1987 NSL Cup

The 1987 NSL Cup was the eleventh edition of the NSL Cup, which was the main national association football knockout cup competition in Australia. The NSL Cup was sponsored by Beach Fashions and known as the Beach Fashions Cup for sponsorship purposes.

1987 NSL Cup

National Soccer League Cup
Tournament details
Country	Australia
Dates	8 April – 18 October 1987
Teams	13
Final positions
Champions	Sydney Croatia (1st title)
Runners-up	South Melbourne
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	32 (2.46 per match)
← 1986 1988 →

Sydney City were the defending champions, having defeated Adelaide Hellas to win their first title in the previous year's final, but they withdrew the competition due to the Hakoah Social Club withdrawing its financial support.

Sydney Croatia defeated South Melbourne 2–0 on aggregate in the final to win their first NSL Cup title.^[1]

Teams

The NSL Cup was a knockout competition with 13 teams taking part all trying to reach the Final in October 1987.^[2] The competition consisted of the 14 teams from the National Soccer League.

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs remaining
First round	Wednesday 8 April 1987	6	14 → 8
Quarter-finals	Wednesday 13 May 1987	4	8 → 4
Semi-finals	Wednesday 27 May 1987	2	4 → 2
Final	Sunday 18 October 1987	2	2 → 1

First round

Heidelberg United and South Melbourne had a bye for the First round.

Adelaide City v Sunshine George Cross

8 April 1987	Adelaide City	1–1 (a.e.t.) (0–3 p)	Sunshine George Cross	Adelaide
	Melta 31'	Report	Parton 55'	Stadium: Hindmarsh Stadium Referee: Don Campbell

Brunswick Juventus v Melbourne Croatia

8 April 1987	Brunswick Juventus	0–4	Melbourne Croatia	Melbourne
		Report	Campbell 32' Lewis 50' Humble 74' McIntosh 90'	Stadium: Olympic Park Referee: Sam Zoumas

Footscray JUST v Preston Makedonia

8 April 1987	Footscray JUST	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Preston Makedonia	Melbourne
	Latif 37'	Report	Dobson 65' Smith 95'	Stadium: Olympic Park Referee: Sam Zoumas

St George-Budapest v Sydney Olympic

15 April 1987	St George-Budapest	0–0 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Sydney Olympic	Sydney
		Report		Stadium: St George Stadium Referee: Richard Lorenc

Sydney Croatia v APIA Leichhardt

15 April 1987	Sydney Croatia	2–1	APIA Leichhardt	Sydney
	Arnold 59' Slater 85'	Report	Ward 87'	Stadium: Croatian Sports Centre Referee: Gary Power

Marconi Fairfield v Sydney City

Marconi Fairfield

w/o

Sydney City

Quarter-finals

Preston Makedonia v South Melbourne

22 April 1987	Preston Makedonia	0–2	South Melbourne	Melbourne
		Report	Wright 21' Postecoglou 62'	Stadium: Olympic Park Referee: Chris Bambridge

Sydney Croatia v St George-Budapest

29 April 1987	Sydney Croatia	3–0 (a.e.t.)	St George-Budapest	Sydney
	Arnold 93' Jones 96' Slater 108'	Report		Stadium: Croatian Sports Centre Referee: Ken Small

Heidelberg United v Melbourne Croatia

6 May 1987	Heidelberg United	5–0	Melbourne Croatia	Melbourne
	McKinna 31', 87' Tsolakis 32', 87' Anastasiadis 66'	Report		Stadium: Olympic Park Referee: Dennis Voutsinas

Marconi Fairfield v Sunshine George Cross

13 May 1987	Marconi Fairfield	1–0	Sunshine George Cross	Sydney
	Nastevski 45'	Report		Stadium: Croatian Sports Centre Referee: Terry Seacy

Semi-finals

South Melbourne v Marconi Fairfield

20 May 1987	South Melbourne	4–1	Marconi Fairfield	Melbourne
	Egan 8', 45', 70' Halford 60'	Report	Farina 90'	Stadium: Olympic Park Referee: Chris Bambridge

Sydney Croatia v Heidelberg United

27 May 1987	Sydney Croatia	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Heidelberg United	Sydney
	Jones 47'	Report	Rozic 51' (o.g.)	Stadium: Croatian Sports Centre Referee: Arthur Owens

Final

Main article: 1987 NSL Cup final

14 October 1987 (1987-10-14)

19:30 AEDT

Sydney Croatia	1–0	South Melbourne
Slater 85'	Report

St George Stadium, Sydney

Attendance: 3,845

Referee: Rob Davies

18 October 1987 (1987-10-18)

14:30 AEDT

South Melbourne	0–1	Sydney Croatia
	Report	Arnold ?'

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 3,900