The A-League is the top-tier professional football (soccer) league in Australia and New Zealand. With clubs from both countries competing in a regular season and then a finals series, the season usually begins in October and ends in April with the Grand Final. There are two major honours, the Premiership, awarded to the team that's first at the end of the regular season, and the Championship, which is given to the winner of the final series. Here's how it all works, along with answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about the format.
How the A-League Season Works
As mentioned, the A-League is split into a regular season and a Finals Series. The regular season kicks off in October and runs until April. Each club competes in a round-robin format during the regular season. This means they play both home and away fixtures against other teams to finish as high as possible on the league table. The team that tops the league table is crowned the Premiers, having won the Premiership. From there, the stage is set for the Finals Series, with the top six teams competing to determine the Champions.
This two-part competition system allows the A-League to reward teams for league-style consistency and cup-style high-stakes drama, which is relatively unique within the world of football but something sports fans might recognise from American franchise sports, such as American football, basketball, baseball, and ice hockey.
Premiership = First place in the regular season
Championship = Winner of the Finals Series
How Many Games in a League Season?
With both a league and a Finals Series, the number of matches or games played by each team will ultimately depend on how far they get. With 13 teams in the A-League, there's an unbalanced draw, meaning that some clubs have to face certain opponents twice and others three times. Each team plays 26 matches throughout the regular season, spanning from October to mid-April, with fans of every team enjoying at least half a year of regular football action.
The fixtures are generally distributed to maximise the marquee matches, travel fairness, and broadcast appeal, especially for rivalry rounds like the Sydney Derby and the Melbourne Derby. The ultimate winner of the Grand Finals, provided they finished first or second in the league, will also play a further two-legged (two matches) tie in the semi-final of the Grand Final and the single Grand Final match, but more on the Finals Series later. If the eventual winner finishes between third and sixth in the league, they'll enter the Finals Series in the Elimination Finals, with an extra single-leg knockout match, totalling an additional four matches after the regular season, giving the best players another chance to shine.
How the Points System and Table Ranking Work
In the regular season of the A-League, clubs earn three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss, which is the standard format for most professional football leagues around the world. These points will determine the teams' positions within the league. If teams are on equal points, tie-breakers are applied as follows:
- Goal difference: The number of goals scored in every match minus the total number of goals conceded in all matches.
- Goals scored: The higher-scoring team will be placed above a team with the same goal difference.
- Head-to-head record: If goal difference and goals scored are the same, the teams' records against one another are calculated as a mini-league between the two.
At the end of the season, the team that finishes top of the table is awarded the Premiership, which is not to be confused with the Championship, which is decided through the Finals Series. While several teams qualify for the Finals Series, the higher a team's position, the better positioning they're given in the finals, as well as home advantage.
A-League Finals Format Explained
After the Regular Season, the top six teams from the league progress to the Finals Series. This three-week playoff or elimination-style competition culminates in the Grand Final. While this means that the winner of the regular season league isn't automatically the champion, the higher-placed teams are given some benefits going into the Finals Series. Here's how it works.
Elimination Finals (Week 1)
- 3rd place vs 6th place
- 4th place vs 5th place
- These are single-leg knockout matches, with the higher-ranked team hosting.
Semi-Finals (Weeks 2 & 3)
- The 1st and 2nd place teams advance to this stage.
- Each faces a winner from the elimination finals in a two-legged semi-final (home and away).
- The team with the higher aggregate score progresses. Away goals do not apply.
Grand Final (Week 4)
- A single match is hosted by the highest-ranked finalist (based on regular season position).
- The winner is crowned the A-League Champions.
Ultimately, this structure allows the league to reward the overall winner of the regular while also adding a high-stakes series at the end where underdog teams, including those who scraped into the Finals Series in sixth, still have a chance of being crowned champions, albeit with more work to do than the team that finished higher up the standings.
How Does A-League Finals Work?
The A-League Grand Final is usually held in late May or early June and has been since the beginning of the league, with the exception of the 2020 final. It is the culmination of the Finals Series. Typically, the match is played on a Saturday, but it has sometimes been played on Sunday, depending on venue availability or broadcast slots. The 2025 A-League Grand Final was on Saturday, May 24.
When the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced in 2022 that the Grand Final would be held in Sydney for three consecutive years regardless of which teams qualified, it was met with an intense backlash from fans. Hosting rules were revised in 2024, and now the highest-ranked team left standing after the semi-finals gets to host the Grand Final, giving high-performing teams from the regular season the home advantage.
What Are A-League Playoffs and Who Qualifies?
For new fans, all the terminology can be confusing. The playoffs are simply another term for the Finals Series, the post-season knockout competition including the top six teams from the regular season standings.
Who Qualifies?
The six highest-ranked clubs at the end of the 26-round regular season table.
Why Do They Matter?
While finishing first earns the Premiership, only the Finals Series winner is crowned A-League Champion. That means a team could finish 6th and still win the title, provided they survive the knockout format.
What Do Higher Placements Get You?
The top two teams skip the first round (Elimination Finals) and proceed directly to the two-legged semi-finals, where they usually enjoy home advantage in the second leg, a strategic benefit. The highest-ranked Grand Finalist also gets to host the final. Although initially confusing for those new to this format, the concept of a regular season followed by playoffs provides fans with more football and two opportunities for their team to win each season.
When Is the A-League Grand Final Date?
While you should really be watching the A-League throughout the season, if you want to tune in to the Grand Final, it's typically in late May or early June, with the match usually on a Saturday or Sunday. Generally, the final takes place four weeks after the end of the regular season, at the end of the playoffs or Finals Series.
Recent Changes and Future Format Developments
The A-League Finals format has undergone changes in recent years to make it fairer, more engaging, and more commercially appealing. One of the main changes was the introduction of the two-legged semi-finals in 2023. This means that teams in the semi-finals play two matches of the same fixture, with the total score from both matches determining the winner, as if each match were simply half of a larger match.
This way, both teams get to play at their home stadium, enjoying the advantage of playing in front of their supporters in the semi-final for one of the legs and enjoying the benefit of what is sometimes called the 12th man since the support of your own fans is said to help you on the pitch like an extra player.
Introduced in 2023 to improve fairness, each semi-final now consists of two legs: one home match for each team. Aggregate goals decide the winner, with no away-goals rule.
The 2024 change to the controversial policy of staging the Grand Final in Sydney brought back home advantage to the higher-ranked grand finalist.
The league is seeking to better align its calendar more closely with international football, particularly since the upcoming addition of a second-tier football league is sparking discussions on promotion and relegation.
How Does A-League Compare to Other Football Leagues?
As mentioned, the A-League's structure isn't unique, but it does stand out against most other football leagues. Competitions like the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga give the title to the team that tops the league at the end of the season. However, it should be noted that most leagues have domestic cup competitions that follow a knockout format, like the playoffs at the end of the A-League regular season, with domestic cups like the FA Cup and League Cup (England) and Copa del Rey (Spain), for example, running in parallel to the league.
The A-League also features a salary cap and while certain players are exempt from it, it does help the league remain more competitive since every club has a similar amount to spend on player wages. In Australia, the league awards two major honours:
- The Premiership, for the team that finishes top after the regular season
- The Championship, for the team that wins the Finals Series and Grand Final
How the A-League Format Compares
This system is essentially similar to the NFL, NBA, or NHL, which, for a league with no relegation or promotion, feels like a more sensible option. However, we could see changes to the formats, especially when the second league is introduced.
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