2023 A-League Men finals series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Season | 2022–23 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 5 May – 3 June 2023 |
| Champions | Central Coast Mariners |
| Matches | 7 |
| Goals | 23 (3.29 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Jason Cummings (4 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Melbourne City 4–0 Sydney FC (Semi-finals, 19 May 2023) |
| Biggest away win | Western Sydney Wanderers 1–2 Sydney FC (Elimination-finals, 6 May 2023) Adelaide United 1–2 Central Coast Mariners (Semi-finals, 13 May 2023) |
| Highest scoring | Melbourne City 1–6 Central Coast Mariners (Grand Final, 3 June 2023) |
| Highest attendance | 27,288 Western Sydney Wanderers 1–2 Sydney FC (Elimination-finals, 6 May 2023) |
| Lowest attendance | 9,223 Melbourne City 4–0 Sydney FC (Semi-finals, 19 May 2023) |
| Total attendance | 124,417 |
| Average attendance | 17,774 |
← 2022 2024 → | |
The 2023 A-League Men finals series was the 18th annual edition of A-League finals series, the playoffs tournament staged to determine the champion of the 2022–23 A-League Men season. The series was played over four weeks culminating in the 2023 A-League Men Grand Final, where the Central Coast Mariners won their second championship 6–1 against premiers Melbourne City.
It featured the first A-League Men Grand Final played at a fixed location (outside the 2020 Grand Final), which was played at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, based on an Australian Professional Leagues decision in December 2022 for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 A-Leagues Grand Finals to be played in Sydney in a deal with Destination NSW,[1] which met fan backlash[2][3] and soonly scrapped in October 2023.
Venues
| Sydney | Melbourne | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Allianz Stadium | CommBank Stadium | AAMI Park | |
| Capacity: 42,500 | Capacity: 30,000 | Capacity: 30,050 | |
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| Gosford | Adelaide | ||
| Industree Group Stadium | Coopers Stadium | ||
| Capacity: 20,059 | Capacity: 16,500 | ||
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Bracket
The system used for the 2023 A-League Men finals series is the modified top-six play-offs by the A-Leagues. The top two teams enter the two-legged semi-finals receiving the bye for the elimination-finals in which the teams from third placed to sixth place enter the elimination-finals with "third against sixth" and "fourth against fifth". Losers for the elimination-finals are eliminated, and winners qualify for the two-legged semi-finals.
First placed team in the semi-finals plays the lowest ranked elimination-final winning team and secon placed team in the semi-finals plays the highest ranked elimination-final winner. Home-state advantage goes to the team with the higher ladder position, except for the Grand Final in this series.
| Elimination-finals | Semi-finals | Grand Final | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Sydney FC | 2 | 5 | Sydney FC | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1 | Melbourne City | 1 | 4 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Melbourne City | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Adelaide United | 2 | 2 | Central Coast Mariners | 6 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Wellington Phoenix | 0 | 3 | Adelaide United | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 2 | Central Coast Mariners | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||||
Elimination-finals
Adelaide United vs Wellington Phoenix
The first elimination-finals match occurred between third-placed Adelaide United and sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix at Coopers Stadium. Adelaide won 2–0 thanks to a Craig Goodwin double into the two-legged semi-finals.[8]
       Adelaide
United |
   Wellington
Phoenix |
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Assistant referees:[9]
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Western Sydney Wanderers vs Sydney FC
The second elimination-finals match occurred between fourth-placed Western Sydney Wanderers and fifth-placed Sydney FC at Bankwest Stadium; the first time a Sydney Derby was played in the finals series of the A-League Men. Despite Wanderers scoring first through a Morgan Schneiderlin penalty, Sydney made the comeback 2–1 over Western Sydney sent them to the two-legged semi-finals via Róbert Mak and Adam Le Fondre.[10]
   Western Sydney
Wanderers |
   Sydney
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Assistant referees:[9]
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Semi-finals
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne City | 5–1 | Sydney FC | 1–1 | 4–0 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 4–1 | Adelaide United | 2–1 | 2–0 |
Sydney FC vs Melbourne City
Sydney FC qualified for the two-legged semi-finals against Melbourne City starting off at home at Allianz Stadium[11] which finished as a 1–1 draw with Mathew Leckie scoring first for City and Adam Le Fondre equalizing in a second-half penalty.[12] The following week at AAMI Park, saw City breeze 4–0 with goals by Curtis Good, Marco Tilio, Richard van der Venne and an own goal winning 5–1 on aggregate heading to the Grand Final.[13]
| Sydney FC | 1–1 | Melbourne City |
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| Report |
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Sydney
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 Melbourne City
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Assistant referees:[14]
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Melbourne City vs Sydney FC
Melbourne City won 5–1 on aggregate.
| Melbourne City | 4–0 | Sydney FC |
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Report |
Melbourne City
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   Sydney
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Assistant referees:[15]
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Adelaide United vs Central Coast Mariners
Adelaide United qualified for the two-legged semi-finals against Central Coast Mariners starting off at back home at Coopers Stadium[11] which despite Adelaide scoring first, had Central Coast comeback 2–1.[16] The following week at Industree Group Stadium fully attended, Central Coast extended their advantage by winning 2–0 thanks to goals by Samuel Silvera and Marco Túlio; winning 4–1 on aggregate to qualify for the Grand Final against Melbourne City.[17]
Adelaide
United |
    Central Coast
Mariners |
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Assistant referees:[14]
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Central Coast Mariners vs Adelaide United
Central Coast Mariners won 4–1 on aggregate.
Central Coast
Mariners |
Adelaide
United |
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Assistant referees:[15]
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