The 2021 FFA Cup Final was the final match of the

2021 FFA Cup The 2021 FFA Cup was the eighth season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. Thirty-two teams contested the competition proper from the round of 32, including 10 of the 12 A-League teams (with two teams ...

, Australia's main

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

cup competition. It was contested between

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

and

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

on 5 February 2022 at the

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, currently known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the suburb of East Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victor ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. The 2021 final was the first since the 2019 FFA Cup Final, after the 2020 FFA Cup was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Aust ...

. Following the quarter-final win for Melbourne Victory against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

, the final would not feature Adelaide for the first time since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. This was Mariners' first FFA Cup final, and their first final in any competition since their win in the

2013 A-League Grand Final The 2013 A-League Grand Final was the eighth A-League Grand Final, which took place at the Sydney Football Stadium on 21 April 2013. The match was won by Central Coast Mariners, who beat Western Sydney Wanderers 2–0, in front of 42,102 people. ...

. This was Victory's second FFA Cup final and the first since

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, in which they were victorious. The 2021 FFA Cup Final was the last final played under the FFA Cup name; from 2022, the competition will be known as the Australia Cup.

Route to the final

Melbourne Victory, as an

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

team finishing in the bottom four in the

2020–21 A-League The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the Grand Final on 27 June 2021. The s ...

, entered into an A-League playoff round.. Meanwhile, Central Coast Mariners entered in the round of 32. Their first match was away to

National Premier Leagues NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier L ...

side

Blacktown City Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

Mudgee Mudgee () is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council Local gov ...

. The Mariners won 1–0 through a second-half goal to Béni Nkololo. In the next round they drew another NPL NSW side,

Wollongong Wolves Wollongong Wolves Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW, the second-tier of soccer in Austral ...

. They went behind early after goalkeeper

Mark Birighitti Mark Romano Birighitti (born 17 April 1991) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for A-League Men side Perth Glory. Born in Perth, Birighitti played youth football at the Australian Institute of Sport before makin ...

conceded a penalty and was sent off for violent conduct, however, recovered to win 2–1 through second-half goals to Moresche and debutant

Harry McCarthy Harry McCarthy (1834–1888), also known as Harry Macarthy, was a songwriter from Ireland, where he became a variety entertainer and comedian in the mid 19th century. Career In 1861 he wrote the song "The Bonnie Blue Flag," about the unoffi ...

. In the quarter-finals, the Mariners drew a third NPL NSW side, APIA Leichhardt, who upset

A-League Men A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as ...

side

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

in the previous round. The Mariners won 6–0 at Leichhardt Stadium to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the Mariners defeated

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

1–0 after

Marco Ureña Marcos Danilo Ureña Porras, known as Marco Ureña (born 5 March 1990), is a Costa Rican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for C.S. Cartaginés. He has also played for the Cost ...

scored a second-half penalty.

Pre-match

Venue selection

The Final was originally intended to be at a neutral venue. However, on 27 January 2022, it was confirmed that the winner of the semi-final match between

and

would host the final, subject to a random draw and the eventual participants. After winning the semi-final, Melbourne Victory was confirmed as the host.

Match

Details

Statistics

References

External links

Official website
{{Melbourne Victory FC matches

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Central Coast Mariners FC matches Melbourne Victory FC matches Australia Cup finals Soccer competitions in Melbourne