2016 A-League Grand Final
football match
The 2016 A-League Grand Final was the eleventh A-League Grand Final, and was played on 1 May 2016, at Adelaide Oval to determine the 2015–16 A-League Champion. The match was contested by the two winning finals series semi-finalists, Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers who finished the 2015–16 A-League season in first and second position respectively.
The match was won by Adelaide United, who defeated Western Sydney Wanderers 3–1 in front of a crowd of 50,119.
The Grand Final was both teams' third, with both never having won. Adelaide losing the 2007 and 2009 grand finals against Melbourne Victory 6–0 and 1–0 respectively. Wanderers lost consecutive grand finals in 2013 and 2014, against Central Coast Mariners 2–0 and Brisbane Roar 2–1 in extra time.
As Grand Final winners, Adelaide United earned a spot in the group stage of the 2017 AFC Champions League, but had already qualified for the Asian competition prior to the match via their league position.
Teams
In the following table, finals until 2004 were in the National Soccer League era, since 2006 were in the A-League era.
Route to the final
After the completion of the 2015–16 A-League regular season, the top six teams qualified for the finals series. Teams finishing 3rd-6th placed (Brisbane Roar, Melbourne City, Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory) began the series in the elimination-finals, with the top two teams (Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers) receiving byes into the semi-finals.
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