A-League Men finals series

Finals series began back in the National Soccer League era from the 1984 season onwards, and has been consistently played (except the 1987 season) in every Australian national league season to date. With the A-League Men starting with eight teams, top four play-offs were used for the first three seasons, before changing to top six play-offs as more clubs entered the competition. Systems The A-League Men has used four different finals tournament systems in its history: • 2006–2009 (top four) – Page playoff system • 2010–2012 (top six) – Top-six play-offs (four weeks, double chance) • 2013–2021 (top six) – Top-six play-offs (three weeks, no double chance) • 2022–present (top six) – Top-six play-offs (four weeks, no double chance) ==History==

The first edition of the A-League Men finals series was played at the culmination of the 2005–06 A-League season, beginning with the top four teams from the league ladder qualifying using a modified Page playoff system, with the difference that each first-round game would be played over two legs starting with the modified Page playoff system. Sydney FC claimed the first A-League Men championship, by defeating the Central Coast Mariners 1–0 in the Grand Final, despite Adelaide United winning the premiership prior. The same playoff systems were used the next few editions from 2007 to 2009. After four straight years the finals series adapted a new modified system for top-six play-offs in 2010, with the amount of finals teams being increased from four to six; meaning the introduction of the elimination-finals for the lower finishing finals teams. ==Venues==

Finals matches are played in the state of the home team, giving a home state advantage to the higher placed team; the exceptions of this rule occurred in the 2020 finals series, where all matches were played at Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The 2023 A-League Men Grand Final involved the grand final being played at a neutral venue, following an APL decision to host 2023, 2024 and 2025 Grand Finals in Sydney in a deal with Destination NSW, a move which received considerable backlash in December 2022 and scrapped in October 2023. ==Appearances by club==

Bold indicates they won the finals series that year. Team names in italics indicates the club is a former A-League Men member. Year in italics indicates winner of finals series is yet to be determined. ==References==