Free football predictions and tips for Australia A-League

INFORMATION ABOUT AUSTRALIA A-LEAGUE

A-League is the highest tier of the Australian league system. Despite being founded later than other countries’ leagues, the championship is still highly appreciated by its professionality and monumental level. Today, let’s explore more things about this league with Betimate!

WHAT IS THE A-LEAGUE?

The Australia A-League is the highest-level professional men’s soccer’s league in Australia and New Zealand. It is also the country’s primary competition for the sport. The Australian A-League was established in 2004 by Football Federation Australia (FFA) as a successor to the National Soccer League (NSL) and it commenced in August 2005. 

A-League is contested by twelve teams with eleven based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. The best A-League clubs qualify for the Asian continental club competition called the AFC Champions League( ACL). Like the United States and Canada’s Major League Soccer, as well as other professional sports leagues in Australia, A-League does not practice promotion and relegation.

Since the first edition, a total of seven teams have been crowned A-League Premiers, and six teams have become A-League Champions. The current champions are Sydney FC, who won the 2020 A-League Grand Final. This is also the fifth title of this club in the highest tier of the Australian football league system. 

Australia A-League

HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIA’S A-LEAGUE

• A-League was established in April 2004 as a successor to the NSL. Initially, the competition was played by 8 teams, with one team from each city of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle, plus a New Zealand team and one team from a remaining expression of interest from either Melbourne or Sydney. 
• On 1 November 2004, Hyundai Motor Company officially became the sponsor of the league so that A-League was also called Hyundai A-League.
• On 1 July 2019, the FFA and Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (the body representing the A-League clubs) informed that an agreement had been reached for the FFA to relinquish control of the league to the clubs by the following month, in time for the start of the 2019–20 season. The agreement brought the sport in line with the governance structure utilized in most European leagues.

HOW IS THE FORMAT OF THE A-LEAGUE?

A season often runs from October to May. Teams play a 26-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 is dubbed the “Premier” while the winner of the Grand final is the season’s “Champions”. 

Sydney FC win the 2020 A-League

Regular Season

The regular season of the A-League runs mainly during the Australian summer, from early October to April of the next year. The game includes 33 rounds. Each team plays every other team three times. The teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. The club winning this season is crowned A-League Premiers, and since the 2005-06 season has qualified for the AFC Champions League. That team is also got the honorable trophy called the Premier’s Plate. 

At the end of the regular season, the top six placed teams on the league table enter the finals series. The position of each team is determined by the highest number of points calculated during the regular season. If there is a tie among teams, criteria of the highest goal difference, highest goals scored, lowest red cards/ yellow cards, toss of a coin are given to decide the rankings of teams. 

Final Series

The top 6 teams at the completion of the regular season progress to the finals series. The final series culminates in the Grand final of the A-league at which the winner is crowned the “Champion” and receives a place in the AFC Champions League. The club winning the grand final is presented with the A-League trophy. 

The final series lasts three weeks, with all matches being sudden death, leading to a sudden-death grand final to determine the overall A-league champion. Of the two grand finalists, the team that finished higher on the ladder at the conclusion of the regular season hosts the grand final. 

Grand final host stadium

2020-21 A-LEAGUE

The 2020-21 A-League is the 44th edition of national-level association football in Australia, and also the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. 

The season was started on 28 December 2020 and scheduled to finish before 30 June 2021. Sydney FC are the defending premiers and champions, having won their record fifth and fourth titles respectively in the previous edition. 

12 participants of the league this season are shown in the below Australia A-League Table:

RIVALRIES

There are some key rivalries and local derbies that have formed in Australia’s A-League.

• "Melbourne Derby" – Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory
• "The Original Rivalry" – Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory
• "Sydney Derby" – Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers
• "The Big Blue" – Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC
• "The F3 Derby" – Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets

TITLES BY CLUBS IN THE A-LEAGUE

Don’t forget to update the newest information about the Australia A-League live scores and results on Betimate every day. 

REFERENCE SOURCES

• https://www.a-league.com.au
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-League#Organisation
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%9321_A-League