Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km2, comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, is the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley, it has a population of 4.9 million, its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians". The city was founded on 30 August 1835, in the then-British colony of New South Wales, by free settlers from the colony of Van Diemen’s Land, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837 and named in honour of the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. In 1851, four years after Queen Victoria declared it a city, Melbourne became the capital of the new colony of Victoria. In the wake of the 1850s Victorian gold rush, the city entered a lengthy boom period that, by the late 1880s, had transformed it into one of the world's largest and wealthiest metropolises.
After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as interim seat of government of the new nation until Canberra became the permanent capital in 1927. Today, it is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region and ranks 15th in the Global Financial Centres Index; the city is home to many of the best-known cultural institutions in the nation, such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the National Gallery of Victoria and the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building. It is the birthplace of Australian impressionism, Australian rules football, the Australian film and television industries and Australian contemporary dance. More it has been recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a global centre for street art, live music and theatre, it is the host city of annual international events such as the Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open and the Melbourne Cup, has hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Due to it rating in entertainment and sport, as well as education, health care and development, the EIU ranks it the second most liveable city in the world.
The main airport serving the city is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia, Australia's busiest seaport the Port of Melbourne. Its main metropolitan rail terminus is Flinders Street station and its main regional rail and road coach terminus is Southern Cross station, it has the most extensive freeway network in Australia and the largest urban tram network in the world. Indigenous Australians have lived in the Melbourne area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years; when European settlers arrived in the 19th-century, under 2,000 hunter-gatherers from three regional tribes—the Wurundjeri and Wathaurong—inhabited the area. It was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and a vital source of food and water; the first British settlement in Victoria part of the penal colony of New South Wales, was established by Colonel David Collins in October 1803, at Sullivan Bay, near present-day Sorrento. The following year, due to a perceived lack of resources, these settlers relocated to Van Diemen's Land and founded the city of Hobart.
It would be 30 years. In May and June 1835, John Batman, a leading member of the Port Phillip Association in Van Diemen's Land, explored the Melbourne area, claimed to have negotiated a purchase of 600,000 acres with eight Wurundjeri elders. Batman selected a site on the northern bank of the Yarra River, declaring that "this will be the place for a village" before returning to Van Diemen's Land. In August 1835, another group of Vandemonian settlers arrived in the area and established a settlement at the site of the current Melbourne Immigration Museum. Batman and his group arrived the following month and the two groups agreed to share the settlement known by the native name of Dootigala. Batman's Treaty with the Aborigines was annulled by Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales, with compensation paid to members of the association. In 1836, Bourke declared the city the administrative capital of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, commissioned the first plan for its urban layout, the Hoddle Grid, in 1837.
Known as Batmania, the settlement was named Melbourne in 1837 after the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose seat was Melbourne Hall in the market town of Melbourne, Derbyshire. That year, the settlement's general post office opened with that name. Between 1836 and 1842, Victorian Aboriginal groups were dispossessed of their land by European settlers. By January 1844, there were said to be 675 Aborigines resident in squalid camps in Melbourne; the British Colonial Office appointed five Aboriginal Protectors for the Aborigines of Victoria, in 1839, however their work was nullified by a land policy that favoured squatters who took possession of Aboriginal lands. By 1845, fewer than 240 wealthy Europeans held all the pastoral licences issued in Victoria and became a powerful political and economic force in Victoria for generations to come. Letters patent of Queen Victoria, issued on 25 June 1847, declared Melbourne a city. On 1 July 1851, the Port Phillip District separated from New South Wales to become the Colony of Victoria, with Melbourne as its capital.
The discovery of gold in Victoria in mid-1851 sparked a
Mark Milligan
Mark Daniel Milligan is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Scottish Premiership side Hibernian and captains the Australia national football team. Starting his career as a defender, Milligan has spent much of his career playing as a midfielder, he is the current captain of the Australian National team. FourFourTwo magazine revealed on 28 July 2007 that after the Asian Cup Milligan had gone without Sydney FC's permission to trial for teams in Europe. Milligan was linked with French sides FC RC Lens; the following day Milligan walked out on Metz just before a scheduled trial game appearance against Standard Liege out of frustration at the right-back position he would be trialled in. The following day it was reported, he was linked with a move to English Premier League clubs Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Arsenal, as well as RC Lens in France's Ligue 1, more with FC Porto in the Portuguese Liga and Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, during the summer of 2008.
On 21 October 2008, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Milligan signed a guest contract with Newcastle United Jets for seven weeks. He made his debut on 24 October 2008, against Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium, where his team lost 1–0. During this time he was sent off in a match against the Wellington Phoenix. Milligan joined Chinese Super League outfit Shanghai Shenhua in January 2009, signing a three-year contract. On 19 May, Milligan scored his first goal for Shanghai Shenhua in their 1–1 draw in the AFC Champions League group stage match against Kashima Antlers. Milligan finalised his switch from Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua to Japanese side JEF United Chiba, who were relegated to the second division; when the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, Milligan decided to flee the country, fearing for the safety of not only himself, but his wife and child. With the J2 League suspended until further notice, JEF United Chiba gave permission for Milligan to train in a bid to keep his fitness up with his former A-League club Sydney FC.
On 23 January 2012 it was reported that Melbourne Victory was to secure Milligan on loan until the end of the regular season. It was confirmed on 24 January that Milligan signed for a loan deal to Melbourne Victory until the end of the 2011–12 A-League season, becoming the first Sydney FC player to switch to Melbourne Victory, he returned to Japan in March. In July 2012, Milligan was released from JEF United Chiba and returned to Melbourne Victory by signing a three-year contract. Milligan starred for Melbourne Victory during their 2012–13 season, moving from centre-back to play as a defensive midfielder, established himself as one of the best players in the league. Although he has never been a prolific goal scorer, Milligan scored 8 goals in this season, a number of them being clutch goals in important games, including a penalty equaliser in an elimination final against Perth Glory that Melbourne Victory went on to win in extra time. To cap off his season, Milligan won the Victory Medal, awarded to the club's player of the season.
On 17 September 2013, Milligan was rewarded for his performances by being appointed the captain of Melbourne Victory, replacing Adrian Leijer. He was rumoured to be leaving Melbourne Victory to join fellow national team midfielder Mile Jedinak at newly promoted Premier League club Crystal Palace, however Melbourne Victory rejected a rumoured £2m offer for the defensive midfielder. Milligan, after a trial at Crystal Palace, stayed on at Melbourne Victory as captain in the 2013–14 season, he sustained an injury halfway through the season, the team suffered for this and other reasons such as losing their coach, an injury to Adrian Leijer and four players going to the Under 21 World championships. However, Victory improved after this period to finish fourth in the A-League. Milligan played every minute of all but one ACL match, only missing the final away match of the ACL Asian Champions League match through suspension. On 17 May 2015, Milligan captained his side during their 3–0 defeat of Sydney FC in the 2014–15 A-League Grand Final, held at AAMI Park and was awarded the Joe Marston Medal as the best player in the match.
At the end of the 2014–15 season it was announced that UAE Pro-League side Baniyas SC had triggered the release clause of Milligan's contract with a $1 million transfer fee, he signed with them on a two-year contract. On 31 July 2017, it was announced Miligan would return to the Victory on a one-year deal as a marquee player. On 28 January 2018, Melbourne Victory sold Mark Milligan to Al-Ahli for $1 million, he was assigned the number 5 shirt. On 4 February, he made his debut for Al-Ahli in a league game against Al Ittihad FC, he played at centre-half, with the game finishing 0-0. He got good response from the fans. On 18 August 2018, Milligan signed a two-year contract with Scottish Premiership club Hibernian. Milligan represented Australia at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. In May 2006, he was the youngest player selected in the Australian 2006 FIFA World Cup squad, being one of only two players chosen from the A-League – the other being Michael Beauchamp. Milligan had impressed coaches Graham Arnold and Johan Neeskens at a recent camp in Vietnam, while Guus Hiddink recalled watching Milligan at the World Youth Championship.
He made his senior international debut against Liechtenstein on 7 June 2006, coming off the bench in the 85th minute of Australia's last warm-up game before
Docklands Stadium
Docklands Stadium known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands precinct of Melbourne, Australia. Construction started in October 1997, under the working name "Victoria Stadium", was completed in 2000 at a cost of A$460 million. Built as a replacement for Waverley Park, the stadium is used for Australian rules football and is the headquarters of the Australian Football League which, since 7 October 2016, has had exclusive ownership of the venue. Headquartered in the stadium precinct is Seven Network's digital broadcast centre; the stadium hosts a number of other sporting events, including some domestic Twenty20 cricket matches, Melbourne Victory soccer home matches, one-off rugby league and rugby union matches as well as number of special events and concerts. The stadium was announced on 31 October 1996 as a replacement for the much larger Waverley Park as a headquarters for the Australian Football League. Developed by the Docklands Stadium Consortium and thereafter controlled by the Seven Network, the remaining leasehold interest in the stadium was sold to James Fielding Funds Management on 21 June 2006 for A$330 million.
Under the terms of the agreement governing construction and operation of the venue, in 2025 the AFL were to win ownership of the stadium for a $30 fee. The stadium, like Waverley Park, was built for Australian rules football, unlike most grounds of a similar size in Australia which were designed for cricket; the first match to be played at the ground was between Essendon and Port Adelaide, before a crowd of 43,012, in Round 1 of the 2000 AFL season. Essendon won the match by 94 points, with Michael Long kicking the first goal at the ground; the first game, played with the roof closed was between the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions the following weekend. Docklands Stadium was the first stadium in Australia to have movable seating. All four level-one tiers of the stadium can be moved up to 18 metres forward into a rectangular configuration, it was first used for a Melbourne Storm game in July 2001. Despite the seating being a key feature of the stadium, it has been used, citing damage to turf, time to deploy the seats and a reduced capacity.
Docklands Stadium first featured rugby league football when it was used as the Melbourne Storm's home ground for one season in 2001. The Storm continued to play home games at the ground sporadically in the following years. Docklands was the venue for the third and deciding game of the 2006 State of Origin series and Australia's home game against New Zealand in the 2006 Tri-nations series. During the 2008 Rugby League World Cup Australia played England at the stadium and the opening games of the 2009 and 2012 State of Origin series were played here, the latter attracting 56,021, a new record for rugby league at the stadium. In 2015, LED electronic advertising was added around the perimeter of the ground on level 1 and 2. On 24 October 2015, the stadium hosted motorcycle speedway when it played host to the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia, the twelfth and final round of the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix World Championship season, it was the first time Australia had hosted a round of the SGP event since the final round of the 2002 season in Sydney.
With stadium capacity capped at 42,000 for the event, 26,609 fans saw 45 year old American rider Greg Hancock take out his 20th SGP Final. Danish rider Niels-Kristian Iversen finished second with Poland's Maciej Janowski finishing third; the reigning Australian Champion, Jason Doyle, qualified for the final but was outed in a crash in the first turn in which he suffered neck and chest injuries. A conscious Doyle was transported to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for observation. Doyle managed to win the 2017 meeting and that season's world title after he was forced to miss the 2016 meeting after he was injured in the previous meeting in To run, Poland which many thought cost him the 2016 title. In March 2016, it was announced that Collingwood president Eddie McGuire had taken a proposal to the state government for the stadium to be sold for redevelopment when the AFL gain ownership of the stadium in 2025, with a new similar size stadium built within the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct.
The plan was rejected by the AFL. Prior to the start of the 2016 AFL season the seats in the Medallion Club were replaced; the old seats in the Medallion Club section were relocated to other areas in the ground. On 7 October 2016, the AFL Commission announced that the league had acquired exclusive ownership of the stadium; the league elected to buy out the owners'share for a figure believed to be $200 million, rather than wait until 2025 when the league would automatically acquire ownership of the venue for $30. At the end of the 2016/17 Big Bash, the stadium was rated the most entertaining venue for T20 cricket in Australia; the stadium was constructed by Baulderstone Hornibrook and opened on 9 March 2000 as "Colonial Stadium". Colonial State Bank paid $32.5 million for 10 years of naming rights. In 2000, Commonwealth Bank took over Colonial State Bank and sold the naming rights to Telstra for about $50 million; the name was changed to "Telstra Dome" on 1 October 2002. During this time it was colloquially referred to as "The Dome", including by clubs which are sponsored by rival telecommunications companies.
On 1 March 2009, when the naming rights transferred to Etihad Airways, the ven
Alex Brosque
Alex Jason Brosque is an Australian professional footballer, the current captain of A-League club Sydney FC. He plays as a striker but played predominantly as a midfielder in central midfield during his time in Japan. In 2001 Brosque, aged 18, began his career playing for Marconi Stallions in the now defunct National Soccer League. In three seasons at the club he made over 50 appearances and was considered one of Australia's best prospects having been voted NSL Under-21 Player of the Year for consecutive seasons in 2003 and 2004, his form at club and international level attracted international attention, after the conclusion of the 03-04 NSL season Brosque signed for Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam. He was loaned out to Belgian club Westerlo where he struggled due to an ankle injury, making only sixteen appearances and scoring two goals. With the creation of the new A-League Brosque returned to Australia. Brosque, along with his team, struggled in front of goal for much of the 2005–06 season before scoring four times in the last three games of the season to nearly take his team to the A-League semi finals.
Brosque won the inaugural Reebok Golden Boot along with Stewart Petrie, Archie Thompson and Bobby Despotovski with 8 goals. On 11 February 2006 Alex Brosque announced his move to champions Sydney FC, he joined the club for the A-League 2006-07 season on a three-year contract. Brosque played his first game for Sydney against his former club Queensland Roar in the Pre-season cup on 15 July 2006, setting up the first goal before scoring the match-winner in Sydney's 2–1 victory, he scored his first A-League goal for Sydney FC against Perth Glory in round 17. Brosque scored in the 1–1 draw that got Sydney FC into the 2006–2007 finals series against his old club the Roar which knocked them out in the process. After a disappointing first year at Sydney FC, Brosque discovered some of his best form and was the leading goal scorer for Sydney FC with 8 in the regular season, he scored two crucial braces against Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners which gained Sydney some valuable points during the season.
His partnership with Juninho Paulista was evident during the season, with 5 of his goals coming from the Brazilian's killer passes. Brosque scored 2 of the 5 goals scored by Sydney against Los Angeles Galaxy at Telstra Stadium in November 2007. At the end of the 2007/2008 season he became Sydney's highest goalscorer, with 11 goals for the season. Brosque continued to be a regular for Sydney FC entering into his third season with the club, he scored his first goal of the 08/09 season in Sydney's 5–2 demolition of Perth Glory, taking his tally to 13 – making him Sydney's 2nd highest goalscorer behind former captain Steve Corica on 15. He scored his next goal a fortnight against Adelaide United in Sydney's 3–0 win, taking him to within a goal of being Sydney's highest goalscorer. Brosque led. Brosque started the 09/10 season impressively forming a strong partnership with Mark Bridge in the forward line; these performances saw Brosque rewarded with a recall to the Socceroos for the first time in over four years.
On 22 July 2010, Brosque signed a three-year contract extension with Sydney FC, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2013–14 season. Brosque was capped in his 100th game for Sydney FC during the Round 14 game against Perth Glory at Parramatta Stadium. Sydney would go on to win 2–0, with Brosque scoring his 29th goal to seal the victory for the Sky Blues. On 31 January 2011, Sydney FC agreed to release Brosque for $400,000 to join Shimizu S-Pulse, however Sydney FC vice chairman Scott Barlow announced Sydney was considering its options as to filing a complaint with FIFA, for the club believed Shimizu S-Pulse approached Brosque without the club's permission. Alex made his debut for his new club on 5 March 2011, playing a full game in the 3–0 loss to Kashiwa Reysol, the club's first match of the 2011 J-league Season Brosque scored his first goal for the club on 7 May 2011, scoring in the 18th minute to help his side claim a one-all draw against Nagoya Grampus. On 26 September 2012, Brosque joined UAE Pro-League side Al Ain on a two-year contract.
He scored 14 goals. On 26 June 2014, Brosque rejoined his former club Sydney FC on a two-year contract, after being released from Al Ain. On 8 October 2014, Brosque was announced as the captain of Sydney FC for the 2014–15 A-League season, alongside vice-captains Saša Ognenovski and Nikola Petković. On 18 October 2014, Brosque played in his first Sydney Derby and scored the winning goal in the 79th minute. Brosque reached double digits for the first time in his career during the 2016/17 season, scoring the opener against Melbourne City in a comprehensive 3–0 win. Brosque captained his side to the A-League double – winning both the regular season premiership and the A-League grand final; the premiership was won with four games to go, as the Sky Blues broke records and were heralded one of the A-League's greatest teams. Brosque made his 200th appearance for Sydney FC in all competitions in the 2017 A-League Grand Final, which Sydney won 4–2 on penalties against Melbourne Victory. On 14 September 2017, Brosque scored his first goal of the 2017–18 season, in a 2–0 win against Melbourne City in the 2017 FFA Cup.
His first league goal came in Round 10 against Western Sydney Wanderers in a 5–0 drubbing from the Sky Blues. The game was a milestone match for the captain, equalling club legend Terry McFlynn's appearances stat in all competitions – 214; this record was eve
Christina Parie
Christina Parie known by her stage names KYA and Christina Castle, is an Australian singer and songwriter, best known as a finalist on the third season of The X Factor Australia in 2011. She subsequently signed with Warner Music Australia and released her debut single "16 & Unstoppable" in July 2012. Parie has since changed her artist name to KYA, releasing a single entitled "What I Live For" with LDN Noise in May 2014. Christina Parie was born on February 10, 1996 to Jim and Mary Papoulias, came from Castle Hill, New South Wales. Born as the middle child, Parie has an older sister, a younger brother, Jordan, she is the only member of her family that sings and has cited Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson and The Cranberries as her musical influences. Parie started her music career as the lead singer of the five-piece band Losing Sight, who performed at cafes and venues across Sydney. From grade eight to ten, she attended Mount St Benedict College in New South Wales. After finding it difficult to continue school in grade eleven due her time on The X Factor, Parie quit school to pursue her music career.
Parie auditioned for the third season of The X Factor in 2011, singing Kelly Clarkson's "I Do Not Hook Up" in front of judges Ronan Keating, Guy Sebastian, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Mel B. Keating described Parie's stage presence as "incredible" while Mel B said, "I'm surprised a record company hasn't tried to snap you up already." Sebastian commented, "you are complete, people in the record industry look for people like you." Parie progressed through to the bootcamp stage where she was placed into the Girls category, mentored by Mel B. After bootcamp, she progressed through to the home visits stage where the Girls travelled to Hollywood, California to perform in front of Mel B and guest judge Melanie Chisholm. During the last day of home visits, Mel B selected Parie, along with Tyla Bertolli and Jacqui Newland, for the live finals—a series of ten weekly live shows in which contestants are progressively eliminated by public vote. In week seven of the live shows, she landed in the bottom two for the first time with Reece Mastin, following her rendition of David Guetta's "When Love Takes Over".
Parie was eliminated after Keating and Bassingthwaighte chose to save Mastin. She was the last contestant from the Girls category to be eliminated. Coling Vickery of the Herald Sun called her elimination "one of the biggest shocks" of the season. In January 2012, Parie and fellow X-Factor contestant Johnny Ruffo were supporting acts for Reece Mastin's first headlining Australian tour. In March 2012, she posted a cover of Simple Plan's "Jet Lag" on her YouTube page; the cover's success prompted the band to invite her to tour with them for a few shows in Australia alongside We the Kings. While on tour, Parie contributed featured vocals to "Jet Lag". Shortly after, in June 2012, it was announced that Parie had signed a record deal with Warner Music Australia, her debut single "16 & Unstoppable" was released digitally on 13 July 2012, which debuted and peaked at number 69 on the ARIA Singles Chart. A five-track extended play titled 16 & Unstoppable was released on 27 July 2012; the EP's third track "Back to Life" was written by The Veronicas.
Parie performed "16 & Unstoppable" at Nickelodeon Australia's first Slimefest concert on 15 September 2012. In May 2014, Parie announced, her first single as KYA, "What I Live For", was released digitally on 2 May 2014, peaked at number 65 on the ARIA Singles Chart. On 13 May 2015, it was announced that Parie was voted the singer of the national anthem at the 2015 A-League Grand Final. Parie, who received 54 percent of the vote, was one of three singers. In 2016, Parie changed her artist name to Christina Castle. Parie was working on a new album with Linda Perry. In 2017, Christina went on a US tour playing with Mikey Mike for Yelawolf's 47 date US/Canada tour. In 2018, Parie released her song Little Bit Scared on in the year she let her fans know on twitter that she is recording a new song titled Crazy Lover with Lido. In June 2018 Castle appeared on season two of The Four, she auditioned with her own rendition of Side to Side by Ariana Grande and did not get through with all the judges giving her a no.
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Matthew Cream
Matthew Cream is an Australian football referee. He is the Referee Development Officer in South Australia. Cream has been a FIFA international assistant referee since 2000, he will accompany Matthew Breeze and fellow assistant referee Ben Wilson to the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. This will be Cream's second appearance at a Confederations Cup tournament. Matthew has been selected as an assistant referee for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Cream accompanied Ben Williams to 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, he officiated at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup along with fellow Australian Paul Cetrangolo. Matthew Cream has had numerous Hyundai A-League Finals appointments, most notably at the 2015-16 A-League Grand Final, 2014-15 A-League Grand Final, 2011-12 A-League Grand Final, 2009-2010 A-League Grand Final
2016 A-League Grand Final
The 2016 A-League Grand Final was the eleventh A-League Grand Final, 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 qualified for the Asian competition prior to the match via their league position. 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 began the series in the elimination-finals, with the top two teams receiving byes into the semi-finals. The first match of the elimination-finals between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory; the opening goal of the game came at the 86th minute, with Besart Berisha putting Melbourne in front. Brisbane responded with a goal by Matt McKay in the 88th minute. In the third minute of added-time Thomas Broich netted in the match winner ensuring Brisban progress to the semi-finals with a 2–1 win; the second elimination-final match between Melbourne City and Perth Glory was played in front of a crowd of 11,273 at AAMI Park. A brace from Bruno Fornaroli at either side of the break saw Melbourne progress to face Adelaide in the semi-finals; the first match of the semi-finals was played at Hindmarsh Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,489. Adelaide took the lead at the 48th minute thanks to Bruce Djite, the forward doubled the lead after converting a penalty in the 60th minute.
Nick Fitzgerald's 72nd-minute goal gave the visitors some hope, but any chances of Melbourne City progressing were soon scrapped when Dylan McGowan scored in the 88th minute and Pablo Sánchez scored in the fourth minute of added-time to see the match finish 4–1. The win saw Adelaide through to their first A-League grand final in seven years. In the second semi-final match Western Sydney Wanderers hosted Brisbane Roar at Parramatta Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,084. Brisbane started the game by racing to a 3–0 lead inside 23 minutes via a Dimitri Petratos penalty, an Andreu Guerao own goal and a Jamie Maclaren strike. Wanderers replied with a goal in the 26th minute via Romeo Castelen, Brendon Santalab scored in the 39th to bring the scores to 2–3. Castelen levelled the scores in 53rd minute and put the home side in front with a 59th-minute goal. Another Maclaren goal within the last 10 minutes tied the scores to see the game go into extra-time; the deadlock broke in the 102nd minute with substitute Dario Vidosic netting in the decisive goal to send Wanderers to a third Grand Final in four years.
Adelaide Oval was confirmed to be the host venue of the 2016 A-League Grand Final following Adelaide United's semi-final win. The Oval was chosen as it has a capacity of 53,583, some 37,083 more than United's regular home Coopers Stadium, had hosted a number of Adelaide United's high-profile A-League matches against Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. Adelaide United have played at the venue in friendly matches against Spanish side Málaga CF, in front of a crowd of 23,254, Liverpool FC in front of 53,008 fans. 2015–16 Referee of the Year Jarred Gillett was named as the referee of the Grand Final. Gillett, a FIFA listed referee took charge of the 2012 A-League Grand Final between Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory after being named the 2011–12 Referee of the Year, as well as the 2015 A-League Grand Final between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory after being named the 2014–15 Referee of the Year. Gillett will be joined by Matthew Cream and Luke Brennan as the assistant referees, Paul Cetrangolo as the fourth official and Strebre Delovski and Chris Beath as additional assistant referees.
By 26 April, more than 43,000 tickets had been sold for the Grand Final match, with between 5,000 and 8,000 fans travelling from interstate, similar to the amount of supporters that travelled north for the 2014 Grand Final in Brisbane. Due to the high amount of travelling Wanderers fans, extra flights from Sydney to Adelaide had to be were arranged by various airlines; the increased demand saw some Qantas flights from Sydney to Adelaide tripling in price, with non-stop flights at $900 one-way. Virgin Australia had put on four extra flights, with the cheapest economy ticket from Sydney to Adelaide on the Saturday before the Grand Final costing $445 one-way. Tigerair Australia had added an extra weekend flight, with tickets at $469 one-way. Due to the demand for tickets, FFA organised for The Hill at the Adelaide Oval to be opened for use; this added a further 1,500 tickets for the general public. Bruce Kamau opened the scoring for Adelaide in the 22nd minute after finishing a cross from Marcelo Carrusca.
Isaías doubled the lead for the home side 12 minutes when he curled a free kick into the top corner past Wanderers keeper Andrew Redmayne. Adelaide came close to adding a third early in the second half. Scott Neville gave the visitors hope with a goal in the 58th minute, set up by Romeo Castelen and Brendon Šantalab. Adelaide thought they had restored a two-goal lead with just over 20 minutes to go, but when the ball was poked home from inside the box, it
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