2021–22 A-League Men

The 2021–22 A-League Men, known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 45th season of national level men's soccer in Australia, and the 17th since the establishment of the competition as the A-League in 2004.

Melbourne City were the defending champions and premiers, having won their first titles respectively the previous season. They retained the premiership, but lost the Grand Final to first-time grand finalists Western United.

Clubs Twelve clubs participated in the 2021–22 season.

ClubCityHome groundCapacityAdelaide UnitedAdelaideCoopers Stadium16,500Brisbane RoarBrisbaneMoreton Daily Stadium11,500Central Coast MarinersGosfordCentral Coast Stadium20,059MudgeeGlen Willow Regional Sports Stadium10,000Macarthur FCSydneyCampbelltown Stadium20,000BlueBet Stadium22,500NewcastleMcDonald Jones Stadium33,000Melbourne CityMelbourneAAMI Park30,050Melbourne VictoryMelbourneAAMI Park30,050Newcastle JetsNewcastleMcDonald Jones Stadium33,000Perth GloryPerthHBF Park20,500LauncestonUTAS Stadium19,000SydneyNetstrata Jubilee Oval20,500Sydney FCSydneyNetstrata Jubilee Oval20,500Leichhardt Oval20,000Wellington PhoenixAucklandEden Park50,000GosfordCentral Coast Stadium20,059SydneyNetstrata Jubilee Oval20,500Leichhardt Oval20,000Campbelltown Stadium20,000Endeavour Field22,000WellingtonSky Stadium34,500WollongongWIN Stadium23,000Western Sydney WanderersSydneyCommBank Stadium30,000Western UnitedBallaratMars Stadium11,000Morshead Park8,500GeelongGMHBA Stadium26,000LauncestonUTAS Stadium19,000MelbourneAAMI Park30,050

Personnel and kits Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Kit sponsor Adelaide United Carl Veart Craig Goodwin UCAN Flinders UniversityAustralian Outdoor Living Brisbane Roar Warren Moon Tom Aldred New Balance ActronAir Central Coast Mariners Nick Montgomery Oliver Bozanic Paladin Sports MATE Macarthur FC Ante Milicic Ulises Dávila Macron Wisdom Homes Melbourne City Patrick Kisnorbo Scott Jamieson Puma Etihad Airways Melbourne Victory Tony Popovic Joshua Brillante Macron Metricon Newcastle Jets Arthur Papas Matthew Jurman VIVA Port of NewcastleAmpcontrol Perth Glory Ruben Zadkovich Brandon O'Neill Macron BHP Sydney FC Steve Corica Alex Wilkinson Under Armour The Star Wellington Phoenix Ufuk Talay Alex Rufer Paladin Sports Spark Oppo Western Sydney Wanderers Marko Rudan Rhys Williams Kappa Voltaren Turner Freeman Lawyers Western United John Aloisi Alessandro Diamanti Kappa Simonds Homes

Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position on table Incoming manager Date of appointment Melbourne Victory (caretaker) End of contract 10 June 2021 Pre-season 22 April 2021 Newcastle Jets Resigned 3 June 2021 28 June 2021 Western United Sacked 8 June 2021 15 July 2021 Central Coast Mariners Resigned 17 June 2021 2 July 2021 Western Sydney Wanderers Sacked 30 January 2022 11th 31 January 2022 Perth Glory Sacked 20 March 2022 12th (caretaker) 20 March 2022

Foreign players Club Visa 1 Visa 2 Visa 3 Visa 4 Visa 5 Non-visa foreigner(s) Former player(s) Adelaide United Michael Jakobsen Zach Clough Hiroshi Ibusuki Juande Javi López Isaías1 Brisbane Roar Juan Lescano Matti Steinmann Jay O'Shea Ryo Wada Tom Aldred Rahmat Akbari2 Jack Hingert2 Aidan Munford2 Central Coast Mariners Moresche Marco Ureña Béni Nkololo Nicolai Müller Cy Goddard Dan Hall2 Storm Roux2 Jason Cummings2 Macarthur FC Jordon Mutch Craig Noone Adrian Mariappa Ulises Dávila Filip Kurto Antonis Martis2 Melbourne City Carl Jenkinson Florin Berenguer Manuel Pucciarelli Tsubasa Endoh Nuno Reis Stefan Colakovski2 Melbourne Victory Ivan Kelava Francesco Margiotta Marco Rojas Roderick Miranda Rai Marchán William Wilson2 Newcastle Jets Daniel Penha Olivier Boumal Beka Mikeltadze Savvas Siatravanis Mario Arqués Dane Ingham2 Valentino Yuel2 Perth Glory Darryl Lachman Daniel Sturridge Kosuke Ota Adrián Sardinero Pacifique Niyongabire2 Andy Keogh1 Darko Stanojević2 Sydney FC Bobô Adam Le Fondre Luciano Narsingh Kosta Barbarouses Miloš Ninković Elvis Kamsoba2 Wellington Phoenix David Ball Gary Hooper Scott Wootton Gael Sandoval Matthew Bozinovski2 Western Sydney Wanderers Jack Rodwell Tomer Hemed Keijiro Ogawa Ziggy Gordon Tomás Mejías Adama Traoré1 Western United Alessandro Diamanti Tomoki Imai Aleksandar Prijović Rene Krhin Léo Lacroix Jamie Young2 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 of Wellington Phoenix); 2Australian citizens (or New Zealand citizens, in the case of Wellington 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)

Salary cap exemptions and captains Club First Marquee Second Marquee Designated Player Captain Vice-captain Adelaide United None None None Stefan Mauk Craig Goodwin Ryan Kitto Isaías Brisbane Roar None None None Tom Aldred None Central Coast Mariners None None None Oliver Bozanic None Macarthur FC None None None Ulises Dávila None Melbourne City Jamie Maclaren None None Scott Jamieson None Melbourne Victory Marco Rojas Chris Ikonomidis Roderick Miranda Joshua Brillante Roderick Miranda Newcastle Jets None None Beka Mikeltadze Matthew Jurman None Perth Glory Daniel Sturridge Bruno Fornaroli Adrián Sardinero Brandon O'Neill None Sydney FC None None None Alex Wilkinson None Wellington Phoenix None None None Alex Rufer Oliver Sail Western Sydney Wanderers None None None Rhys Williams None Western United Alessandro Diamanti None None Alessandro Diamanti Josh Risdon

Transfers

Regular season League table

Fixtures and results

AFC Champions League qualification Due to the re-formatting of the AFC 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), the qualification for the 2023–24 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 the following season accrues the most combined points over both seasons. Melbourne City won the Premiership in both the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons, thereby automatically qualifying for the Champions League.

Finals series

Format 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. The two winners of those matches meet in the Grand Final. This season was the first to use this format.

Elimination-finals

Semi-finals Summary

Matches

Western United won 4–2 on aggregate.

Melbourne City won 2–1 on aggregate.

Grand Final

Regular season statistics Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Jamie MaclarenMelbourne City152 Beka MikeltadzeNewcastle Jets133 Jason CummingsCentral Coast Mariners10 Nicholas D'AgostinoMelbourne Victory Aleksandar PrijovićWestern United Craig GoodwinAdelaide United7 Mathew LeckieMelbourne City98 Bruno FornaroliPerth Glory89 Ulises DávilaMacarthur FC7 Adam Le FondreSydney FC Beni NkololoCentral Coast Mariners Marco UreñaCentral Coast Mariners

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date Ref. Adam Le FondreSydney FCCentral Coast Mariners5–0 (A) Beka MikeltadzeNewcastle JetsPerth Glory6–1 (H) Lachlan WalesWestern UnitedPerth Glory6–0 (H)

Key(A)Away team(H)Home team

Clean sheets RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Jamie YoungWestern United102 Mark BirighittiCentral Coast Mariners93 Ivan KelavaMelbourne Victory74 Tom GloverMelbourne City65 Oliver SailWellington Phoenix56 Jack DuncanNewcastle Jets4 Joe GauciAdelaide United Filip KurtoMacarthur FC Liam ReddyPerth Glory Andrew RedmayneSydney FC

Awards Annual awards The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2021–22 Dolan Warren Awards night on 26 May 2022. +AwardWinnerClubJohnny Warren Medal Jake BrimmerMelbourne VictoryYoung Footballer of the Year Angus ThurgateNewcastle JetsGolden Boot Award Jamie MaclarenMelbourne CityGoalkeeper of the Year Mark BirighittiCentral Coast MarinersCoach of the Year Tony PopovicMelbourne VictoryGoal of the Year Ben GaruccioWestern UnitedReferee of the Year Alex King

Team of the season Team of the season 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)

2021–22 A-League Men

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