| Season | 2021–22 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 19 November 2021 – 28 May 2022 |
| Champions | Western United (1st title) |
| Premiers | Melbourne City (2nd title) |
| Matches | 163 |
| Goals | 473 (2.9 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Jamie Maclaren (regular season, 15 goals) Jamie Maclaren (overall, 16 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Western United 6–0Perth Glory (16 April 2022) |
| Biggest away win | Wellington Phoenix 0–6 Melbourne City (2 April 2022) |
| Highest scoring | Newcastle Jets 6–1 Perth Glory (10 April 2022) |
| Longest winning run | 5 matches Adelaide United Central Coast Mariners |
| Longest unbeaten run | 15 matches Melbourne Victory |
| Longest winless run | 16 matches Perth Glory |
| Longest losing run | 6 matches Perth Glory |
| Highest attendance | 23,118 WSW 0–0Sydney FC (20 November 2021) |
| Lowest attendance | 38 Wellington Phoenix 3–0Brisbane Roar (16 February 2022) |
| Average attendance | 5,602[1] ( 143) |
2022–23 → (Note: Longest runs only include regular season results) | |
The2021–22 A-League Men, known as theIsuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 45th season of national level men'ssoccer in Australia, and the 17th since the establishment of thecompetition as the A-League in 2004.
Melbourne City were the defending champions and premiers, having won their first titles respectively theprevious season. They retained the premiership, but lost theGrand Final to first-time grand finalistsWestern United.
Twelve clubs participated in the 2021–22 season.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position on table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory |  Steve Kean (caretaker) | End of contract | 10 June 2021 | Pre-season |  Tony Popovic | 22 April 2021[33] |
| Newcastle Jets | Craig Deans | Resigned[34] | 3 June 2021 | Arthur Papas | 28 June 2021[35] | |
| Western United | Marko Rudan | Sacked[36] | 8 June 2021 | John Aloisi | 15 July 2021[37] | |
| Central Coast Mariners | Alen Stajcic | Resigned[38] | 17 June 2021 | Nick Montgomery | 2 July 2021[39] | |
| Western Sydney Wanderers |  Carl Robinson | Sacked[40] | 30 January 2022 | 11th | Marko Rudan | 31 January 2022[41] |
| Perth Glory | Richard Garcia | Sacked[42] | 20 March 2022 | 12th | Ruben Zadkovich (caretaker) | 20 March 2022[42] |
The following do not fill a Visa position:
1Those players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained Australian citizenship (or New Zealand citizenship, in the case ofWellington Phoenix);[43]
2Australian citizens (or New Zealand citizens, in the case ofWellington Phoenix) who have chosen to represent another national team;
3Injury replacement players, or National team replacement players;
4Guest players (eligible to play a maximum of fourteen games)
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Melbourne City | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 55 | 33 | +22 | 49 | Qualification forfinals series and2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage[b] |
| 2 | Melbourne Victory | 26 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 42 | 25 | +17 | 48 | Qualification forfinals series[c] |
| 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[d] | 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 for2022 Australia Cup play-offs[e] |
| 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 |
| Home \ Away | ADE | BRI | CCM | MAC | MCY | MVC | NEW | PER | SYD | WEL | WSW | WUN | ADE | BRI | CCM | MAC | MCY | MVC | NEW | PER | SYD | WEL | WSW | WUN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | |||||||||||
| Brisbane Roar | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–3 | |||||||||||
| Central Coast Mariners | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 0–5 | |||||||||||
| Macarthur FC | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | |||||||||||
| Melbourne City | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | |||||||||||
| Melbourne Victory | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | |||||||||||
| Newcastle Jets | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 4–0 | |||||||||||
| Perth Glory | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–4 | |||||||||||
| Sydney FC | 2–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | |||||||||||
| Wellington Phoenix | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–6 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–4 | 1–0 | |||||||||||
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | |||||||||||
| Western United | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 6–0 |
Due to the re-formatting of theAFC Champions League to have an inter-year schedule from September (northern hemisphere autumn-to-spring) instead of an intra-year schedule (northern hemisphere spring-to-autumn),[66] the qualification for the2023–24 AFC Champions League was changed. The single qualification spot for this competition goes to whichever of which of the Premiers for the current season or thefollowing season accrues the most combined points over both seasons.[67]Melbourne City won the Premiership in both the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons,[68] thereby automatically qualifying for the Champions League.
The finals series, which ran over three weeks, consisted of 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. The first and second placed teams chose whether they would play home or away in the first leg.[69] The two winners of those matches meet in the Grand Final.[70] This season was the first to use this format.
| 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 | ||||||||||||||
Summary
| 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 |
Matches
| Melbourne Victory | 1–4 | Western United |
|---|---|---|
Brimmer 37' | Report |
|
Western United won 4–2 on aggregate.
Melbourne City won 2–1 on aggregate.
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Adam Le Fondre | Sydney FC | Central Coast Mariners | 5–0 (A) | 9 April 2022 | [72] |
 Beka Mikeltadze | Newcastle Jets | Perth Glory | 6–1 (H) | 10 April 2022 | [73] |
| Lachlan Wales | Western United | Perth Glory | 6–0 (H) | 16 April 2022 | [74] |
| Key | |
|---|---|
| (A) | Away team |
| (H) | Home team |
The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2021–22 Dolan Warren Awards night on 26 May 2022.[76]
| Team of the season[77] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Mark Birighitti (Central Coast Mariners) | |||||||
| Defenders | Jason Geria (Melbourne Victory) |  Léo Lacroix (Western United) | Curtis Good (Melbourne City) | Jason Davidson (Melbourne Victory) | ||||
| Midfielders |  Florin Berenguer (Melbourne City) | Joshua Brillante (Melbourne Victory) | Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United) | |||||
| Forwards | Nick D'Agostino (Melbourne Victory) | Jake Brimmer (Melbourne Victory) | Jamie Maclaren (Melbourne City) | |||||
| Substitutes | Jamie Young (Western United) | Ben Garuccio (Western United) |  Javi López (Adelaide United) | Connor Metcalfe (Melbourne City) |  Ulises Dávila (Macarthur FC) |  Daniel Penha (Newcastle Jets) | Neil Kilkenny (Western United) | |
Etihad, to this day, sponsor the front of City's shirts and the club's stadium, as well as the surrounding academy building known as the Etihad Campus, in addition to exposure at City's stable of clubs in cities such as New York and Melbourne.
Captain Tom Aldred has today committed his long-term future to Brisbane Roar
signed a long-term deal that elevates him to marquee next season
Melbourne City FC is delighted to announce the re-signing of Captain Scott Jamieson until the end of the 2022/23 season.
Ikonomidis will join Marco Rojas as the Club's second designated player for the 2021/22 season.
Vice-captain Miranda captained the Victory on debut...
| Seasons | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finals series | |||||||
| Grand Finals | |||||||
| Clubs |
| ||||||
| Stadiums |
| ||||||
| Rivalries | |||||||
| Competition | |||||||
| Statistics and awards |
| ||||||
| Associated competitions | |||||||
| National teams |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League competitions |
| ||||
| Cup competitions | |||||
| Others | |||||
| Lists | |||||
