A-League Finals


This is a list of all the A-League finals series that have occurred. The inaugural series was in 2006 and the latest was in 2019.
Standard cup rules – such as the away goals rule, extra time and penalty shootouts – are used to decide drawn games. The higher ranked team from the regular season hosts games if there is only one leg. Winners are in bold.

2006

After the home and away season, the inaugural A-League finals series began, with the top four teams from the league ladder qualifying. The finals series used a modified Page playoff system, with the difference that each first-round game would be played over two legs. The winner of the finals series, Sydney FC were crowned inaugural A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Dwight Yorke. As holder of the top position on the league ladder, Adelaide United were named the 2005–06 A-League premiers. Both of these clubs then qualified for the 2007 AFC Champions League due to their achievements.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

2007

For the second straight year, the finals series again used a modified Page playoff system with the top four teams from the 2006–07 A-League ladder qualifying. Each of the first-round games was played over two legs. The winner of the finals series, Melbourne Victory were crowned 2006–07 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Archie Thompson. As holder of the top position on the league ladder, Victory were also named the 2006–07 A-League premiers. These accomplishments qualified them for the 2008 AFC Champions League alongside Adelaide United, who got in through being runners up.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

2008

For the third straight year, the finals series used a modified Page playoff system, again with each first-round game being played over two legs and with four teams. The winner of the finals series, the Newcastle Jets were crowned 2007–08 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Andrew Durante. The Central Coast Mariners, as the holder of the top position on the league ladder, were named the 2007–08 premiers. They both qualified for the 2009 AFC Champions League due to their achievements.
Note: The Grand Final was held at the Sydney Football Stadium as the FFA deemed Bluetongue Stadium to have an insufficient capacity for the league's showpiece match.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

2009

For the fourth straight year, the finals series used a modified Page playoff system, again with each first-round game being played over two legs and with the top four teams. The winner of the finals series, the Melbourne Victory were crowned 2008–09 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Tom Pondeljak. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Melbourne Victory were also named the 2008–09 premiers. Them and Adelaide United both qualified for the 2010 AFC Champions League, Adelaide United qualifying for being runners up.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

2010

After four straight years, the finals series adapted a new modified Page playoff system, with the amount of finals teams being increased to 6. The winner of the finals series, Sydney FC were crowned 2009–10 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Simon Colosimo. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Sydney FC were also named the 2009–10 premiers. Them and Melbourne Victory both qualified for the 2011 AFC Champions League, Melbourne Victory qualifying for being runners up.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

2011

For the second straight year, the finals series used the same 6 team modified Page playoff system it adopted the previous year. The winner of the finals series, Brisbane Roar were crowned 2010–11 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Mathew Ryan, making him the first recipient of the award to play on the losing team. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Central Coast Mariners were also named the 2010–11 premiers. Their accomplishments qualified them into the 2012 AFC Champions League, which for the first time featured 3 Australian teams. The third team was Adelaide United, who qualified through finishing the regular season in third.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

2012

For the second straight year, the finals series used the same 6 team modified Page playoff system it adopted in the 2009–10 season. The winner of the finals series, Brisbane Roar were crowned 2011–12 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Jacob Burns, making him the second recipient of the award to play on the losing team. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Central Coast Mariners were also named the 2011–12 premiers. Their accomplishments qualified them into the 2013 AFC Champions League, which was reverted back to only having two A-League teams.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

2013

For the first time, the A-League adopted a new knock-out format for the finals with six teams competing over a three-week series instead of four and the top two teams no longer receive a double chance. Instead they received the opening week of the final series off and only needed to win one game to make the grand final. Central Coast Mariners were crowned 2012–13 A-League champions, after beating Western Sydney Wanderers 2–0 with Daniel McBreen taking out the Joe Marston Medal. The Wanderers were named 2012–13 premiers, after finishing top of the regular season ladder in their inaugural season. Those two teams, due to their accomplishments, qualified for the 2014 AFC Champions League, with the AFC deciding to revert the amount of Champions League teams back to three, the third team being Melbourne Victory, who entered in the 3rd round of qualifiers because they finished third in the regular season. The Wanderers went on to win the tournament, becoming the first Australian team to do so.
Note: The Grand Final was held at the Sydney Football Stadium as the FFA deemed Parramatta Stadium to have an insufficient capacity for the league's showpiece match.

Elimination Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final

2014

For the second straight year, the finals series used the same six team knock-out finals system it adopted in the 2012–13 season. The winner of the finals series, Brisbane Roar were crowned 2013–14 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Thomas Broich and Iacopo La Rocca, making it the first year with joint winners. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Brisbane Roar were also named the 2013–14 premiers. Their accomplishments qualified them into the 2015 AFC Champions League, alongside Western Sydney Wanderers. Central Coast Mariners came third and qualified for the 2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs.

Elimination Finals

Semi-Finals

Grand Final

2015

For the third straight year, the finals series used the same six team knock-out finals system it adopted in the 2012-13 season. The winner of the finals series, Melbourne Victory were crowned 2011–12 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Mark Milligan. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Melbourne Victory were also named the 2011–12 premiers. Their accomplishments qualified them into the 2016 AFC Champions League, along with Sydney FC. Adelaide United came third and qualified for the 2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs.

Elimination Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final

2016

For the fourth straight year, the finals series used the same six team knock-out finals system it adopted in the 2012–13 season. The winner of the finals series, Adelaide United were crowned 2015–16 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Isaías. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Adelaide United were also named the 2015–16 premiers. Their accomplishments qualified them into the 2017 AFC Champions League, along with Western Sydney Wanderers. Brisbane Roar came third and qualified for the 2017 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs.

Elimination Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final

2017

For the fifth straight year, the finals series used the same six team knock-out finals system it adopted in the 2012–13 season. The winner of the finals series, Sydney FC were crowned 2016–17 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Daniel Georgievski, making him the third recipient of the award to play on the losing team. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Sydney FC were also named the 2016–17 premiers. Their accomplishments qualified them into the 2017 AFC Champions League, along with Melbourne Victory. Brisbane Roar came third and qualified for the 2017 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs

Elimination Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final

2018

For the sixth straight year, the finals series used the same six team knock-out finals system it adopted in the 2012–13 season. The winner of the finals series, Melbourne Victory were crowned 2017–18 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Lawrence Thomas. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Sydney FC were named the 2017–18 premiers. Due to both teams' accomplishments, they qualified into the 2019 AFC Champions League. Newcastle Jets came second and qualified for the 2019 AFC Champions League preliminary round 2.

Elimination Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final

2019

For the seventh straight year, the finals series used the same six team knock-out finals system it adopted in the 2012–13 season. The winner of the finals series, Sydney FC were crowned 2018–19 A-League champions with the Joe Marston Medal going to Miloš Ninković. As holders of the top position on the league ladder, Perth Glory were named the 2018–19 premiers. Their accomplishments qualified them into the 2020 AFC Champions League alongside Melbourne Victory, who came third and qualified for the 2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs.

Elimination Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final

Appearances by club

Bold indicates they won the finals series that year
RankClubAppearancesYears
1Melbourne Victory112007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
2Sydney FC102006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
2Queensland/Brisbane Roar102008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
2Adelaide United102006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019
5Central Coast Mariners72006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
6Melbourne Heart/City62012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
6Perth Glory62010, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019
8Newcastle Jets52006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2018
8Wellington Phoenix52010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019
10Western Sydney Wanderers42013, 2014, 2016, 2017
11Gold Coast United22010, 2011
12New Zealand Knights0—
12North Queensland Fury0—
12Western United0—