Season | 2023β24 |
---|---|
Dates | 13 October 2023 β 4 May 2024 |
Champions | Sydney FC (5th title) |
Premiers | Melbourne City (3rd title) |
Matches played | 106 |
Goals scored | 321 (3.03 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Michelle Heyman (13) |
Biggest home win |
Melbourne Victory 4β0
Newcastle Jets (12 November 2023) Canberra United 5β1 Brisbane Roar (10 December 2023) |
Biggest away win |
Adelaide United 0β8
Newcastle Jets (29 March 2024) |
Highest scoring | Melbourne City 5β3 Brisbane Roar (28 December 2023) Melbourne Victory 5β3 Wellington Phoenix (3 March 2024) Adelaide United 0β8 Newcastle Jets (29 March 2024) |
Longest winning run | 6 matches Western United |
Longest unbeaten run | 7 matches Melbourne Victory |
Longest winless run | 9 matches Perth Glory |
Longest losing run | 4 matches Adelaide United Wellington Phoenix |
Highest attendance | 11,471 Sydney FC 2β0 Western Sydney Wanderers (14 October 2023) |
Lowest attendance | 263 Melbourne City 1β1 Adelaide United (18 February 2024) |
Total attendance | 240,898 |
Average attendance | 2,273 |
β
2022β23
2024β25 β
All statistics correct as of 8 March 2024.(Note: Longest runs only include regular season results) |
The 2023β24 A-League Women, known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the sixteenth season of A-League Women, the Australian national women's soccer competition.
The season commenced on 14 October and had a full double round-robin regular season for the first time. [1] The Grand Final was contested on 4 May 2024. [2] [3]
Central Coast Mariners re-joined the competition, having played in the first two seasons before exiting due to financial reasons. [4] [5]
Sydney FC were the defending premiers and champions, and successfully defended their championship. The premiers were Sydney's defeated opponent in the Grand Final, Melbourne City FC.
Ahead of the season, a new collective bargaining agreement was agreed, including a 20 percent increase to the salary cap, removing the cap of New Zealand players for Wellington Phoenix, and expanding the foreign player spots from 4 to 5, in line with the A-League Men competition. [6]
With a total attendance of 284,551 as of 15 April 2024, the 2023β24 A-League Women season set the record for the most attended season of any women's sport in Australian history, [7] [8] [9] [10] with the season finishing with a final total attendance of 312,199. [11]
Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|---|
Adelaide United | Adelaide |
Coopers Stadium Marden Sports Complex |
16,500
6,000 |
Brisbane Roar | Brisbane |
Ballymore Stadium Perry Park |
8,000
5,000 |
Canberra United | Canberra | McKellar Park | 3,500
|
Central Coast Mariners | Gosford | Industree Group Stadium | 20,059
|
Melbourne City | Melbourne |
AAMI Park City Football Academy |
30,050
9,000 |
Melbourne Victory | Melbourne |
AAMI Park The Home of the Matildas |
30,050
3,000 |
Newcastle Jets | Newcastle |
Newcastle Number 2 Sports Ground McDonald Jones Stadium |
5,000
33,000 |
Perth Glory | Perth |
Macedonia Park HBF Park |
7,000
20,500 |
Sydney FC | Sydney |
Jubilee Oval Leichhardt Oval Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre |
20,505
20,000 5,000 |
Wellington Phoenix |
Wellington Porirua Auckland |
Sky Stadium Jerry Collins Stadium Go Media Mount Smart Stadium |
34,500
1,900 30,000 |
Western Sydney Wanderers | Sydney |
Marconi Stadium CommBank Stadium Wanderers Football Park |
9,000
30,000 1,000 |
Western United | Wyndham | City Vista Recreation Reserve | 4,000
|
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position on table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Central Coast Mariners | Inaugural manager | Pre-season | Emily Husband [48] | 2 March 2023 | ||
Wellington Phoenix | Natalie Lawrence | End of contract | 5 May 2023 [49] | Paul Temple [50] | 7 May 2023 | |
Western Sydney Wanderers | Kat Smith | Resigned | 4 October 2023 | Robbie Hooker [51] | 4 October 2023 | |
Brisbane Roar | Garrath McPherson | Sacked | 13 November 2023 [52] | 4th | Alex Smith [53] | 14 November 2023 |
Western United | Mark Torcaso | Resigned | 1 December 2023 | 8th | Kat Smith [54] | 1 December 2023 |
Newcastle Jets | Gary van Egmond | Signed by Chinese Football Association | 15 January 2024 | 6th | Ryan Campbell (caretaker) [55] | 15 January 2024 |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Melbourne City | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 29 | +11 | 41 | Qualification to Finals series and 2024β25 AFC Women's Champions League |
2 | Sydney FC (C) | 22 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 31 | 20 | +11 | 39 | Qualification to Finals series |
3 | Western United | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 37 | 34 | +3 | 36 | |
4 | Melbourne Victory | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 44 | 29 | +15 | 36 | |
5 | Central Coast Mariners | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 31 | 24 | +7 | 35 | |
6 | Newcastle Jets | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 43 | 36 | +7 | 33 | |
7 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 33 | |
8 | Wellington Phoenix [a] | 22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 36 | 33 | +3 | 28 | |
9 | Brisbane Roar | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 26 | |
10 | Perth Glory | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 25 | 32 | −7 | 24 | |
11 | Canberra United | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 39 | 47 | −8 | 24 | |
12 | Adelaide United | 22 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 21 | 56 | −35 | 15 |
Individual matches are collated at each club's season article. Some fixtures in the first round were moved to larger venues following the success of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. [57]
The finals series used the same format as A-League Men; run over four weeks, and involving 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; this was the first season that the A-League Women held two-legged semi-finals. [58] The two winners of those matches met in the Grand Final. [59] The previous format, which saw Sydney hosting the Grand Final until the 2024β25 season, was overturned in October 2023, reverting back to the higher-ranked semi-final winner hosting the match. [60]
Elimination-finals | Semi-finals | Grand final | ||||||||||||||
1 | Melbourne City | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||||||||||||
4 | Melbourne Victory | 0 (2) | 6 | Newcastle Jets | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
5 | Central Coast Mariners ( p) | 0 (4) | 1 | Melbourne City | 0 | |||||||||||
2 | Sydney FC | 1 | ||||||||||||||
2 | Sydney FC | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||
3 | Western United | 2 | 5 | Central Coast Mariners | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
6 | Newcastle Jets ( a.e.t.) | 4 |
Third-placed Western United, who qualified for successive finals series, played their first home finals match against sixth-placed Newcastle Jets (appearing in their first finals series since 2018). [61] Newcastle took the lead 11 minutes in through Sarina Bolden until Western equalised by Alana Cerne. Bolden scored a penalty for Newcastle to take the lead into half-time, as Catherine Zimmerman score a penalty for Western to equalize again. In extra-time, Newcastle scored two further goals through Melina Ayres and Sophie Haban to win the match. [62]
Western United | 2β4 ( a.e.t.) | Newcastle Jets |
---|---|---|
Report |
Fourth-placed Melbourne Victory hosted a finals match for the first time since 2020, against fifth-placed Central Coast Mariners who had not played in a finals series since 2009. [63]
Melbourne Victory | 0β0 ( a.e.t.) | Central Coast Mariners |
---|---|---|
Report | ||
Penalties | ||
2β4 |
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
Melbourne City | 6β0 | Newcastle Jets | 3β0 | 3β0 |
Sydney FC | 2β1 | Central Coast Mariners | 1β0 | 1β1 |
Melbourne City | 3β0 | Newcastle Jets |
---|---|---|
Report |
Melbourne City won 6β0 on aggregate.
Central Coast Mariners | 0β1 | Sydney FC |
---|---|---|
Report |
|
Sydney FC won 2β1 on aggregate.
Melbourne City | 0β1 | Sydney FC |
---|---|---|
Report |
|
Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Michelle Heyman | Canberra United | 17 |
2 | Sarina Bolden | Newcastle Jets | 12 |
Sophie Harding | Western Sydney Wanderers | ||
Rachel Lowe | Melbourne Victory | ||
5 | Hannah Keane | Western United | 10 |
Vesna MilivojeviΔ | Canberra United | ||
Mariana Speckmaier | Wellington Phoenix | ||
Cortnee Vine | Sydney FC | ||
9 | Chloe Logarzo | Western United | 9 |
Hannah Wilkinson | Melbourne City |
Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Holly McNamara | Melbourne City | Western Sydney Wanderers | 4β3 (H) | 12 November 2023 | [64] |
Millie Farrow | Perth Glory | Melbourne City | 1β3 (A) | 9 December 2023 | [65] |
Vesna MilivojeviΔ | Canberra United | Brisbane Roar | 5β1 (H) | 10 December 2023 | [66] |
Emina Ekic | Melbourne City | Brisbane Roar | 5β3 (H) | 28 December 2023 | [67] |
Daniela Galic | Melbourne City | Adelaide United | 0β5 (A) | 6 January 2024 | [68] |
Sarina Bolden | Newcastle Jets | Brisbane Roar | 3β0 (H) | 17 February 2024 | [69] |
Hannah Keane | Western United | Canberra United | 4β2 (H) | 1 March 2024 | [70] |
Emily Gielnik | Melbourne Victory | Adelaide United | 4β1 (H) | 10 March 2024 | [71] |
The following awards were announced during half-time of the 2024 A-League Women grand final that took place on 4 May 2024. [72]
While skipper Michelle Heyman is back for her 12th season with Canberra United...
Princess Ibini will take over captaincy duties in her absence.