2025 A-League Men finals series
Football league season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2025 A-League Men finals series was the 20th annual edition of A-League finals series, the playoffs tournament staged to determine the champions of the 2024–25 A-League Men season. The series was played over four weeks culminating in the 2025 A-League Men Grand Final.[1]
| Season | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 9–31 May 2025[1] |
| Champions | Melbourne City |
| Runner up | Melbourne Victory |
← 2024 2026 → | |
Qualification
Auckland FC qualified first for the Finals series, doing so in Round 25.[2] Melbourne City qualified a round later, in Round 26.[3] Western United qualified next following a draw between Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United in a postponed match played between Round 27 and Round 28.[4][5][6] Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers both qualified in Round 28, and Adelaide United qualified in Round 29.[7][8]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland FC[a] | 26 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 49 | 27 | +22 | 53 | Qualification for Finals series[b] |
| 2 | Melbourne City (C) | 26 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 41 | 25 | +16 | 48 | Qualification for AFC Champions League Elite and Finals series |
| 3 | Western United | 26 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 55 | 37 | +18 | 47 | Qualification for Finals series[b] |
| 4 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 58 | 40 | +18 | 46 | |
| 5 | Melbourne Victory | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 44 | 36 | +8 | 43 | |
| 6 | Adelaide United | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 53 | 55 | −2 | 38 | |
| 7 | Sydney FC | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 53 | 46 | +7 | 37 | |
| 8 | Macarthur FC | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 50 | 45 | +5 | 33 | Qualification for AFC Champions League Two[c] |
| 9 | Newcastle Jets | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 43 | 44 | −1 | 30 | |
| 10 | Central Coast Mariners | 26 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 29 | 51 | −22 | 26 | Qualification for 2025 Australia Cup play-offs |
| 11 | Wellington Phoenix[a] | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 27 | 43 | −16 | 24 | |
| 12 | Brisbane Roar | 26 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 32 | 51 | −19 | 21 | |
| 13 | Perth Glory | 26 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 56 | −34 | 17 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) wins; 5) head-to-head results; 5a) head-to-head points; 5b) head-to-head goal difference; 6) Fair Play points; 7) away goal difference; 8) away goals per match; 9) home goal difference; 10) home goals per match; 11) toss of a coin in an event of a tie of two clubs.[9]
(C) Champions
Notes:
- Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix cannot qualify for Asian Football Confederation competitions as they are based in New Zealand, which is part of the Oceania Football Confederation.
- The top two teams enter the finals series at the semi-finals, while the teams ranked third to sixth enter the finals series at the elimination-finals.
- Qualified for AFC Champions League Two as the 2024 Australia Cup winners.
Venues
Auckland FC and Melbourne City are both guaranteed a top two finish, and have each secured a home semi-final. Western Sydney Wanderers and Western United both hosted an elimination-final. AAMI Park was chosen to host the Grand Final as Melbourne City were hosts against Melbourne Victory.[10]
| Melbourne | Australia: New Zealand: |
Auckland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAMI Park | Go Media Stadium | ||
| Capacity: 30,050 | Capacity: 25,000 | ||
 |
 | ||
| Melbourne | Sydney | ||
| Ironbark Fields | CommBank Stadium | ||
| Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 30,000 | ||
 |
 | ||
.svg)
Bracket
The system used for the 2025 A-League Men finals series is the modified top-six play-offs by the A-Leagues. The top two teams entered 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 were eliminated, and winners qualified for the two-legged semi-finals.[1]
First placed team in the semi-finals played the lowest ranked elimination-final winning team and second placed team in the semi-finals played the highest ranked elimination-final winner. Home-state advantage went to the team with the higher ladder position.[1]
| Elimination finals | Semi-finals | Grand Final | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Auckland FC | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 | 5 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| 5 | Melbourne Victory | 2 | 2 | Melbourne City | 1 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Melbourne City | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Western United | 3 | 3 | Western United | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 6 | Adelaide United | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Elimination finals
First elimination final: Western United vs Adelaide United
| Western United | 3–2 | Adelaide United |
|---|---|---|
Botic  20', 31', 62' |
Report |
          Western United
|
   Adelaide United
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[12]
|
Match rules[13]
|
Second elimination final: Western Sydney Wanderers vs Melbourne Victory
     Western Sydney Wanderers
|
     Melbourne Victory
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[12]
|
Match rules[13]
|
Semi-finals
Summary
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auckland FC | 1–2 | Melbourne Victory | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Melbourne City | 4–1 | Western United | 3–0 | 1–1 |
Matches
First semi-final: Auckland FC vs Melbourne Victory
First leg
     Melbourne Victory
|
   Auckland FC
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[16]
|
Match rules[13]
|
Second leg
  Auckland FC
|
Melbourne Victory
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[16]
|
Match rules[13]
|
Second semi-final: Melbourne City vs Western United
First leg
Western United
|
   Melbourne City
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[17]
|
Match rules[13]
|
Second leg
Melbourne City
|
Western United
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[16]
|
Match rules[13]
|
Grand Final
Melbourne City
|
Melbourne Victory
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Man of the Match (Joe Marston Medal):
Assistant referees:[22]
|
Match rules[23]
|
Notes
- Each team was given only three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.
- Each team was given only three opportunities to make substitutions, excluding substitutions made at half-time.
- Each team is given only three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.