Australian rules football is played in more than 60 countries around the world with approximately 1.4 million players worldwide. By 2017 more than 26 nations (excluding Australia) had contested the Australian Football International Cup, the highest level of worldwide competition. The AFL Commission is the world governing body which manages international competition through its International Development Committee headed by Andrew Dillon. There are 3 regional governing bodies affiliated to the AFL: AFL Asia, AFL South Pacific and AFL Europe.

Australia is the only country with professional teams, now located in every state. However it is strongest (by participation rate and overall interest) in the Australian states and territories of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. The sport is moderately popular in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. These account for more than half of the population, and are part of a cultural divide known as the Barassi line, however player numbers there have grown significantly in recent decades.

In the last century it has grown as a spectator sport in many countries. It is extremely popular in Nauru where it is considered the national sport and has the highest participation rate in the world. It also has a small but growing audience in New Zealand and China where recent Australian Football League (AFL) premiership matches have been played. It has also gone through a recent revival in Papua New Guinea after several decades of decline. Since its relatively recent introduction to the South Pacific and the Indian subcontinent the code has grown rapidly particularly in Pakistan, India and Fiji. In India, the sport has attracted crowds with thousands of spectators to local matches, with the record of 20,000 being the highest outside of Australia.

While Australia still accounts for the overwhelming majority of players worldwide, the sport outside of Australia has grown rapidly since the 1980s, from just a few hundred players in a handful of clubs and countries to a record 170,744 (compared to Australia's 549,400) by 2017. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sport outside of Australia was growing at a rate of 25% per annum (compared to Australia's growth rate of 10%) with the majority of this growth coming from the Asia Pacific region.AFL Annual Report 2017 Countries outside of Australia now account for almost a third of the sport's total players. Only a fraction of these players have access to a pathway to play the sport professionally, as such the majority of professional players still come from Australia. Despite these obstacles, players from all Australian states and territories have been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. In 2013 Jim Stynes was posthumously recognised as the first overseas born and raised Hall of Famer. Since the 2010s internationally developed players have begun to register matches at international, professional level or both, including Hewago Oea (Papua New Guinea/AFL) and Danielle Marshall (United States/AFLW).

Australian rules football spread throughout the world by the 1910s, however in the first major study of the early international growth of the code de Moore (2021) cites a "lack of systematic support from its heartland" and the then VFL (now AFL)'s disregard for representative football, amateurism and the global growth in popularity of other football codes (particularly rugby) as the key reasons for the code's rapid early 20th century decline in places like South Africa, New Zealand and the United States. Similar reasons caused the code to disappear in Queensland and much of New South Wales at the end of the 19th century.

The first tournament to feature a national side (New Zealand) was the 1908 Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival. The first recognised contest between two open level national sides was in 1976 between Papua New Guinea and Nauru in front of a crowd of over 10,000 at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium in Port Moresby which was won by PNG by 129 points.It’s PNG by 129 points. PNG Post Courier. 21 Sep 1976 Page 24 There are now several large 18 or 16 a side international tournaments, the biggest worldwide being: the Australian Football International Cup (2002–), AFL Europe Championship (2010–), Asian Australian Football Championships (1999–), 49th Parallel Cup (1999–), AFL Pacific Cup (2024–), AFL Transatlantic Cup (2024–) and AFL Asia Cup (2024–) which also feature underage divisions. There are also dedicated junior international competitions, the biggest being the Oceania Cup (2009–) in which eight pacific nations have competed, and the Pacific Cup.

The first ever full international match involving Australia was played in 1977 at under 17 level against Papua New Guinea in Adelaide, with Australia taking the honours. Australia has, however, never competed at open international level. Since the 2000s it began to participate in matches against the senior teams of South Africa (2007–2010) and New Zealand (2012–2019) as the development AFL Academy side and state amateur teams have also contested these and other countries and composite World XVIII teams. In addition, indigenous and multicultural teams from Australia have competed internationally including the Flying Boomerangs in the Pacific region and a Indigenous & Multicultural (OzIM) composite amateurs team into the 2011 Australian Football International Cup.

Players

Participation The latest figures released in 2019 indicate that there are 185,173 players outside of Australia growing at around 10% per annum.Females lead big rise in football participation rate by Mitch Cleary 24 February 2019 The majority of the growth since the 2010s has been in the Asia, with the largest increases in participation being registered in the Indian subcontinent.

The table below includes officially reported numbers from countries that have had a representative team compete in a major international tournament.

Country Administrative Region/Body Overview Clubs Adult males*latest estimate Adult females* Best international result/s (men's) Best international result/s (women's) Australia Overview 2,672 439,569 121,031 N/A Pakistan AFL Asia Overview 11 2,715 1,455AFL Asia 2022 report 12th (IC 2014) 8th (IC 2017) India AFL Asia Overview 11 2,845 518 16th (IC 2008) Papua New Guinea AFL South Pacific Overview 64World Footy Census 2004 1,920 200 1st (IC 2008, 2014, 2017) 5th (IC 2017) United States Americas Overview 50 2,000figure quoted by USAFL 230 3rd (IC 2011) 3rd (IC 2014) South Africa Africa Overview 138 2,000figure quoted by AFL South Africa prior to COVID-19 Pandemic 3rd (IC 2008) China AFL Asia Overview 14 1,689 1,230Encouraging signs as participation holds firm in Asia from AFL Asia 7 December 2021 13th (IC 2017) Canada Americas Overview 41 876 1202022 AFL Canada Annual Report 5th (IC 2014) 1st (IC 2014) United Kingdom AFL Europe Overview 59 750 6th (IC 2017), 1st (AFL Europe 2016, 2019) 3rd (IC 2017) New Zealand AFL South Pacific Overview 20 70030,000 figure is cited by AFL New Zealand in 2017 but not backed up by any independent sources, likely to include significant number of Kiwikick/junior/school and female participants. 536 is the count from the 2004 World Footy Census. 700 is the last official figure from AFL New Zealand and works out to be around 37 players per club 2,700AFL New Zealand Annual Report 2021 1st (IC 2005) Nauru AFL South Pacific Overview 18 680 120 5th (IC 2017) Japan AFL Asia Overview 15 236 26 8th (IC 2008) Fiji AFL South Pacific Overview 12 200 30 8th (IC 2017) 5th (IC 2014) Sweden AFL Europe Overview 9 257 11th (IC 2011) Ireland AFL Europe Overview 9 200 1st (IC 2002, 2011) 1st (IC 2011, 2017) France AFL Europe Overview 8 200 10th (IC 2017) Denmark AFL Europe Overview 6 180 4th (IC 2002) Germany AFL Europe Overview 6 180 30 12th (IC 2017) Colombia Americas Overview 2 150From Colombia to Canada: New national footy team dreams big By Margie Saunders 6 June 2024 150 2024 Transatlantic cup 2024 Transatlantic cup Croatia AFL Europe Overview 4 100 30 11th (IC 2017) Indonesia AFL Asia Overview 3 60 16th (IC 2017) Finland AFL Europe Overview 2 40 14th (IC 2008) Sri Lanka AFL Asia Overview 1 65 15th (IC 2017) Tonga AFL South Pacific Overview 1 20 20 6th (IC 2014) 6th (IC 2014) Samoa AFL South Pacific Overview 1 20 20 5th (IC 2005)

In 2007 there was just 34,845 players outside of Australia.AFL International Census 2007 This figure had grown to 106,000 in 2016 and at least 20 leagues recognised by the game's governing body.AFL International Development By 2017 the figure was 170,744 (11% of total players) growing at a rate of 25% per annum. Since 2017, regional bodies such as AFL Asia and AFL Europe have published annual censuses of participation, providing a better picture of the sport's global participation.

Professionalism The Australian Football League is the only fully professional competition in the world and there are currently no high-profile semi-professional competitions located outside of Australia. According to a 2023 study by CodeSports the professional AFL ignores the vast majority of its national and worldwide grassroots in its player pathway to focus almost exclusively on Melbourne's wealthy private schools through the Talent League and the AFL draft.Analysis: AFL Draft’s growing obsession with wealthy Melbourne 15 Nov 2023 It, South Australia and Tasmania are the only jurisdictions in the world from which the number of professional AFL players are disproportionately higher than their share of registered players. Together more than 75% of all professional players are from these 3 southeastern states.

There have been several players in the VFL/AFL who were born outside Australia and since 1982, an increasing number of players have been recruited from outside Australia through initiatives such as the Irish experiment and more recently, international scholarship programs. There are currently limited pathways for amateur players overseas into the AFL and AFL Women's, however talented players may be identified via international tournaments.

Despite these obstacles, players from all Australian states and territories have been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. In 2013 Jim Stynes was posthumously recognised as the first overseas born and raised Hall of Famer. Since the 2010s internationally developed players have begun to register matches at international, professional level or both, including Hewago Oea (Papua New Guinea/AFL) and Danielle Marshall (United States/AFLW).

Australian rules football in Australia

Australian rules football traditionally has seen its greatest support in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Riverina region of New South Wales. The Barassi Line is used to the dichotomy in support for the code between the south west and north east of the country and areas where rugby football is significantly more popular. In some areas, such as Western Sydney and Western Queensland, the code is still barely known.

Professional leagues were historically state-specific until VFL's (now AFL) national expansion in 1982 which resulted in clubs in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide by 1991. While players had previously been recruited from others states to the VFL (as well as other state leagues), this reduced the significance of existing state leagues to semi-professional feeder competitions. With its new national focus the AFL implemented a National draft giving its clubs access to talent throughout the country.