid-1990s.
However, City’s opponents tonight, Sydney FC, have been making history too.
In the Hyundai League this season, the Sky Blues’ six-match winning streak at the start of the campaign ranks as the best start to any Australian national league season after six games.
While five other teams had managed a perfect start in their first six games of a season, Sydney FC’s goal difference of +15 ranked the Sky Blues’ start as the best ever since the national league commenced in 1977.
The previous best was Perth Glory’s side of 2001/02, with a goal difference of +14 from their first six games.
With such all-time dominance for both teams it is no surprise then that Sydney FC and Melbourne City reached the 2016 Westfield FFA Cup final.
And one of these sides will add more history by later tonight, with one side winning the Westfield FFA Cup trophy for the first time.
So be there, to witness history.
And for more history, to mark the 40th national league season, the 294-page official Hyundai A-League 2016/17 Season Guide now includes a comprehensive all-time Australian national league chapter – 33 pages full of stats and facts covering the 39 seasons to date.
