2022–23 A-League Men

The 2022–23 A-League Men, known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 46th season of national level men's soccer in Australia, and the 18th since the establishment of the competition as the A-League in 2004.

The regular season commenced on 7 October 2022. The season featured a mid-season break from 18 November 2022 to 8 December 2022 due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar.

Melbourne City were the defending premiers and Western United were the defending champions. Melbourne City successfully defended their title, winning their third premiership in a row with two games remaining. Central Coast Mariners won their second championship, defeating Melbourne City 6–1 in the Grand Final.

This season was the first A-League Men season since 2013–14 to record an increase in average attendance compared to the previous season.

Clubs Stadiums and locations Twelve clubs are participating in the 2022–23 season. Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

ClubCityHome groundCapacityAdelaide UnitedAdelaideCoopers Stadium16,500Brisbane RoarBrisbaneKayo Stadium11,500 Suncorp Stadium52,500Central Coast MarinersGosfordIndustree Group Stadium20,059MudgeeGlen Willow Regional Sports Stadium10,000Macarthur FCCampbelltownCampbelltown Stadium17,500Melbourne CityMelbourneAAMI Park30,050Melbourne VictoryNewcastle JetsNewcastleMcDonald Jones Stadium33,000Perth GloryPerthHBF Park20,500Macedonia Park4,500Sydney FCSydneyAllianz Stadium42,500Wellington PhoenixWellingtonSky Stadium35,000AucklandEden Park50,000Palmerston NorthCentral Energy Trust Arena15,000Western Sydney WanderersParramattaCommBank Stadium30,000Western UnitedMelbourneAAMI Park30,050BallaratMars Stadium11,000HobartNorth Hobart Oval10,000LauncestonUTAS Stadium19,000

Personnel and kits Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Kit sponsor Adelaide United Carl Veart Craig Goodwin UCAN Flinders UniversityAustralian Outdoor Living Brisbane Roar Nick Green (caretaker) Tom Aldred New Balance Cars4Us Central Coast Mariners Nick Montgomery Danny Vukovic Paladin Sports MATE Macarthur FC Mile Sterjovski Ulises Dávila Kelme ALAND Melbourne City Rado Vidošić Scott Jamieson Puma Etihad Airways Melbourne Victory Tony Popovic Joshua Brillante Macron Bonza Newcastle Jets Arthur Papas Carl Jenkinson Matthew Jurman Brandon O'Neill Legend Sportswear Port of NewcastleAmpcontrol Perth Glory Ruben Zadkovich Mustafa Amini Macron Evolution Capital Sydney FC Steve Corica Alex Wilkinson Under Armour The Star Wellington Phoenix Ufuk Talay Alex Rufer Paladin Sports Oppo Spark Western Sydney Wanderers Marko Rudan Marcelo Kappa VoltarenTurner Freeman Lawyers Western United John Aloisi Alessandro Diamanti Kappa Simonds Homes

Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position on table Incoming manager Date of appointment Macarthur FC Resigned 26 April 2022 Pre-season 15 May 2022 Perth Glory Promoted to full time 2 June 2022 2 June 2022 Melbourne City Signed by Troyes 23 November 2022 1st (caretaker) 23 November 2022 Macarthur FC Mutual termination 21 January 2023 6th Mile Sterjovski 23 January 2023 Melbourne City (caretaker) Promoted to full time 6 February 2023 1st 6 February 2023 Brisbane Roar Sacked 20 February 2023 11th (caretaker) 21 February 2023

Foreign players

Club Visa 1 Visa 2 Visa 3 Visa 4 Visa 5 Non-visa foreigner(s) Former player(s) Adelaide United Zach Clough Hiroshi Ibusuki Juande Javi López Isaías1 Brisbane Roar Marcel Canadi Jay O'Shea Tom Aldred Stefan Šćepović Rahmat Akbari2 Jack Hingert2 Charlie Austin Matti Steinmann Riku Danzaki Central Coast Mariners Moresche Marco Túlio Béni Nkololo Paul Ayongo Brian Kaltak Dan Hall2 James McGarry2 Storm Roux2 Kelechi John Macarthur FC Craig Noone Bachana Arabuli Ulises Dávila Filip Kurto Jason Romero3 Mario Williams Melbourne City Thomas Lam Florin Berenguer Valon Berisha Richard van der Venne Nuno Reis Melbourne Victory Damien Da Silva Roderick Miranda Nani Cadete Rai Marchán William Wilson2 Matthew Bozinovski2 Fernando Romero3 Newcastle Jets Carl Jenkinson Beka Mikeltadze Manabu Saitō Dane Ingham2 Beka Dartsmelia James McGarry2 Perth Glory Darryl Lachman Mark Beevers Aaron McEneff Adrián Sardinero Stefan Colakovski2 Salim Khelifi3 Pacifique Niyongabire2 Ben Azubel Sydney FC Adam Le Fondre Joe Lolley Jack Rodwell Róbert Mak Diego Caballo Wellington Phoenix Yan Sasse Bozhidar Kraev David Ball Scott Wootton Oskar Zawada Western Sydney Wanderers Marcelo Yeni Ngbakoto Romain Amalfitano Morgan Schneiderlin Amor Layouni Adama Traoré1 Miloš Ninković1 Sulejman Krpić Western United Alessandro Diamanti Tomoki Imai Tongo Doumbia Aleksandar Prijović Léo Lacroix Jamie Young2 The following do not fill a Visa position: 1Those players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained Australian citizenship (or New Zealand citizenship, in the case of Wellington Phoenix); 2Australian citizens (or New Zealand citizens, in the case of Wellington Phoenix) who have chosen to represent another national team; 3Injury replacement players, or National team replacement players; 4Guest players (eligible to play a maximum of fourteen games)

Regular season The 2022–23 season sees each team play 26 games, starting on 7 October 2022, and concluding on 30 April 2023, with a mid-season break between 14 November 2022 and 8 December 2022, due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. This will be followed by a finals series for the top six teams.

League table

Fixtures and results

AFC Champions League qualification Due to the re-formatting of the AFC Champions League to have an inter-year schedule from September (northern hemisphere autumn-to-spring) instead of an intra-year schedule (northern hemisphere spring-to-autumn), the qualification for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League was changed. The single qualification spot for this competition goes to whichever of the Premiers for the current season or the previous season accrues the most combined points over both seasons. Melbourne City won the Premiership in both the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons, thereby automatically qualifying for the Champions League.

Melbourne Derby pitch invasion

During the Melbourne Derby between Melbourne City FC and Melbourne Victory FC on 17 December 2022 at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, the match was abandoned in the 22nd minute after several incidents of hooliganism took place both on and off the field. Throughout the match, supporters of both teams both ignited and threw flares.

In the 20th minute, the match was interrupted due to flares being ignited and thrown onto the pitch, two of which had been thrown by Melbourne Victory supporters. Conflict arose when Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover, who was defending the goal in front of the Melbourne Victory supporters end, picked up and threw the flares away from the pitch, the second of which was thrown into the crowd of Victory supporters. This sparked a pitch invasion by between 100 and 200 spectators, who proceeded to attack Glover and match referee Alex King, both of whom sustained minor injuries. The match was abandoned as a result.

On 23 December, Football Australia handed down interim sanctions on both clubs while a full investigation was being conducted. Both teams had their active supporter bays closed, with Melbourne Victory further sanctioned with supporter restrictions: travelling support was banned for away games, while home games were restricted to only valid club members.

The match was resumed on 5 April 2023 from the 21st minute, with the score resuming at 1–0 to Melbourne City. The match ended in a 2-1 win to Melbourne City, with Aiden O'Neill and Nishan Velupillay scoring for the Victory.

Finals series

Format The finals series was held in mostly the same format as the previous year, run over three weeks, and involving the top six teams from the regular season. In the first week of fixtures, the third-through-sixth ranked teams played a single-elimination match, with the two winners of those matches joining the first and second ranked teams in two-legged semi-final ties. The two winners of those matches met in the Grand Final.

On 12 December 2022, the Australian Professional Leagues announced that the 2023 A-League Men Grand Final would be the first of three successive Grand Finals hosted in Sydney, regardless of which two teams earned the right to play in the final. The move received a large amount of backlash from supporters of all 12 clubs, and was overturned in the following season.

Bracket

Elimination-finals

Semi-finals Summary

Matches

Melbourne City won 5–1 on aggregate.

Central Coast Mariners won 4–1 on aggregate.

Grand Final

Regular season statistics Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals1Melbourne City242Central Coast Mariners163Wellington Phoenix154Western Sydney Wanderers135Adelaide United126Sydney FC107Sydney FC9Brisbane RoarMelbourne CityCentral Coast Mariners

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date Ref. Richard van der VenneMelbourne CityMacarthur FC6–1 (H)4 February 2023 Jamie MaclarenMelbourne CityWestern United3–1 (A)22 April 2023 Jason CummingsCentral Coast MarinersMelbourne City6–1 (N)3 June 2023

Key(A)Away team(H)Home team(N)Neutral venue

Clean sheets

RankPlayerClubClean sheets1Western Sydney Wanderers102Brisbane Roar73Melbourne City64Melbourne Victory5Macarthur FCSydney FCWellington Phoenix8Central Coast Mariners4Western United10Perth Glory3Newcastle JetsAdelaide United

Awards Club awards Club Player Adelaide United Craig Goodwin Brisbane Roar Tom Aldred Central Coast Mariners Josh Nisbet Macarthur FC Ivan Vujica Melbourne City Mathew Leckie Melbourne Victory Damien Da Silva Newcastle Jets Dane Ingham Perth Glory Mark Beevers Sydney FC Róbert Mak Wellington Phoenix Oskar Zawada Western Sydney Wanderers Brandon Borrello Western United Josh Risdon

Annual awards The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2022–23 Dolan Warren Awards night that took place at The Star Casino on 1 June 2023. +AwardWinnerClubJohnny Warren Medal Craig GoodwinAdelaide UnitedYoung Footballer of the Year Jordan BosMelbourne CityGolden Boot Award Jamie MaclarenMelbourne CityGoalkeeper of the Year Lawrence ThomasWestern Sydney WanderersCoach of the Year Carl VeartAdelaide UnitedGoal of the Year Giordano ColliPerth GloryFair Play AwardBrisbane RoarReferee of the Year Chris Beath

Team of the season +GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwardsSubstitutes Joe Gauci (Adelaide United) Marcelo (Western Sydney Wanderers) Brian Kaltak (Central Coast Mariners) Jordan Bos (Melbourne City) Aiden O'Neill (Melbourne City) Josh Nisbet (Central Coast Mariners) Calem Nieuwenhof (Western Sydney Wanderers) Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City) Brandon Borrello (Western Sydney Wanderers) Jamie Maclaren (Melbourne City) Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United) Lawrence Thomas (Western Sydney Wanderers) Curtis Good (Melbourne City) Nectarios Triantis (Central Coast Mariners) Jay O'Shea (Brisbane Roar) Marco Túlio (Central Coast Mariners) Jason Cummings (Central Coast Mariners) Marco Tilio (Melbourne City)

2022–23 A-League Men

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