The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional men’s competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport‘s governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game.
Originally known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), it was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing the following year. The VFL, aiming to become a national competition, began expanding beyond Victoria to other Australian states in the 1980s, and changed its name to the AFL in 1990.
The league currently consists of 18 teams spread over five of Australia’s six states (Tasmania being the exception), although there has been a lot of support for a team to be moved to or created in Tasmania. Matches have been played in all states and mainland territories of Australia, as well as in New Zealand and China to promote the sport abroad. The AFL season currently consists of a 23-round regular (or “home-and-away”) season, which runs during the Australian winter (March to September). The team with the best record after the home-and-away series is awarded the “minor premiership”. The top eight teams then play off in a four-round finals series, culminating in the AFL Grand Final, which is held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground each year. The grand final winner is termed the “premiers”, and is awarded the premiership cup. The current premiers are Richmond, who won the 2020 AFL Grand Final in the first-ever night grand final.
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