1988 National Soccer League

National Soccer League
Season	1988
Dates	29 January – 3 September 1984
Champions	Marconi Fairfield; 2nd title
Premiers	Wollongong City; 1st title
Relegated	Brunswick Juventus; Brisbane Lions
Matches played	188
Goals scored	501 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Frank Farina (17)
Biggest home win	St George-Budapest 6–0 Adelaide City; (7 February 1988)
Biggest away win	Brisbane Lions 1–5 St George-Budapest; (3 April 1988); Brunswick Juventus 0–4 Preston Makedonia; (31 July 1988)
Highest scoring	South Melbourne 5–4 APIA Leichhardt; (20 March 1988)
Highest attendance	17,064; Sydney Croatia 2–2 Marconi Fairfield; (3 September 1988, Grand Final)
Lowest attendance	600; Melbourne Croatia 0–2 Brunswick Zebras; (7 August 1988)
Total attendance	545,935
Average attendance	2,904
	← 1988 1989 →

The 1988 National Soccer League season, was the 12th season of the National Soccer League in Australia.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Wollongong City	26	13	8	5	44	32	+12	34	Qualification for the Finals series
2	Sydney Croatia	26	15	4	7	38	30	+8	34
3	South Melbourne	26	13	8	5	36	29	+7	34
4	Marconi Fairfield (C)	26	12	8	6	46	26	+20	32
5	Sydney Olympic	26	9	9	8	28	22	+6	27
6	Adelaide City	26	10	7	9	36	35	+1	27
7	Sunshine George Cross	26	11	5	10	38	39	−1	27
8	St George-Budapest	26	10	6	10	41	35	+6	26
9	Melbourne Croatia	26	9	6	11	28	33	−5	24
10	Footscray JUST	26	7	9	10	34	32	+2	23
11	APIA Leichhardt	26	8	7	11	28	35	−7	23
12	Preston Makedonia	26	5	12	9	29	35	−6	22
13	Brunswick Juventus (R)	26	7	5	14	31	43	−12	19	Relegation to the Victorian State League
14	Brisbane Lions (R)	26	4	4	18	28	59	−31	12	Relegation to the Brisbane Premier League

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Home \ Away	ADE	API	BRI	BRU	FOO	MAR	MEL	PRE	SOU	STG	SGC	SYC	SYO	WOL
Adelaide City		0–1	5–1	0–0	3–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–3	1–0	2–3
APIA Leichhardt	1–1		2–0	2–1	2–2	0–2	3–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–3	0–1	1–0	1–1
Brisbane Lions	1–3	0–0		1–0	4–2	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–3	1–5	2–3	4–0	1–1	2–3
Brunswick Juventus	0–3	0–2	3–0		2–1	1–0	0–1	0–4	1–2	2–1	4–2	2–0	0–0	1–2
Footscray JUST	2–2	2–0	2–0	4–1		0–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	0–1	0–0
Marconi Fairfield	2–1	3–1	3–0	2–1	0–1		1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	6–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
Melbourne Croatia	4–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	0–2		1–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	0–1
Preston Makedonia	0–0	2–0	3–0	4–3	1–1	2–2	1–4		0–0	0–0	1–4	0–2	0–3	1–1
South Melbourne	2–1	5–4	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–1	2–1		0–2	1–4	1–0	2–1	2–1
St George-Budapest	6–0	0–2	3–2	1–1	2–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	1–1		3–1	0–1	0–1	2–1
Sunshine George Cross	1–2	1–0	2–0	3–3	1–0	0–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	4–1		1–0	0–2	0–1
Sydney Croatia	1–0	4–2	1–0	3–1	2–0	3–2	2–0	3–2	1–3	1–1	1–0		3–0	1–1
Sydney Olympic	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–1	3–0		0–1
Wollongong City	2–1	0–0	6–1	3–2	1–4	0–4	4–1	0–0	4–0	3–1	3–1	0–3	1–1

Source: OzFootball
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.


Elimination and qualifying Finals			Semi-finals			Preliminary Final			Grand Final



			1	Wollongong City	0 (3)				2	Sydney Croatia	2 (4)

			2	Sydney Croatia (p)	0 (4)				4	Marconi Fairfield (p)	2 (5)

2	Sydney Croatia	2				1	Wollongong City	0

3	South Melbourne	1				4	Marconi Fairfield	2

			3	South Melbourne	1

			4	Marconi Fairfield	2

4	Marconi Fairfield	3

5	Sydney Olympic	1

Player(s) of the Year: Paul Wade (South Melbourne); Frank Farina (Marconi Fairfield)
U-21 Player of the Year: Paul Trimboli (South Melbourne)
Top Scorer: Frank Farina (Marconi Fairfield) – 16 goals
Coach of the Year: Brian Garvey (South Melbourne)