A-League
Australia and New Zealand's top-flight professional football league, running from October to May.
A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the Australian Soccer Association (ASA) as a successor to the National Soccer League (NSL), competition commenced in August 2005. Administered by Australian Professional Leagues (APL), it is contested by twelve teams; ten based in Australia with two in New Zealand. Seasons run from October to May and include a 27-round regular season followed by a finals series playoff involving the six highest-placed teams, culminating in a grand final match. Winners of the regular season are dubbed the 'Premier' while the winner of the grand final is the season's Champion; differing from other football codes in Australia, where premier refers to the grand final winner and the winner of the regular season is the 'minor premier'. Most successful clubs for the season are granted qualification into the Asian continental club competitions, the AFC Champions League Elite and the AFC Champions League Two. In 2014, the Western Sydney Wanderers became the first and only winning Australian club of the AFC Champions League. Like the United States' MLS, as well as other professional sports leagues in Australia, it does not practice relegation and promotion and furthermore institutes a salary cap. The men's, women's and youth are also brought together under the unified A-Leagues banner.
Quick Facts
- League
- A-League (Australia & New Zealand)
- Teams (current format)
- 10
- Season window
- August to May (Southern Hemisphere)
- Competition format
- Regular season followed by a Finals Series (playoffs)
- Licensing in fifa
- Fully licensed (names, kits, players, stadiums)
- Notable in-game distinction
- One of the few top leagues with a winter calendar
Lore & Background
A national round-robin tournament existed in various forms prior to the formation of the A-League, with the most notable being the National Soccer League (NSL). The formation of the NSL came after Australia's qualification for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, which led to discussion of a national league, with 14 teams eventually chosen to participate in the inaugural season of the NSL in 1977. Under the guidance of the then-governing body, the Australian Soccer Federation (later Soccer Australia), the NSL flourished through the 1980s and early 1990s but then fell into decline with the increasing departure of Australian players to overseas leagues, a disastrous television deal with the Seven Network and the resulting lack of sponsorship. Few clubs continued to grow with Sydney Olympic, Perth Glory, and the newly established Adelaide United the exception in a dying league. In April 2003, the Australian Federal Government initiated the Independent Soccer Review Committee to investigate the governance and management of the sport in Australia, including that of the NSL. In December 2003, a Crawford Report found that the NSL was financially unviable, and in response the chairman of the sport's new governing body, Frank Lowy of the Football Federation Australia, announced a task force would be formed to create a new national competition a successor to the NSL which had dissolved at the conclusion of the 2003–04 season after 27 years of operation. The A-League was announced in April 2004, succeeding the NSL. Eight teams would be part of the new national competition, with one team from each city of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle, plus a New Zealand team and one from a remaining expressions of interest from either Melbourne or Sydney. The competition start date was set for August 2005. By June, 20 submissions had been received and a month later 12 consortiums sent in their final bids for the eight spots. Three bids were received from Melbourne, two each from Sydney and Brisbane, one from each of the remaining preferred cities and a bid from the New South Wales Central Coast city of Gosford.
Reader's Guide
The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from early October to April of the following year. As of the 2024–25 season, due to the introduction of Auckland FC and an odd number of teams, the competition consists of 29 rounds, with each team playing every other team two or three times, playing 26 games total. Each team will play 24 home and away fixtures, plus two additional third matches (one of which in Unite Round). Additionally, each team will have three byes. The teams allotted two home matches against an opponent in one season are allotted one home match against that opponent in the following season. Each match sees the winning team awarded three competition points, with one point each for a draw. The club at the top of this ladder is crowned A-League Premiers, and since the 2005–06 season has been entered.
More in Leagues & Competitions
Elsewhere in FIFA
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced