What is "a-league"

The A-League is a professional men's soccer league, run by Football Federation Australia (FFA). At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's primary competition for the sport. The A-League was established in 2004 as a successor to the National Soccer League (NSL) and competition commenced in August 2005. The league is currently contested by ten teams; nine based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. It is known as the Hyundai A-League (HAL) through a sponsorship arrangement with the Hyundai Motor Company.

Seasons run from October to May and include a 27-round regular season and an end-of-season finals series playoff tournament involving the highest-placed teams, culminating in a grand final match. The winner of the regular season tournament is dubbed 'premier' and the winner of the grand final is 'champion'. This differs from the other major football codes in Australia, where 'premier' refers to the winner of the grand final and the winner of the regular season is the ' minor premier'. The A-League's non-standard terminology is reflective of the increased prestige associated with winning the regular season in association football compared to other football codes in Australia.

Successful A-League clubs gain qualification into the continental competition, the Asian Football Confederation Champions League (ACL) also known as "AFC Champions League". Similar to the United States and Canada's Major League Soccer, as well as other professional sports leagues in both Australia and in North America, Australia's A-League does not practice promotion and relegation, unlike various football leagues in Europe.

Since the league's inaugural season, a total of six clubs have been crowned A-League Premiers and five clubs have been crowned A-League Champions. The current premier is Adelaide United, who finished first in 2015–16. The current champion is Adelaide United, who won the 2016 A-League Grand Final.

A-League may refer to:

• A-League, the Australasian men's professional association football league
• A-League (1995–2004), a defunct American men's professional association football league
• A-League (basketball), the second-tier men's basketball league in Taiwan

The A-League was a professional men's soccer league which featured teams from the United States and Canada. The A-League emerged from the restructured American Professional Soccer League in 1995 and operated until 2004, after which it was re-branded the USL First Division. During its first season, in 1995, it was the de facto top professional soccer league in both countries, before it was replaced at the top of the United States soccer pyramid by Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996.