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2022 A-League Men finals series

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A-League Men finals series
Season2021–22
Dates14–28 May 2022
ChampionsWestern United
Matches played7
Goals scored16 (2.29 per match)
Top goalscorerAleksandar Prijović (4 goals)
Biggest home winAdelaide United 3–1 Central Coast Mariners
(Elimination-finals, 15 May 2022)
Biggest away winMelbourne Victory 1–4 Western United
(Semi-finals, 21 May 2022)
Highest scoringMelbourne Victory 1–4 Western United
(Semi-finals, 21 May 2022)
Highest attendance22,495
Melbourne City 0–2 Western United
(Grand Final, 28 May 2022)
Lowest attendance3,376
Western United 1–0 Wellington Phoenix
(Elimination-finals, 14 May 2022)
Total attendance77,254
Average attendance11,036
2021
2023

The 2022 A-League Men finals series was the 17th annual edition of the A-League Men finals series, the playoffs tournament staged to determine the champion of the 2021–22 A-League Men season. The series was played over two weeks culminating in the 2022 A-League Men Grand Final, where Western United won their first championship 2–0 against premiers Melbourne City.

Qualification

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Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory were confirmed in their automatic semi-final spots within the last week of the regular season.[1] Western United finished third for the top three finishers based in Melbourne to guarantee most of the finals series to be played in Melbourne, as Adelaide United, Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix were the last three finishers into the 2022 finals series.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Melbourne City 26 14 7 5 55 33 +22 49 Qualification for finals series and 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage[a]
2 Melbourne Victory 26 13 9 4 42 25 +17 48 Qualification for finals series[b]
3 Western United (C) 26 13 6 7 40 30 +10 45
4 Adelaide United 26 12 7 7 38 31 +7 43
5 Central Coast Mariners 26 12 6 8 49 35 +14 42
6 Wellington Phoenix[c] 26 12 3 11 34 49 −15 39
7 Macarthur FC 26 9 6 11 38 47 −9 33
8 Sydney FC 26 8 7 11 37 44 −7 31
9 Newcastle Jets 26 8 5 13 45 43 +2 29 Qualification for 2022 Australia Cup play-offs[d]
10 Western Sydney Wanderers 26 6 9 11 30 38 −8 27
11 Brisbane Roar 26 7 5 14 29 39 −10 26
12 Perth Glory 26 4 6 16 20 43 −23 18
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:
  1. ^ Determined by which of the Premiers for the 2021–22 or 2022–23 seasons accrued the most combined points over both seasons.[2] Melbourne City qualified as they were Premiers in both seasons.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for Asian Football Confederation competitions as they are based in New Zealand, which is under the Oceania Football Confederation.
  4. ^ The top 8 teams qualify for the round of 32, while the bottom four teams participate in a play-off round.[3]

Venues

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Melbourne Adelaide
AAMI Park Coopers Stadium
Capacity: 30,050 Capacity: 16,500

Bracket

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The system used for the 2022 A-League Men finals series is the modified top-six play-offs by the A-Leagues. The top two teams enter the two-legged semi-finals receiving the bye for the elimination-finals in which the teams from third placed to sixth place enter the elimination-finals with "third against sixth" and "fourth against fifth". Losers for the elimination-finals are eliminated, and winners qualify for the two-legged semi-finals.[4]

First placed team in the semi-finals plays the lowest ranked elimination-final winning team and second placed team in the semi-finals plays the highest ranked elimination-final winner. Home-state advantage goes to the team with the higher ladder position.

Elimination-finals Semi-finals Grand Final
4 Adelaide United 0 1 1
4 Adelaide United 3 1 Melbourne City (a.e.t.) 0 2 2
5 Central Coast Mariners 1 1 Melbourne City 0
3 Western United 2
3 Western United 0 4 4
3 Western United 1 2 Melbourne Victory 1 1 2
6 Wellington Phoenix 0

Matches

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Elimination-finals

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Western United who finished third appeared in their first home finals match in club history, against the Wellington Phoenix who finished sixth. Wellington won all three matches in the regular season over Western United, and unbeaten since the first meeting in October 2019. Western United won 1–0 through a 10th-minute strike by Aleksandar Prijović to send them through to the two-legged semi-finals against Melbourne Victory.[5]

Western United1–0Wellington Phoenix
  • Prijović 10'
Report
Attendance: 3,376
Referee: Alex King

Adelaide United and Central Coast Mariners met in a finals match for the first time since 2014 in Gosford. Central Coast hadn't beaten Adelaide United away since 2016, heading into this elimination-final.[6] Adelaide won 3–1, where Craig Goodwin and Kusini Yengi led Adelaide by two, Storm Roux with one back for the Mariners as Bernardo capped the match off with a 92nd-minute winner heading for two-legged semi-finals against Melbourne City.[7]

Adelaide United3–1Central Coast Mariners
Report
Attendance: 10,113
Referee: Daniel Elder

Semi-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Melbourne City 2–1 Adelaide United 0–0 2–1 (a.e.t.)
Melbourne Victory 2–4 Western United 1–0 1–4

Western United qualified for the two-legged semi-finals at AAMI Park against rivals Melbourne Victory.[8] Western United started off as the home side losing the first leg through a Jake Brimmer volley in the 74th minute, as Victory held the advantage 1–0 up in the first leg.[9] Despite this, Western United won 4–1 in the second leg thanks to a brace from Aleksandar Prijović and goals to Lachlan Wales and Dylan Wenzel-Halls; winning the two-legged semi-finals 4–2 on aggregate to send them through to their first Grand Final.[10]

Western United0–1Melbourne Victory
Report
Attendance: 7,295
Melbourne Victory1–4Western United
Report
Attendance: 15,349
Referee: Alex King

Western United won 4–2 on aggregate.


Adelaide United qualified for the two-legged semi-finals against Melbourne City. Adelaide were unbeaten to Melbourne City in all three matches in the regular season, as well as Melbourne Victory and Western United which at least one is obligated for City to verse should they qualify for the Grand Final.[11] The first leg resulted in a 0–0 draw in Adelaide.[12] Although, Melbourne City won 2–1 after overtime from a comeback win thanks to goals by Marco Tilio and Jamie Maclaren for City reaching their third consecutive Grand Final.[13]

Adelaide United0–0Melbourne City
Report
Attendance: 9,279
Referee: Chris Beath
Melbourne City2–1Adelaide United
Report
Attendance: 9,347

Melbourne City won 2–1 on aggregate.

Grand Final

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The 2022 Grand Final featured premiers Melbourne City for the third consecutive time and Western United for the first time at AAMI Park, also being the first featuring two expansion clubs in the A-League Men grand final. City won the double in the previous season and Western United searching for their first club trophy. It was won 2–0 by Western United as they claimed their first championship thanks to two first half goals by an own goal and Aleksandar Prijović; also winning the Joe Marston Medal.[14]

Melbourne City0–2Western United
Report
Attendance: 22,495
Referee: Chris Beath

References

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  1. ^ "Neds Weekend Preview: This is it – finals positions to be decided". A-Leagues. 5 May 2022.
  2. ^ "A big AFC change has sparked a new A-Leagues table scramble: How it works". Australian Professional Leagues. 30 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  3. ^ "FFA Cup to introduce Hyundai A-League play-off process from 2020". Football Federation Australia. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  4. ^ Smithies, Tom (May 2022). "The 2022 Isuzu UTE A-League finals structure explained". A-Leagues.
  5. ^ Harrington, Anna (14 May 2022). "Western break Phoenix hoodoo, book date with Victory in semis". A-Leagues.
  6. ^ Harrington, Anna (May 2022). "Reds, Mariners up for do-or-die ALM final". A-Leagues.
  7. ^ Gagliardi, Lee (15 May 2022). "Adelaide roll on after eliminating Mariners from ALM Finals".
  8. ^ Harrington, Anna (15 May 2022). "Aloisi, United raring for Victory Semi Final clashes". A-Leagues.
  9. ^ Harrington, Anna (17 May 2022). "Advantage Victory in Semi Final after slender win over Western". A-Leagues.
  10. ^ "Western Utd beat Victory, make ALM decider". A-Leagues. 21 May 2022.
  11. ^ Comito, Matt (May 2022). "To progress to the Grand Final, City must buck this season-long trend". A-Leagues.
  12. ^ Gagliardi, Lee (18 May 2022). "Adelaide full of belief after City draw". A-Leagues.
  13. ^ Harrington, Anna (22 May 2022). "Grand Final-bound City one win away from A-Leagues history". A-Leagues.
  14. ^ Harrington, Anna (28 May 2022). "Western dethrone City for their first A-League Men Championship". A-Leagues.
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