Australian Football League

Also known as AFL, Victorian Football League, VFL, VFL/AFL

Australian rules football competition

Key facts

Formerly: Victorian Football League (VFL), (1897–1990)
Sport: Australian rules football
Founded: 2 October 1896 ; , 129 years ago ( 1896-10-02 )
Ceo: Andrew Dillon
Headquarters: Melbourne , Victoria, Australia
Region: Australia
Current premiers: Brisbane Lions , (5th premiership)
Most premierships: Carlton , Collingwood , Essendon , (16 premierships)
Broadcasters: Australia: , Seven Network , Fox Footy , New Zealand: , Sky Sport , International: , See list
Streaming partners: 7plus (Australia), Kayo Sports (Australia), WatchAFL (Overseas)
Sponsor: Toyota
Domestic cups

~40 min read

Article

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season in 1897. It changed its name to Australian Football League in 1990 after expanding its competition to other Australian states in the 1980s. The AFL publishes its Laws of Australian football, which are used, with variations, by other Australian rules football organisations.

The AFL competition currently consists of 18 teams spread over Australia's five mainland states, with Tasmania to join the league as its 19th team in 2028. AFL premiership season matches have been played in all states and mainland territories, as well as in New Zealand and China to expand its audience. As of 2024 the AFL is the richest Australian football and overall sports league in Australia by revenue and the 16th richest sports league in the world by revenue.