A-League Men finals series

Sydney FC claimed the first A-League Men championship, by defeating the Central Coast Mariners 1–0 in the Grand Final,[2] despite Adelaide United winning the premiership prior.

A new top-six playoffs system was introduced and has been used ever since 2013, where a three-week series was used instead of four and the top two teams no longer receive a double chance.

Since this current playoffs system was introduced, semi-final starting teams were common in being the only teams to qualify for the Grand Final until 2018, where Melbourne Victory played in the 2018 A-League Grand Final after qualifying from fourth place spot and the elimination-finals.

Western United are the only other team to play in a Grand Final starting from the elimination-finals in 2022, since this current playoffs system.

[3] 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.