A-League (Australia)

A-League (Australia) (A-League Men, formerly A-League) - the top professional club football division in Australia, run by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). Regulations: the competition consists of a Regular Season and a Finals Series, in the current format 12 clubs take part, each club plays 26 regular season matches, opponents meet at least twice home and away and certain opponents are played a third time, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. Teams are ranked by points, then goal difference, goals scored, total wins, points in matches between the clubs concerned, goal difference in matches between the clubs concerned, the lowest number of fair play points, away goal difference, away goals per away match, home goal difference, home goals for per home match, and if still level a coin toss is used for two clubs or drawing of lots for three or more clubs. The top six clubs after the Regular Season qualify for the Finals Series, 3rd vs 6th and 4th vs 5th play single-match elimination finals, 1st and 2nd enter the semi-finals, the semi-finals are played over two legs on aggregate with no away goals rule, and the Grand Final is a single match, with extra time of two 15-minute halves and then a penalty shoot-out used if scores are level in a finals match or if a two-legged semi-final is level on aggregate. The league does not operate promotion and relegation and participation is licence based. Asian club competition qualification is allocated via AFC slots, with the regular season winner normally taking the AFC Champions League Elite place and the Australia Cup winner taking the AFC Champions League Two place, and if a club is ineligible for AFC competitions or fails licensing the place is passed down to the next eligible Australian club on sporting merit.