The 2022 A-League Men Grand Final was the 17th A-League Men Grand Final, the championship-deciding match of the Australian A-League Men and the culmination of the 2021–22 season. The match was played between season premiers and defending champions Melbourne City and Western United on 28 May 2022 at AAMI Park in Melbourne.
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| Event | 2021–22 A-League Men | ||||||
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| Date | 28 May 2022 | ||||||
| Venue | AAMI Park, Melbourne | ||||||
| Joe Marston Medal | Aleksandar Prijović | ||||||
| Referee | Chris Beath | ||||||
| Attendance | 22,495 | ||||||
Background
editThe match was Melbourne City's third consecutive and overall A-League Men Grand Final, while it was Western United's inaugural feature in the Grand Final. Western United won 2–0. This was the first A-League Grand Final to feature two teams of the same city, with both teams representing Melbourne. Western United's win saw the club became just the second expansion side ever to win the A-League Championship, the quickest expansion side to win it, the first team to triumph in their first Grand Final appearance since Brisbane Roar in 2011, and one of just two teams to have won the Championship after finishing outside the top two, with Melbourne Victory first achieving this feat in 2018.[1]
Previous finals
editIn the following table, finals until 2004 were in the National Soccer League era, since 2006 were in the A-League era.
| Team | Previous grand final appearances (bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|
| Melbourne City | 2 (2020, 2021) |
| Western United | None |
Route to the final
editThe 2021–22 season was the league's seventeenth since its inception in 2005, and the 45th season of top-flight association football in Australia. Twelve teams competed in the regular season, with each team playing a total of 26 matches, resulting in an uneven fixture that involved some clubs meeting three times and others meeting only twice. The top six teams qualified for the finals series, which were played in a straight-knockout format, with the top two teams earning an automatic place in the semi-finals and the bottom four teams playing off in elimination finals.[2] One change made was that both semi-finals were now two-legged fixtures with the two winners of the semi-finals on aggregate meeting in the grand final.[3] Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory qualified for the semi-finals by virtue of finishing first and second respectively, whilst Western United (third) met Wellington Phoenix (sixth) in the first elimination final and Adelaide United (fourth) took on Central Coast Mariners (fifth) in the second elimination final.
| Melbourne City | Round | Western United | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2021–22 A-League Men 1st placed / Premiers
| Regular season | 2021–22 A-League Men 3rd placed
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| Opponent | Score | Elimination-finals | Opponent | Score | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bye | Wellington Phoenix | 1–0 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Semi-finals | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adelaide United | 2–1 | 0–0 (A) | 2–1 (a.e.t.) (H) | Melbourne Victory | 4–2 | 0–1 (H) | 4–1 (A) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Melbourne City
editWestern United
editWestern United finished the season in 3rd place, where they played 6th placed Wellington Phoenix in the first elimination final, where they won 1–0 at AAMI Park in front of 3,376 fans.[4] Western United then faced Melbourne Victory in the semi-final, who had finished the regular season in second place.[5] After losing the home leg 0–1, Western United then mounted a comeback in the away leg, defeating Melbourne Victory 4–1 in front of 15,349 spectators, with the scoreline being 4–2 on aggregate, to progress to their first ever A-League Men Grand Final.[6]
Venue
editThe Grand Final was held at AAMI Park in Melbourne, the home ground of Melbourne City.[7] This was the third Grand Final hosted at the venue, after 2015 and the previous edition in 2021.
Pre-match
editBroadcasting
editThe Grand Final was broadcast throughout Australia live and free on Network 10 and streamed on Paramount+ and 10Play, the latter being for free.[8]
Officiating
editChris Beath was selected to officiate the Grand Final on 25 May, which would be his third consecutive A-League Mens Grand Final. Beath was assisted by Anton Shchetinin and Ashley Beecham. The video match officials for the match were led by Kris Griffiths-Jones, who was assisted by Kate Jacewicz and Kearney Robinson. Daniel Elder was the fourth official for the match. Andrej Giev was the fifth official.[9]
Attendance
editThe match was the first A-League Men Grand Final since 2019 that did not have the attendance impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. The match attendance of 22,495 was the third lowest Grand Final attendance, and the lowest attendance for a Grand Final that was not impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.
Opening ceremony
editYoung Franco, Tkay Maidza and Nerve performed before the start of the match and at half-time.[10]
Match
editDetails
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     Melbourne City |      Western United |
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Joe Marston Medal: Assistant referees: | Match rules
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Statistics
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Post-match
editDue to the Australian Professional Leagues announcing on 12 December 2022 that 2023, 2024 and 2025 A-League Men Grand Finals would be hosted in Sydney regardless of which two teams qualified, the 2022 Grand Final would have been the last Grand Final to be played outside of Sydney until at least 2026.,[13][14] but the deal was scrapped in October 2023.