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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

Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory were confirmed in their automatic semi-final spots within the last week of the regular season. 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.

1. Determined by which of the Premiers for the 2021–22 or 2022–23 seasons accrued the most combined points over both seasons. 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.

Venues

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

Bracket

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.

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.

Matches

Elimination-finals

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.

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. 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.

Semi-finals

Western United qualified for the two-legged semi-finals at AAMI Park against rivals Melbourne Victory. 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. 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.

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. The first leg resulted in a 0–0 draw in Adelaide. 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.

Melbourne City won 2–1 on aggregate.

Grand Final

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.

References

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.

External links

• A-Leagues official website

• 2021–22 A-League Men season
• A-League Men finals series