The 2021 A-League Grand Final was the 16th A-League Grand Final, the championship-deciding match of the Australian A-League and the culmination of the 2020–21 season. The match was played between season premiers Melbourne City and the second-placed team and championship holders Sydney FC on 27 June 2021 at AAMI Park in Melbourne.
Melbourne City won their first championship by beating Sydney 3–1.
Teams In the following table, finals until 2004 were in the National Soccer League era, since 2006 were in the A-League era.
TeamPrevious final appearances (bold indicates winners)Melbourne City1 (2020)Sydney FC6 (2006, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Route to the final
The 2020–21 season was the league's sixteenth since its inception in 2005, and the 44th season of top-flight association football in Australia. Twelve teams competed in the regular season, with each team playing a total of 26 matches, resulting in an uneven fixture that involved some clubs meeting three times and others meeting only twice. The top six teams qualified for the finals series, which were played in a straight-knockout format, with the top two teams earning an automatic place in the semi-finals and the bottom four teams playing off in elimination finals. The two winners of the semi-finals met in the grand final. Melbourne City and Sydney FC qualified for the semi-finals by virtue of finishing first and second respectively, whilst Central Coast Mariners (third) met Macarthur FC (sixth) in the first elimination final and Brisbane Roar (fourth) took on Adelaide United (fifth) in the second elimination final. Macarthur defeated Central Coast Mariners two goals to nil, both goals coming in extra time and Adelaide United defeated Brisbane Roar two goals to one. As the top-ranked team, Melbourne City were paired with and defeated Macarthur, the lowest-ranked winning team, 2–0, for their semi-final, whilst Sydney FC were victorious against Adelaide United in the other semi-final, the scoreline being 2–1.
Due to crowd restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria, Melbourne City's home semi-final was moved to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in New South Wales.
Melbourne CityRoundSydney FC1st placeRegular season2nd placeOpponentScoreOpponentScoreBye weekN/AElimination finalsBye weekN/AMacarthur FC2–0Semi-finalsAdelaide United2–1
Pre-match
Venue The Grand Final was held at AAMI Park, Melbourne, Victoria, the home ground of Melbourne City. It was the second Grand Final hosted at the venue, after 2015.
Attendance Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the stadium was limited to 50% capacity. Tickets for the game were sold out, resulting in a final attendance of 14,017 spectators. Due to a COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney, many travelling fans for the away team were unable to attend the match.
Broadcasting The Grand Final was broadcast throughout Australia live on Fox Sports and streamed for free on Kayo Sports through the Kayo Freebies initiative. This was also the last A-League match broadcast on Fox Sports after a sixteen-year association with the broadcaster, with the A-League moving to Network 10 and Paramount+. In the United States, the Grand Final was shown on ESPN+.
Match
Summary Despite early dominance from Melbourne City, they slipped to an early disadvantage after Sydney FC's Kosta Barbarouses hit a powerful effort past City goalkeeper Thomas Glover. Shortly after this goal, the eventual Joe Marston medalist Nathaniel Atkinson scored for City to put the teams level at 1–1. In the 35th minute of the match, Sydney midfielder Luke Brattan was sent off after accumulating two yellow cards, allowing Melbourne to continue to dominate after this point in the match. They eventually won the game 3–1 thanks to further goals from captain Scott Jamieson and Scott Galloway, and claimed their first A-League championship.
Details
GK 1 Tom GloverRB 2 Scott GallowayCB 4 Nuno ReisCB 7 Rostyn GriffithsLB 3 Scott Jamieson (c)CM 10 Florin BerenguerCM 8 Aiden O'NeillCM 20 Adrián LunaRF 13 Nathaniel AtkinsonCF 17 Stefan Colakovski LF 23 Marco Tilio Substitutes:GK 33 Matt SuttonDF 19 Ben GaruccioDF 36 Kerrin StokesMF 16 Taras GomulkaFW 11 Craig NooneFW 15 Andrew Nabbout FW 35 Raphael Borges RodriguesHead coach: Patrick Kisnorbo GK 20 Tom Heward-BelleRB 8 Paulo RetreCB 4 Alex Wilkinson (c)CB 3 Ben WarlandLB 16 Joel KingCM 17 Anthony Caceres CM 26 Luke Brattan RM 11 Kosta BarbarousesLM 5 Alexander Baumjohann CF 9 Bobô CF 99 Adam Le FondreSubstitutes:GK 30 Adam PavlesicDF 2 Patrick FlottmannDF 21 Harry Van Der Saag DF 25 Callum TalbotMF 10 Miloš Ninković FW 18 Luke IvanovicFW 33 Patrick Wood Head coach: Steve Corica
Joe Marston Medal: Nathaniel Atkinson (Melbourne City)
Assistant referees: Matthew Cream Nathan MacDonald Fourth official: Daniel Elder Fifth official: Wilson Brown Video assistant referee: Kris Griffiths-JonesMatch rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions, with a fourth allowed in extra time.
Statistics +Overall statistics Melbourne City Sydney FCGoals scored 3 1Total shots 26 3Shots on target 8 1 69.5% 30.5%Corner kicks 10 1Fouls conceded 15 14Offsides 1 1Yellow cards 2 2Red cards 0 1
Notes
References