45th season of top-tier soccer league in Australia
Football league season
The 2021β22 A-League Men , known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 45th season of national level men's
soccer in Australia, and the 17th since the establishment of the
competition as the A-League in 2004.
Melbourne City were the defending champions and premiers, having won their first titles respectively the
previous season . They retained the premiership, but lost the
Grand Final to first-time grand finalists
Western United .
Clubs
Twelve clubs participated in the 2021β22 season.
Club
City
Home ground
Capacity
Adelaide United
Adelaide
Coopers Stadium
16,500
Brisbane Roar
Brisbane
Moreton Daily Stadium
11,500
Central Coast Mariners
Gosford
Central Coast Stadium
20,059
Mudgee
Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium
10,000
Macarthur FC
Sydney
Campbelltown Stadium
20,000
BlueBet Stadium
22,500
Newcastle
McDonald Jones Stadium
33,000
Melbourne City
Melbourne
AAMI Park
30,050
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne
AAMI Park
30,050
Newcastle Jets
Newcastle
McDonald Jones Stadium
33,000
Perth Glory
Perth
HBF Park
20,500
Launceston
UTAS Stadium
19,000
Sydney
Netstrata Jubilee Oval
20,500
Sydney FC
Sydney
Netstrata Jubilee Oval
20,500
Leichhardt Oval
20,000
Wellington Phoenix
Auckland
Eden Park
50,000
Gosford
Central Coast Stadium
20,059
Sydney
Netstrata Jubilee Oval
20,500
Leichhardt Oval
20,000
Campbelltown Stadium
20,000
Endeavour Field
22,000
Wellington
Sky Stadium
34,500
Wollongong
WIN Stadium
23,000
Western Sydney Wanderers
Sydney
CommBank Stadium
30,000
Western United
Ballarat
Mars Stadium
11,000
Morshead Park
8,500
Geelong
GMHBA Stadium
26,000
[a]
Launceston
UTAS Stadium
19,000
Melbourne
AAMI Park
30,050
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Foreign players
The following do not fill a Visa position:
1 Those players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained Australian citizenship (or New Zealand citizenship, in the case of
Wellington Phoenix );
[43]
2 Australian citizens (or New Zealand citizens, in the case of
Wellington Phoenix ) who have chosen to represent another national team;
3 Injury replacement players, or National team replacement players;
4 Guest players (eligible to play a maximum of fourteen games)
Salary cap exemptions and captains
Transfers
Regular season
League table
Source:
A-Leagues Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Points per game; 5) Least red cards; 6) Least yellow cards; 7) Toss of a coin in an event of a tie of two clubs.
(C) Champions
Notes:
^ The stadium will be undergoing construction during the season, which will reduce the stadium's capacity to around 26,000.
[2]
[3] The stadium will have a capacity of 40,000 once construction is complete.
[4]
^ Determined by which of the Premiers for the 2021β22 or
2022β23 seasons accrued the most combined points over both seasons.
[64] Melbourne City qualified as they were Premiers in both seasons.
^ The top two teams enter the finals series at the
semi-finals , while the teams ranked third to sixth enter the finals series at the
elimination-finals .
^
Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for
Asian Football Confederation competitions as they are based in New Zealand, which is under the
Oceania Football Confederation .
^ The top 8 teams qualify for the round of 32, while the bottom four teams participate in a
play-off round .
[65]
Fixtures and results
Source:
A-League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
AFC Champions League qualification
Due to the re-formatting of the
AFC Champions League to have an inter-year schedule from September (northern hemisphere autumn-to-spring) instead of an intra-year schedule (northern hemisphere spring-to-autumn),
[66] the qualification for the
2023β24 AFC Champions League was changed. The single qualification spot for this competition goes to whichever of which of the Premiers for the current season or the
following season accrues the most combined points over both seasons.
[67]
Melbourne City won the Premiership in both the 2021β22 and 2022β23 seasons,
[68] thereby automatically qualifying for the Champions League.
Finals series
Format
The finals series, which ran over three weeks, consisted of the top six teams from the regular season. In the first week of fixtures, the third-through-sixth ranked teams played a single-elimination match, with the two winners of those matches joining the first and second ranked teams in two-legged semi-final ties. The first and second placed teams chose whether they would play home or away in the first leg.
[69] The two winners of those matches meet in the Grand Final.
[70] This season was the first to use this format.
Elimination-finals
Semi-finals
Summary
Matches
Western United won 4β2 on aggregate.
Melbourne City won 2β1 on aggregate.
Grand Final
Regular season statistics
Top scorers
Hat-tricks
Clean sheets
Awards
Annual awards
The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2021β22 Dolan Warren Awards night on 26 May 2022.
[76]
Team of the season
See also
Notes
^ Away kit
^ Away kit
^ Away kit
^ Away kit
^ Mauk was captain of Adelaide United until his transfer to
Fagiano Okayama on 27 February 2022.
[45]
^ Goodwin replaced Mauk as captain of Adelaide United on 5 March 2022.
References
^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^ Cook, Glenn (18 November 2021).
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^ Crafton, Adam (17 February 2022).
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^
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^
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^
a
b
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^
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^ Morgan, Gareth (15 January 2021).
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Perth Glory .
^ Morgan, Gareth (2 August 2021).
"BHP to remain Glory's principal partner for 2021/22 season" .
Perth Glory .
^
"Sydney FC In Australian First Partnership With Under Armour" .
Sydney FC . 1 July 2019.
^
"Sydney FC & The Star Sydney Sign Four Year Deal" .
Sydney FC . 8 October 2019.
^
"Wellington Phoenix Announce Paladin New Zealand As New Strip Partner" .
Wellington Phoenix . 5 August 2019.
^
a
b
"Wellington Phoenix Unveils New Playing Kits; Announces Spark and OPPO as Principal Sponsors" .
Wellington Phoenix . 21 September 2021. Archived from
the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021 .
^
"Wanderers announce three-year partnership with Kappa Australia" .
Western Sydney Wanderers . 17 September 2020.
^
"Voltaren sign two-year Co-Major Partnership extension" .
Western Sydney Wanderers . 16 September 2021.
^
"Turner Freeman Lawyers sign Co-Major Partnership" .
Western Sydney Wanderers . 21 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021 .
^
a
b
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the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021 .
^ Colangelo, Anthony (22 April 2021).
" 'Hard work ahead': Popovic named Victory coach" .
The Age .
^ Kerry, Craig (3 June 2021).
"A-League: Craig Deans to step down as coach of Newcastle Jets" .
The Newcastle Herald .
^
"Arthur Papas finally gets A-League job as tide turns on NPL coaches" . FTBL . 28 June 2021.
^ Monteverde, Marco (8 June 2021).
"Mark Rudan axed following Western United's shocking run to finish season" .
Fox Sports .
^ Monteverde, Marco (15 July 2021).
"A-League: John Aloisi signs two-year coaching deal with Western United" .
News.com.au .
^
"Uncertainty again for Mariners as Alen Stajcic quits A-League club" .
The Guardian . 17 June 2021.
^
"Nick Montgomery appointed as A-League Head Coach!" .
Central Coast Mariners . 2 July 2021.
^ Rugari, Vince (30 January 2022).
"Wanderers finally sack Carl Robinson after latest A-League debacle" .
The Sydney Morning Herald .
^ Monteverde, Marco (31 January 2022).
"Mark Rudan appointed as coach of Western Sydney Wanderers following sacking of Carl Robinson" .
news.com.au .
^
a
b Monteverde, Marco (20 March 2022).
"Former Socceroo Richard Garcia axed as Perth Glory coach" .
The Australian .
^
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the original (PDF) on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2013 .
^ Monteverde, Marco (1 December 2020).
"A-League: Reds proudly go local in appointing Stefan Mauk as their new captain" .
news.com.au .
^
"Stefan Mauk set for Japanese transfer" . Adelaide United. 27 February 2022.
^
a
b
c
"Goodwin announced as Reds' new Captain" . Adelaide United. 5 March 2022.
^
"Tom Aldred commits long-term future to Brisbane Roar" . Brisbane Roar. 4 February 2021. Captain Tom Aldred has today committed his long-term future to Brisbane Roar
^ Hull, Skaie (30 December 2020).
"MARINERS NAME NEW CAPTAIN FOR F3 DERBY" .
NBN News .
^
"The Bulls announce Ulises DΓ‘vila as Captain" . Macarthur FC. 6 November 2021. Archived from
the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021 .
^ McKay, Ben (5 February 2019).
"Jamie Maclaren says the lure of playing in front of family was crucial to his decision to sign for Melbourne City" .
Fox Sports . signed a long-term deal that elevates him to marquee next season
^
"Scott Jamieson re-signs for two years" . Melbourne City. 2 July 2021. Melbourne City FC is delighted to announce the re-signing of Captain Scott Jamieson until the end of the 2022/23 season.
^
a
b
"Melbourne Victory signs Chris Ikonomidis" . Melbourne Victory. 21 July 2021. Ikonomidis will join Marco Rojas as the Club's second designated player for the 2021/22 season.
^
a
b
c Comito, Matt (10 July 2022).
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^
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^ Harrington, Anna (25 November 2021).
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The Leader . Vice-captain Miranda captained the Victory on debut...
^ Newcastle Jets [@NewcastleJetsFC] (11 November 2021).
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Tweet ) – via
Twitter .
^ Morgan, Gareth (1 October 2021).
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^ Taylor, Nick (15 June 2021).
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^ Taylor, Nick (28 October 2021).
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^
"Captain Alex Wilkinson Back To Break More Records" .
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^
a
b
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^
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^
a
b
c
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^ Lynch, Joey (17 April 2023).
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^ Lewis, Samantha (26 May 2022).
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^
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National teams
League competitions
Men's
Women's
Level 1 Level 2
National Premier Leagues Women's (
WA 2021 )
Cup competitions
Domestic leagues Domestic cups League cups Super Cups Regional club competitions AFC club competitions National team competitions
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