The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the

A-League A-League Men (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 competiti ...

in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

on 27 June 2021. The start of the season was later than previous seasons as a result of both the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and as part of a gradual shift to move the competition from summer to winter.

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

played the majority of their home matches at

Wollongong Showground Wollongong Showground, known as WIN Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Wollongong, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illa ...

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

due to international travel restrictions.

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

were the defending champions and premiers, having won their record fifth and fourth titles respectively the previous season. Melbourne City won their first premiership and championship title, leaving Sydney FC in second on both.

Clubs

There were 12 clubs participating in this season.

Macarthur FC Macarthur Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in South Western Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). On ...

made their A-League debut this season.

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Foreign players

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

);
²Australian citizens (or New Zealand citizens, in the case of

) 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)

Salary cap exemptions and captains

Transfers

Regular season

The regular season commenced on 28 December 2020 and ended on 10 June 2021.

League table

Fixtures and results

Finals series

Elimination-finals

Semi-finals

Grand Final

Statistics

Top scorers

''Including Finals matches''

Hat-tricks

Awards

Annual awards

The following end of the season awards were announced at the 2020–21 Dolan Warren Awards night on 23 June 2021. *

Johnny Warren Medal The Johnny Warren Medal is awarded to the best player of the Australian national soccer club competition. It was first awarded in the National Soccer League in 1990, and upon the NSL's demise in November 2004, was carried forward into the new na ...

–

Ulises Dávila Ulises Alejandro Dávila Plascencia (born 13 April 1991) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for A-League club Macarthur FC whom he captains. Club career Guadalajara Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Dávila ...

Miloš Ninković Miloš Ninković ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Нинковић; born 25 December 1984) is a Serbian footballer who currently plays for A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers. Club career Čukarički At a young age Ninković joined FK Čukarički's you ...

* NAB Young Footballer of the Year – Joel King,

* Nike Golden Boot Award –

Jamie Maclaren Jamie Maclaren (born 29 July 1993) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a striker for A-League club Melbourne City. He has also previously played for Darmstadt 98, Perth Glory, Brisbane Roar and Hibernian. Maclaren initi ...

, Melbourne City (25 goals) * Goalkeeper of the Year – Mark Birighitti,

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

& Andrew Redmayne,

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

–

Patrick Kisnorbo Patrick Fabio Maxime Kisnorbo (born 24 March 1981) is an Australian professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of club Troyes. He is also known by his nicknames Paddy and PK. As a player, Kisnorbo was a primar ...

, Melbourne City * Fair Play Award –

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

* Referee of the Year –

Chris Beath Chris James Beath (born 17 November 1984) is an Australian Association football, football Referee (association football), referee in the A-League. Refereeing career He has refereed at the National Youth Championships in 2003 and in 2004. Beath ...

* Goal of the Year –

Andy Keogh Andrew Declan Keogh (born 16 May 1986) is a former Irish professional footballer who last played as a striker for A-League club Perth Glory. Born in Dublin, Keogh played the first several years of his professional career playing for a number ...

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

(

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

, 16 May 2021)

Team of the season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 A-League 1 1

A League, 2021 A-League Men seasons