2022 A-League Men Grand Final

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.

2022 A-League Men Grand Final

AAMI Park in Melbourne hosted the Grand Final.
Event	2021–22 A-League Men
Melbourne City Western United 0 2
Date	28 May 2022
Venue	AAMI Park, Melbourne
Joe Marston Medal	Aleksandar Prijović
Referee	Chris Beath
Attendance	22,495
← 2021 2023 →

Background

The 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

In 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

Main article: 2021–22 A-League Men

The 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
2021–22 A-League Men 1st placed / Premiers Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 Melbourne City 26 49 2 Melbourne Victory 26 48 3 Western United (C) 26 45 4 Adelaide United 26 43 5 Central Coast Mariners 26 42 Source: A-Leagues (C) Champions				Regular season	2021–22 A-League Men 3rd placed Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 Melbourne City 26 49 2 Melbourne Victory 26 48 3 Western United (C) 26 45 4 Adelaide United 26 43 5 Central Coast Mariners 26 42 Source: A-Leagues (C) Champions
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

Main article: 2021–22 Melbourne City FC season

Western United

Main article: 2021–22 Western United FC season

Western 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

The 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

Broadcasting

The 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

Chris 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

The 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

Young Franco, Tkay Maidza and Nerve performed before the start of the match and at half-time.^[10]

Match

Details

Melbourne City	0–2	Western United
	Report	Reis 2' (o.g.) Prijović 30'

28 May 2022

19:45 AEST (UTC+10:00)

AAMI Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 22,495

Referee: Chris Beath

Melbourne City

Western United

GK 1 Tom Glover CB 4 Nuno Reis CB 5 Rostyn Griffiths  66' CB 22 Curtis Good RWB 6 Carl Jenkinson  46' LWB 3 Scott Jamieson (c) RM 15 Andrew Nabbout CM 10 Florin Berenguer CM 18 Connor Metcalfe  78' LM 7 Mathew Leckie CF 9 Jamie Maclaren Substitutes: GK 33 Matt Sutton DF 2 Scott Galloway  46' DF 38 Jordan Bos MF 14 Tsubasa Endoh MF 16 Taras Gomulka  78' FW 17 Stefan Colakovski FW 23 Marco Tilio  66' Head coach: Patrick Kisnorbo

GK 1 Jamie Young RB 19 Josh Risdon (c) CB 6 Tomoki Imai CB 4 Léo Lacroix LB 17 Ben Garuccio CM 88 Neil Kilkenny CM 10 Steven Lustica  63' RW 8 Lachlan Wales  84'  89' AM 9 Dylan Wenzel-Halls  65'  89' LW 11 Connor Pain  82' CF 99 Aleksandar Prijović Substitutes: GK 37 Ryan Scott DF 5 Dylan Pierias  89' DF 33 Ben Collins MF 26 Nicolas Milanovic MF 27 Jerry Skotadis  63' MF 31 Adisu Bayew  82' MF 42 Rhys Bozinovski  89' Head coach: John Aloisi

Joe Marston Medal: Aleksandar Prijović (Western United)[11] Assistant referees: Anton Shchetinin Ashley Beecham Fourth official: Daniel Elder Fifth official: Andrej Giev Video assistant referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones Kate Jacewicz Kearney Robinson

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of four substitutions, with a fifth allowed in extra time.

Statistics

First half Statistic Melbourne City Western United Goals scored 0 2 Total shots 1 7 Shots on target 0 1 Saves 0 0 Ball possession 56% 44% Corner kicks Fouls committed 2 3 Offsides 1 0 Yellow cards 0 0 Red cards 0 0

Second half Statistic Melbourne City Western United Goals scored 0 0 Total shots 15 0 Shots on target 5 0 Saves 0 5 Ball possession 66% 34% Corner kicks Fouls committed 7 11 Offsides 1 0 Yellow cards 0 2 Red cards 0 0

Overall[12] Statistic Melbourne City Western United Goals scored 0 2 Total shots 16 7 Shots on target 5 1 Saves 0 5 Ball possession 60% 40% Corner kicks 9 1 Fouls committed 9 14 Offsides 2 0 Yellow cards 0 2 Red cards 0 0

Post-match

Due 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.

See also

• 2021–22 A-League Men
• 2021–22 Melbourne City FC season
• 2021–22 Western United FC season

References

1. Lynch, Joey (28 May 2022). "Western United's A-League Men title win shocked everyone except coach John Aloisi and his players". ESPN.com.au. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
2. "Competition Rules". KeepUp.com.au.
3. "Extra finals adds to drama for 2021/22 Isuzu UTE A-League season". A-League. 29 October 2021.
4. "Western United FC vs Wellington Phoenix FC | KEEPUP".
5. "Western United FC vs Melbourne Victory FC | KEEPUP".
6. "Melbourne Victory FC vs Western United FC | KEEPUP".
7. "News - Neds Grand Final Preview the Title Decider Set to Ignite Local Rivalry". 27 May 2022.
8. "How to watch the A-League Men grand final in Australia".
9. "Referees appointed for ALM Grand Final, All Stars v Barcelona". Keepup.com.au. Australian Professional Leagues Company. 25 May 2022.
10. "A-Leagues Grand Final entertainment locked in". A-Leagues. May 2022.
11. Lynch, Michael (28 May 2022). "Western force: Aloisi's team down Melbourne City to rule A-League at third attempt". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 May 2022. Unsurprisingly, the winner of the Joe Marston Medal for player of the match was Prijovic.
12. "A-League Men Grand Final Match Centre". foxsports.com.au. News Corporation Australia. 28 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
13. sachapisani (2022-12-11). "Planning, 'week-long extravaganza', records: Why Sydney is the new home of the A-Leagues Grand Finals". KEEPUP. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
14. nicholasdurbano (2022-12-11). "Lock it in: Sydney to host A-Leagues Grand Finals for next three seasons". KEEPUP. Retrieved 2022-12-12.