A-League Men

A-League Men

Founded	April 2004; 20 years ago (April 2004)
First season	2005–06
Country	Australia (11 teams)
Other club(s) from	New Zealand (2 teams)
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	13 (14 from 2025–26)
Level on pyramid	1
Domestic cup(s)	Australia Cup
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League Elite AFC Champions League Two
Current champions	Central Coast Mariners (3rd title) (2023–24)
Current premiers	Central Coast Mariners (3rd title) (2023–24)
Most championships	Sydney FC (5 titles)
Most premierships	Sydney FC (4 titles)
Most appearances	Leigh Broxham (371)
Top goalscorer	Jamie Maclaren (152)
TV partners	Australia: Network 10 Paramount+ New Zealand: Sky Open Sky Sport International: Broadcasters
Website	aleagues.com.au/a-league-men/
Current: 2024–25 A-League Men

A-League Men (currently known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competition for the sport. A-League Men was established in 2004 as the A-League by the Australian Soccer Association (ASA) as a successor to the National Soccer League (NSL) and competition commenced in August 2005. The league is currently administered by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), contested by twelve teams; eleven based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. The men's, women's and youth leagues have now been brought together under a unified A-Leagues banner.^[1]

Seasons run from October to May and include a 27-round regular season followed by a Finals Series playoff involving the six highest-placed teams, culminating in a grand final match. The winner of the regular season tournament is dubbed the 'Premier' while the winner of the grand final is the season's Champion. This differs from other football codes in Australia, where premier refers to the winner of the grand final and the winner of the regular season is the 'minor premier'.

Successful A-League Men clubs gain qualification into the Asian continental club competitions, the AFC Champions League (ACL) and the AFC Cup (both until 2024). In 2014, the Western Sydney Wanderers became the first and only winning Australian club of the AFC Champions League. Similar to the United States' Major League Soccer, as well as other professional sports leagues in Australia, A-League Men does not practice relegation and promotion.