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The 2019 A-League finals series was the 14th annual edition of the A-League finals series, the playoffs tournament staged to determine the champion of the 2018–19 A-League season. The series was played over three weeks culminating in the 2019 A-League Grand Final, where Sydney FC won a fourth championship 4–1 on penalties after a 0–0 draw against Perth Glory.

Qualification

1. ^ 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.
2. Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League as they are not recognised as an AFC club.

Venues

Perth		AdelaideMelbournePerthSydney	Melbourne
Optus Stadium	HBF Park		AAMI Park
Capacity: 61,266	Capacity: 20,050		Capacity: 30,050
Sydney			Adelaide
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium			Coopers Stadium
Capacity: 20,500			Capacity: 16,500

Matches

The system used for the 2019 A-League 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 semi-finals.

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 advantage goes to the team with the higher ladder position.

Elimination-finals

Third-placed Melbourne Victory as the reigning champions took on sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix for the first elimination-final. All three matches from the regular season resulted in draws. Georg Niedermeier opened the scoring for Victory towards the end of the first half, Kosta Barbarouses scored the second as Roy Krishna pulled one back for Wellington, but Ola Toivonen sealing the match to win 3–1 for Melbourne Victory through to the semi-final against Sydney FC.

Fourth-placed Adelaide United took on fifth-placed Melbourne City for the second elimination-final. City were undefeated against Adelaide throughout the regular season. The match went to extra time after a 0–0 draw at the end of 90 minutes, as Ben Halloran scored the winning goal in the 119th minute to win 1–0 for Adelaide as they went through to the semi-final against Perth Glory.

Semi-finals

Premiers Perth Glory and Adelaide United met in this semi-final. Diego Castro scored two goals for Perth towards the 75th minute mark, until Baba Diawara scored one back for Adelaide and Ryan Kitto equalising in the 94th minute of regular time to send the match into extra time. Scott Neville scored to give Perth the lead again, until Michael Marrone headed another equaliser 3–3 for the match to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Adelaide were chosen to go first with three successive penalties to start off with Perth missing one of their penalties. Perth equalised in the shoot-out towards the final fifth kick. Two sets of missed penalties occurred until Adelaide missed and Joel Chianese for Perth won them the shoot-out 5–4 through to the Grand Final.

Sydney FC hosted Melbourne Victory; the same fixture in the previous edition's semi-final where Victory won in extra time to the Grand Final. Sydney quickly scored through Aaron Calver three minutes in, Alex Brosque scored a second as well as an own goal by Leigh Broxham towards half time. Adam Le Fondre scored twice including a penalty to make it and Miloš Ninković scored Sydney's sixth. Ola Toivonen in stoppage time scored a consolation goal for Victory in the 91st minute, as it was full time with Sydney revenge winning 6–1 through to the Grand Final.

Grand Final

The 2019 Grand Final had Perth Glory host Sydney FC; the first Australian national league grand final hosted in Perth since the 2003 National Soccer League Grand Final. Sydney has won their last 10 out of 11 matches against Perth who has lost one of their last 10 home matches. The match ultimately ended 0–0 after extra time as the match went into penalties. Both teams respectively scored their first goals in the shoot-out until Andrew Redmayne saved the next two penalties as Reza Ghoochannejhad scored the decisive goal in the shoot-out to win the Grand Final for Sydney FC after winning 4–1 on penalties.

References

1. Greco, John (May 2019). "Elimination Final preview: Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix". A-Leagues.
2. Windon, Jacob (May 2019). "Victory star Toivonen deals Phoenix knockout blow".
3. Greco, John (May 2019). "Elimination Final preview: Adelaide United v Melbourne City". A-Leagues.
4. Greco, John (5 May 2019). "Halloran's late goal sees Reds sink City in extra-time". A-Leagues.
5. Greco, John (May 2019). "Semi-Final preview: Perth Glory v Adelaide United". A-Leagues.
6. Windon, Jacob (10 May 2019). "Glory secure Grand Final after all-time classic with Adelaide". A-Leagues.
7. Greco, John (May 2019). "Semi-Final preview: Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory".
8. Green, Samuel; Dorman, Matt (12 May 2019). "Sydney FC exact sweet revenge on Victory in stunning seven-goal Semi Final". A-Leagues.
9. Unwin, Dominic (May 2019). "Grand Final preview: Perth Glory v Sydney FC". A-Leagues.
10. Windon, Jacob (19 May 2019). "Sydney FC pip Perth on penalties to win Hyundai A-League 2019 Grand Final". A-Leagues.

External links

• A-Leagues official website

• 2018–19 A-League season
• A-League Men finals series