Summary 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. 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.
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 Western United 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. Western United then faced
Melbourne Victory in the semi-final, who had finished the regular season in second place. 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. ==Pre-match==