List of Australian soccer champions

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The Australian soccer champions are the winners of the highest league in Australian men's soccer, which since 2005–06 is currently the A-League Men.

The National Soccer League was established in 1977. At the end of the 1977 season, Sydney City (now Hakoah Sydney City East) were the first club to be crowned champions.

As is the case in most Australian sports, the winners of a post-season playoffs competition, known as the Finals, has traditionally been crowned champion, unlike the first-past-the-post system used in many other countries. The team that finished first-past-the-post was often referred to as the Minor Premiers while the Finals winning team was awarded the Premiership. In an attempt to create more prestige around the first-past-the-post title, it was renamed the Premiership and the finals winning team is now awarded the Championship. The 2024-25 season is the 48th season of national level men's soccer in Australia.

In 1977, the Australian Soccer Association established the National Soccer League (NSL) of Australia,^[1] which included teams from Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. The competition ran a promotion-relegation system for its entire lifespan as well as a knockout cup competition.

For the first seven seasons, the NSL awarded the championship to the team that finished first-past-the-post and was dominated by Sydney-based teams. By the mid-80s, the league had introduced a post-season playoffs competition that would crown the champions and the title was shared more evenly around the nation. Seasons initially ran over the winter months until 1989 when it was changed to the summer months to avoid conflicts with Australian rules football and the two rugby codes. By 2000, each major capital city had secured at least one NSL title outside of Perth. The Perth Glory made history in 2002–03 when they were crowned champions and the victory meant the five major cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney had all secured at least one NSL title over the duration of the league's history.

The National Soccer League was disbanded in 2004 and an 8-team A-League Men competition was established in 2005, which included a salary cap and no promotion-relegation. Adelaide, Newcastle and Perth were the only NSL teams retained in the new competition. It included one team from each of the major capital cities, two regional teams and a team from New Zealand. As is the case in many sporting leagues in Australia, a New Zealand-based team has been allowed entry into the top tiered Australian league since 1999. The decision to retain a New Zealand-based team in the top league has proved problematic in recent years due to Football Federation Australia's decision to move from the Oceania Football Confederation to the Asian Football Confederation in 2006. As a result, a New Zealand-based team can be crowned Premiers and/or Champions of Australia but is ineligible to compete in the Asian Champions League.^[2]

Season	Champions (number of titles)	Score	Runners-up	Winning manager	Winning team top goalscorer
1977	Sydney City[a]	—	Marconi Fairfield	Gerry Chaldi	Terry Smith (14)
1978	West Adelaide	—	Sydney City	Billy Birch	Ian McGregor (7)
1979	Marconi Fairfield[b]	—	Heidelberg United	Les Scheinflug	Mark Jankovics (18)
1980	Sydney City (2)	—	Heidelberg United	Eddie Thomson	Ken Boden (13)
1981	Sydney City (3)	—	South Melbourne	Eddie Thomson	Ken Boden (12) Ian Souness (12)
1982	Sydney City (4)	—	St George-Budapest	Eddie Thomson	John Kosmina (23)
1983	St George-Budapest	—	Sydney City	Frank Arok
1984	South Melbourne[c]	2–1 2–1	Sydney Olympic	Len McKendry	Duggie Brown (22)
1985	Brunswick Juventus[d]	1–0 1–0	Sydney City	John Margaritis	Joe Sweeney (10)
1986	Adelaide City	0–1 3–1	Sydney Olympic	Zoran Matić	Steve Maxwell (11) Charlie Villani (11)
1987	APIA Leichhardt	—	Preston Makedonia	Rale Rasic	Rod Brown (14)
1988	Marconi Fairfield (2)	2–2 (5–4p)	Sydney Croatia	Berti Mariani	Frank Farina (17)
1989	Marconi Fairfield[c] (3)	1–0	Sydney Olympic	Berti Mariani	Zlatko Nastevski (22)
1989–90	Sydney Olympic	2–0	Marconi Fairfield	Mick Hickman	Abbas Saad (13)
1990–91	South Melbourne (2)	1–1 (5–4p)	Melbourne Croatia	Ferenc Puskás
1991–92	Adelaide City[e] (2)	0–0 (4–2p)	Melbourne Croatia	Zoran Matić	Carl Veart (11)
1992–93	Marconi Fairfield (4)	1–0	Adelaide City	Frank Arok	Andy Harper (18)
1993–94	Adelaide City (3)	1–0	Melbourne Knights	Zoran Matić	Carl Veart (14)
1994–95	Melbourne Knights[c][e]	2–0	Adelaide City	Mirko Bazić	Mark Viduka (21)
1995–96	Melbourne Knights (2)	2–1	Marconi Fairfield	Mirko Bazić
1996–97	Brisbane Strikers	2–0	Sydney United	Frank Farina
1997–98	South Melbourne[c] (3)	2–1	Carlton	Ange Postecoglou
1998–99	South Melbourne (4)	3–2	Sydney United	Ange Postecoglou	Vaughan Coveny (14)
1999–2000	Wollongong Wolves	3–3 (7–6p)	Perth Glory	Nick Theodorakopoulos	Stuart Young (19)
2000–01	Wollongong Wolves (2)	2–1	South Melbourne	Ron Corry	Sasho Petrovski (21)
2001–02	Sydney Olympic (2)	1–0	Perth Glory	Gary Phillips
2002–03	Perth Glory	2–0	Olympic Sharks	Mich d'Avray	Damian Mori (24)
2003–04	Perth Glory[c] (2)	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Parramatta Power	Mich d'Avray	Damian Mori (16)

Season	Champions (number of titles)	Score	Runners-up	Winning manager	Winning team top goalscorer
2005–06	Sydney FC	1–0	Central Coast Mariners	Pierre Littbarski	Sasho Petrovski (9)
2006–07	Melbourne Victory[c]	6–0	Adelaide United	Ernie Merrick	Archie Thompson (15)
2007–08	Newcastle Jets	1–0	Central Coast Mariners	Gary van Egmond	Joel Griffiths (14)
2008–09	Melbourne Victory[c][f] (2)	1–0	Adelaide United	Ernie Merrick	Danny Allsopp (13)
2009–10	Sydney FC[c] (2)	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2p)	Melbourne Victory	Vítězslav Lavička	John Aloisi (9)
2010–11	Brisbane Roar[c]	2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–2p)	Central Coast Mariners	Ange Postecoglou	Kosta Barbarouses (12)
2011–12	Brisbane Roar (2)	2–1	Perth Glory	Ange Postecoglou	Besart Berisha (21)
2012–13	Central Coast Mariners	2–0	Western Sydney Wanderers	Graham Arnold	Daniel McBreen (19)
2013–14	Brisbane Roar[c] (3)	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Western Sydney Wanderers	Mike Mulvey	Besart Berisha (13)
2014–15	Melbourne Victory[c][3] (3)	3–0	Sydney FC	Kevin Muscat	Besart Berisha (15)
2015–16	Adelaide United[c][4]	3–1	Western Sydney Wanderers	Guillermo Amor	Bruce Djite (11)
2016–17	Sydney FC[c][5] (3)	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2p)	Melbourne Victory	Graham Arnold	Bobô (15)
2017–18	Melbourne Victory[6] (4)	1–0	Newcastle Jets	Kevin Muscat	Besart Berisha (14)
2018–19	Sydney FC[7] (4)	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–1p)	Perth Glory	Steve Corica	Adam Le Fondre (18)
2019–20	Sydney FC[c][8] (5)	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Melbourne City	Steve Corica	Adam Le Fondre (21)
2020–21	Melbourne City[c][9]	3–1	Sydney FC	Patrick Kisnorbo	Jamie Maclaren (25)
2021–22	Western United[10]	2–0	Melbourne City	John Aloisi	Aleksandar Prijović (13)
2022–23	Central Coast Mariners[11](2)	6–1	Melbourne City	Nick Montgomery	Jason Cummings (20)
2023–24	Central Coast Mariners[c][12] (3)	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Melbourne Victory	Mark Jackson	Ángel Torres (13)

There are 21 clubs who have won an Australian championship (either by winning the grand final or finishing top of the league in the seasons without a grand final), including eight who have won the A-League Men (2005–present). The most recent clubs to win their inaugural championship were Western United (2021–22 champions), Melbourne City (2020–21) and Adelaide United (2015–16).

Six teams have finished as runner-up without ever winning the championship: Heidelberg United (1979, 1980), Preston Lions (1987), Sydney United 58 (1988, 1996–97, 1998–99), Carlton (1997–98), Parramatta Power (2003–04) and Western Sydney Wanderers (2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16).

Teams in bold compete in the A-League Men as of the 2023–24 season.

Adel. City

Adel. United

Roar

Strikers

Mariners

Jets

Glory

West Adel.

Wolves

Melbourne (6)

Sydney (6)

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Location of Australian soccer champions

Teams in bold competed in the A-League as of the 2023–24 season.

Season	Cup Winner (number of titles)	Score	Runners-up	Clubs participating	Top goalscorer	Goals[13]
1962	Sydney Yugal (1)	8–1	St. George Budapest	16	Tiko Jelisavcic (Sydney Yugal)	6
1963	Slavia Melbourne (1)	0–0 3–2	Polonia Melbourne	24	Des Palmer (Slavia Melbourne)	6
1964	George Cross (1)	3–2 (a.e.t.)	APIA Leichhardt	19	John Giacometti (APIA Leichhardt)	7
1965	Sydney Hakoah (1)	1–1 (13–13 p) 2–1 (replay)	APIA Leichhardt	13	Hugo Rodriguez (St George Budapest)	6
1966	APIA Leichhardt (1)	2–0	Sydney Hakoah	16	John Giacometti (APIA Leichhardt) Herbert Ninaus (Sydney Hakoah)	4
1967	Melbourne Hungaria (1)	4–3	APIA Leichhardt	16	Attila Abonyi (Melbourne Hungaria) Johnny Watkiss (APIA Leichhardt)	6
1968	Sydney Hakoah (2)	3–0 3–1	Melbourne Hakoah	18	Jimmy Armstrong (Melbourne Hakoah) Willie Rutherford (Sydney Hakoah)	4

Season	Cup Winner (number of titles)	Score	Runners-up	Clubs participating	Highest placed non-NSL club	Top goalscorer	Goals
1977	Brisbane City (1)	1–1 (5–3 p)	Marconi Fairfield	14	—[g]	Branko Buljevic (Fitzroy United) Gary Cole (Fitzroy United) Peter Sharne (Marconi Fairfield)	3
1978	Brisbane City (2)	2–1	Adelaide City	32	Essendon Croatia (2) (Quarter-finals)	Branko Culina (Essendon Croatia) Barry Kelso (Brisbane City)	4
1979	Adelaide City (1)	3–1	St. George-Budapest	32	Eastern Districts Azzurri (2) (Quarter-finals)	John Nyskohus (Adelaide City)	7
1980	Marconi Fairfield (1)	0–0 (a.e.t.) 3–0 (Replay)	Heidelberg United	32	Spearwood Dalmatinac (2) (Quarter-finals)	Eddie Krncevic (Marconi Fairfield)	6
1981	Brisbane Lions (1) [h]	3–1	West Adelaide	36	St Kilda Hakoah (2) (Quarter-finals)	Ken Boden (Sydney City)	5
1982	APIA Leichhardt (2)	2–1	Heidelberg United	16	—[g]	John Bradley (APIA Leichhardt) Ian Gibson (Canberra City) Peter Jones (APIA Leichhardt) John Kosmina (Sydney City) Grant Lee (Sydney City) Jimmy McBreen (APIA Leichhardt) Ian Stone (Canberra City) Mike Valentine (Heidelberg United)	2
1983	Sydney Olympic (1)	1–0 1–0	Heidelberg United	16	—[g]	Jim Patikas (Sydney Olympic)	5
1984	Newcastle Rosebud (1)	1–0	Melbourne Croatia	24	—[g]	David Brogan (Melbourne Croatia)	5
1985	Sydney Olympic (2)	2–1	Preston Makedonia	32	Adelaide Croatia (2) (Quarter-finals)	Steve Smith (Preston Makedonia)	4
1986	Sydney City (3)	3–2 (a.e.t.)	West Adelaide	32	Croydon City (2) (Quarter-finals)	Frank Farina (Sydney City)	5
1987	Sydney Croatia (1)	1–0 1–0	South Melbourne	13	—[g]	Charlie Egan (South Melbourne) Robbie Slater (Sydney Croatia)	3
1988	APIA Leichhardt (3)	0–0 (5–3 p)	Brunswick Juventus	14	—[g]	Grant Lightbown (Brisbane Lions)	3
1989	Adelaide City (2)	2–0	Sydney Olympic	14	—[g]	Kimon Taliadoros (South Melbourne)	4
1989–90	South Melbourne (1)	4–1	Sydney Olympic	14	—[g]	Paul Trimboli (South Melbourne) Abbas Saad (Sydney Olympic)	3
1990–91	Parramatta Eagles (1)	1–0	Preston Lions	14	—[g]	Greg Brown (Parramatta Eagles)	3
1991–92	Adelaide City (3)	2–1	Marconi Fairfield	14	—[g]	David Seal (Marconi Fairfield)	3
1992–93	Heidelberg United (1)	2–0	Parramatta Eagles	14	—[g]	Carl Veart (Adelaide City)	5
1993–94	Parramatta Eagles (2)	2–0	Sydney United	14	Brisbane United (2) (Semi-finals)	Francis Awaritefe (South Melbourne)	4
1994–95	Melbourne Knights (1)	6–0	Heidelberg United	14	Melbourne Zebras (2) (Quarter-finals)	Mark Viduka (Melbourne Knights)	6
1995–96	South Melbourne (2)	3–1	Newcastle Breakers	12	—[g]	Vaughan Coveny (South Melbourne)	6
1996–97	Collingwood Warriors (1)	1–0	Marconi Fairfield	16	Brisbane Lions (2) (Round of 16)	Francis Awaritefe (Marconi Fairfield)	4

Season	Cup winners (number of titles)	Score	Runners-up	Clubs participating	Highest placed non-A-League club	Top goalscorer	Goals
2014	Adelaide United (1)	1–0	Perth Glory	631	Bentleigh Greens (2) (Semi-finals)	Sergio Cirio (Adelaide United)	6
2015	Melbourne Victory (1)	2–0	Perth Glory	648	Hume City (2) (Semi-finals)	Aaron Mooy (Melbourne City)	6
2016	Melbourne City (1)	1–0	Sydney FC	704	Canberra Olympic (2) (Semi-finals)	Patrick Antelmi (Blacktown City)	5
2017	Sydney FC (1)	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Adelaide United	735	South Melbourne (2) (Semi-finals)	Bobô (Sydney FC)	8
2018	Adelaide United (2)	2–1	Sydney FC	781	Bentleigh Greens (2) (Semi-finals)	Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United)	5
2019	Adelaide United (3)	4–0	Melbourne City	736	Brisbane Strikers (2) (Semi-finals)	Jamie Maclaren (Melbourne City)	6
2020	Tournament cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia[15]	765
2021	Melbourne Victory (2)	2–1	Central Coast Mariners	765	APIA Leichhardt (2) (Quarter-finals)	Cyrus Dehmie (Brisbane Roar)	3
2022	Macarthur FC (1)	2–0	Sydney United 58	750	Sydney United 58 (2) (Final)	Al Hassan Toure (Macarthur FC)	5
2023	Sydney FC (2)	3–1	Brisbane Roar	778	Melbourne Knights (2) (Semi-finals)	Lachlan Brook (Western Sydney Wanderers)	5
2024	Macarthur FC (2)	1–0	Melbourne Victory	759	South Melbourne (2) (Semi-finals)	Nishan Velupillay (Melbourne Victory)	5

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Number of clubs participating
1987	Adelaide City	1–1 (4–1 p)	University-Mount Wellington	9
1999	South Melbourne	5–1	Nadi	9
2001	Wollongong Wolves	1–0	Tafea	11
2005	Sydney FC	2–0	Magenta	13

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Number of clubs participating
1987	Sydney City	2–0	North Shore United	2

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Number of clubs participating
2014[16]	Western Sydney Wanderers	1–0 0–0	Al-Hilal	47

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Number of clubs participating
2023–24	Central Coast Mariners	1–0	Al Ahed	49

Note: In the 2008–09 season Melbourne Victory won all three pieces of A-League silverware on offer, the Pre-Season Challenge Cup, the Premiership, and the Championship.

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Clubs participating	Top goalscorer	Goals
2005	Sydney FC	1–0	Central Coast Mariners	7	Nik Mrdja (Central Coast Mariners)	3

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Clubs participating	Top goalscorer	Goals
2005	Central Coast Mariners	1–0	Perth Glory	8	Bobby Despotovski (Perth Glory) Nik Mrdja (Central Coast Mariners) Sasho Petrovski (Sydney FC)	3
2006	Adelaide United	1–1 (5–4 p)	Central Coast Mariners	8	Danny Allsopp (Melbourne Victory) Alex Brosque (Sydney FC) Sasho Petrovski (Sydney FC) Carl Veart (Adelaide United)	3
2007	Adelaide United	2–1	Perth Glory	8	Cássio (Adelaide United) Bruce Djite (Adelaide United) Joel Griffiths (Newcastle Jets) Simon Lynch (Queensland Roar) Shane Smeltz (Wellington Phoenix)	3
2008	Melbourne Victory	0–0 (8–7 p)	Wellington Phoenix	8	Cássio (Adelaide United) Sergio van Dijk (Queensland Roar)	2

Note: All seasons were exclusive to A-League clubs only.

Clubs in bold play in the A-League.

• List of association football competitions
• List of NSL Cup Finals
• List of A-League Men honours