Australia - A-League

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The Australian A-League, or Hyundai A-League for sponsorship reasons, is one of the most competitive leagues in Asia. Only eleven teams play in this league but plans for an expansion have been mentioned by football authorities in Australia. This league kicked off in 2005.

Contrary to what happens in most top-tier leagues around the world, this league does not work under a promotion-relegation system. The league has all teams facing each other three times in the regular season. With the odd number of teams, each club is handed three byes throughout the season. Once the regular season ends, the top six clubs enter a playoff stage, where the first two teams enter the semi-finals. All ties are decided in one match, with penalties being used to determine the winner if there is a draw after 90 minutes.

The A-League hands out three tickets to play in the AFC Champions League, with the two top-ranked teams entering the group stage of the continental tournament. The remaining spot will force the team that qualifies to play the preliminary rounds of the competition.

Did you know? The 2019-20 season in the A-League was the first to be played by 11 teams -- 10 from Australia and one from New Zealand.