The

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 ...

Grand Final is an

association football 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 ...

match to determine the champions for an A-League Men season. Played at the end of the

finals series 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 ...

, the game has been held annually since 2006. The club which wins the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

receives the A-League Men championship trophy which looks like a toilet seat, and the best player receives the Joe Marston Medal. As of 2025, a total of 20 grand finals have been played, four of which have ended in penalty shoot-outs.

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, ...

have won five grand finals, the most of any club;

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 ...

have the second-most with four, 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 ...

and

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

third-most with three. Sydney FC have also appeared in the most grand finals, a total of seven; and the only club along with Brisbane Roar and the Central Coast Mariners to win back-to-back Grand Finals. Every current A-League Men club has played in at least one grand final, with the exception of

Auckland FC Auckland Football Club, commonly known as Auckland FC, is a professional football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the A-League Men, the top flight of Australian soccer. Established on 14 March 2024, the club is under lic ...

Macarthur FC Macarthur Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in South Western Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under Professional sports league organi ...

and

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

Match history

Early years (2005–2010)

Melbourne Victory 2007 A-League Grand Final

The

was established for the 2005–06 season by eight clubs, after the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

folded in 2004. The national league finals system was then reverted to the

page playoff system The Page playoff system is a playoff format. It is used in top level competitions in softball, curling, and the Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League, and Bangladesh Premier League cricket tournaments, and is used widely in lower level comp ...

, so only top four teams can qualify. The first grand final in 2006 took place at

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

between

and

as Sydney FC won the home ground advantage by defeating premiers

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 ...

to host. Sydney won 1–0 to become the first champions of the A-League Men. The first Joe Marston Medalist was

Dwight Yorke Dwight Eversley Yorke Chaconia Medal, CM (born 3 November 1971) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian professional Association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of Trinidad and Tobago national football team, Trinidad an ...

, captain of Sydney FC at the time. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, The Original Rivalry teams of premiers

defeated Adelaide United 6–0; the largest margin of an A-League Men grand final. At

Telstra Dome Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was completed ...

(now Marvel Stadium), it set the largest sporting attendance at the venue of 55,436.

Archie Thompson Archie Gerald Thompson (born 23 October 1978) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also currently serving as a club ambassador for Melbourne Victory FC. Born in New Zealand, Thompson played youth foot ...

scored five in the match; the only player to score five goals in an A-League Men grand final, earning him the Joe Marston Medal. The grand final in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

between the Central Coast Mariners and

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

, despite Central Coast as the host winner and Bluetongue Stadium (now Industree Group Stadiums) being deemed by FFA insufficient capacity to host the grand final, Sydney Football Stadium instead hosted the grand final for the second time, which was won 1–0 by Newcastle. The Original Rivalry teams returned to the grand final in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, with Victory claiming their second championship; winning 1–0 against Adelaide becoming the first A-Leagues club to win the

domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A continental treble involves winning the club's top-level domestic league competition, main domestic cup competition, and main continental tro ...

. Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC, teams of The Big Blue were the grand finalists of

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

; the fourth consecutive rivalry grand final since 2007. Sydney won 4–2 after the first

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

in the A-League Men grand final after a 1–1 draw at Etihad Stadium's third and final A-League Men grand final.

2011–2019

With

claiming the premiership and hosting the grand final in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

against

, it became the first grand final since its establishment outside of

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 ...

and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, to be hosted at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. Brisbane won 4–2 on penalties, after a 2–2 draw by two late Brisbane goals in the final four minutes of extra time. Mathew Ryan with the Central Coast Mariners won the Joe Marston Medal as the first to win it on the losing team of the A-League Men grand final. It returned to Suncorp Stadium the following year in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, with Brisbane against the

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

; 2–1 via a late comeback winner, becoming the first A-League Men club to win back-to-back grand finals. The

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 their first ever season reached the 2013 grand final against the Central Coast Mariners. The host venue was again chosen as Sydney Football Stadium for the third time, due to Wanderers' home ground

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, west of Sydney CBD. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure the most notable were the Parramatta E ...

unable to host due to insufficient capacity for the event. Central Coast won 2–0, after losing their past three grand finals. Western Sydney Wanderers reached the grand final again the following year in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

with Brisbane Roar hosting for the third time at Suncorp Stadium for the last three of four grand finals since 2011. Brisbane won 2–1 in

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

to win a record third grand final. The Big Blue teams (Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC) reached the grand final to meet for the second time in

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 ...

. Due to Etihad Stadium and

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

being unavailable for the event,

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 ...

became the last option to play host for the 2015 grand final. Melbourne Victory won 3–0; a record equalling third grand final win to the Brisbane Roar.

played host for the first time in their third grand final against the Western Sydney Wanderers also in their third in the past four for the 2016 grand final.

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

was the chosen venue, instead of Adelaide's usual home ground Coopers Stadium due to bigger capacity and for hosting high-profile matches. Adelaide United won 3–1 to record their first grand final win and the Western Sydney Wanderers' third loss still yet to win. The Big Blue teams played the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

hosted at Allianz Stadium in Sydney for the fourth time, as Sydney won 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw to equal Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory on most grand final wins with three.

reached the grand final in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

after a ten-year drought against the Melbourne Victory hosted at McDonald Jones Stadium for the first time. Victory won 1–0 for a record fourth grand final win.

Kosta Barbarouses Konstantinos "Kosta" Barbarouses (; born 19 February 1990) is a New Zealand professional association football, footballer who last played as a winger (association football), winger for A-League Men club Wellington Phoenix FC. Club career Kost ...

' 9th-minute goal in the match become the fastest scored in the A-League Men grand final. It also ultimately sparked controversy for the

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...

(VAR) that failed to detect an offside for Victory's awarded goal.

qualified for their first grand final since 2012 in Brisbane against

at Optus Stadium attended by 56,371; the current record of an A-League Men grand final attendance. Sydney won 4–1 on penalties after 0–0 draw; the third time they won on penalties and the record equalling fourth win overall.

2020–present

During the 2019–20 A-League season, it was impacted by 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 ...

and ultimately suspended the season in March 2020. From that point, matches were played behind closed doors, teams travelled interstate, and crowds were restricted for the semi-finals and grand final. These measures caused the entire finals series to be played at Bankwest Stadium (now CommBank Stadium), meaning the 2020 grand final would be first to be hosted at a

neutral venue In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to ga ...

. Whilst originally scheduled for May 2020, it was postponed to August 2020; the first time the A-League Men grand final was played after May. The match was played between

and first-timers Melbourne City in a restricted crowd of 7,051. Sydney won 1–0 after

to win a record fifth Australian championship and grand final. The same teams met the following year in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

with Melbourne City claiming the host at

in a 14,017 sell-out crowd of half-capacity, with travelling fans unable to attend due to Sydney's 2021 lockdown. City claimed revenge and won 3–1 to win their first A-League Men grand final. City reached the 2022 grand final for their third consecutive appearance; against locals Western United. It was the first grand final since the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia with no crowd restrictions. Western United won 2–0 to win their first grand final in their third season of existence. It was announced in December 2022, that the 2023, 2024 and 2025 A-Leagues grand finals would be played in

as part of a deal with Destination NSW, breaking the tradition of the highest placed team to host their grand final; the announcement initially being met with universal backlash from fans of all clubs, former players and active support groups. The 2023 grand final was then initially set to play at CommBank Stadium which would be the second time it would host there, both times as a neutral venue. Melbourne City and

were the participants for this grand final, as Central Coast won 6–1; the second A-League Men grand final where a team scored six goals. Fan controversies continued after the match, for the shape of Melbourne City's disadvantages for the match such as outnumbered fans and not hosting at AAMI Park. The Sydney grand final decision was eventually reversed in October 2023, in replacement of Unite Round.

Results

By final

Notes

By team

Trophy and awards

Championship trophy

The A-League Men's championship trophy is the main prize for winning the grand final and being crowned champions. Designed by Sydney design company D3 Design, it resembles a

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a symbol of triumph, a wreath (attire), wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. It was also later made from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cher ...

. "We used this model as a basis for a unique, cutting-edge design – our trophy is a modern and versatile translation of the wreath. The winners can hold it above their heads as a symbol of success"." It is nicknamed the "Toilet Seat" due to its shape.

Joe Marston Medal

The Joe Marston Medal is the award given to the

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

of the A-League Men grand final. It is named after Joe Marston who played for the

Australia men's national soccer team The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's Association football, soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Austral ...

from 1947 to 1958 and a member of

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in the 1954 FA Cup final. It has been awarded ever since the 1980 NSL season which was first won by

Abbas Saad Abbas Saad (; born 1 December 1967) is a soccer manager and former player. Born in Lebanon, Saad played for the Australia national team. Club career Saad began his playing career in 1985 at Sydney City, before moving to Sydney Olympic. In ...

with

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

. Until the

was formed,

with

became the first to win the Joe Marston Medal under the A-League Men. Currently, no one has won the award more than once in the A-League Men era.

Stadiums

The stadiums of an A-League Men grand final varies through the highest placed semi-final winning team to host in their own vicinity. Two exceptions have occurred in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

due to the

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

due to the Sydney grand final decision; both of which have been played at

Western Sydney Stadium Western Sydney Stadium, currently known as CommBank Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It replaced the demolished Parramatta Stadium (1986) which in turn ...

. Multiple instances have occurred where clubs' home stadiums are deemed insufficient to host the grand final and instead move to a venue with more capacity in their vicinity. Examples include

hosting at

instead of

Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. From the establishment of the first venue at the site in 1915 it was known as Waterside Park, being renam ...

; and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

also hosting at Sydney Football Stadium instead of

. ''Italics: Neutral venue''

Television broadcast

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A-League Men Grand Final Annual sporting events in Australia Recurring sporting events established in 2006 2006 establishments in Australia