What Is the Most Popular Sport in Australia? Top Sports in 2026

Australian sport is more varied than a contest between football codes. A weekend might involve a local netball match, a swim, a basketball game or a walk in the bush. Major events add another layer, bringing people together around club colours and national teams.

So which sport is actually the most popular? This guide separates participation from spectatorship, uses the same national survey for the playing figures, and introduces eight sports with distinctive places in Australian life.

What Is the Most Popular Sport in Australia?

There is no single winner across every definition of popularity. Australian rules football has a substantial match-going audience: the AFL reported 7,772,015 attendances during its 2026 home-and-away season. That total counts visits to matches, including repeat visitors; it is not a count of individual supporters or people who play.

Rugby league has a different club and representative tradition, including State of Origin. Cricket spans the summer through international and domestic competition. Their cultural prominence is an editorial description here, rather than a claim that one comparable national audience survey ranks all three.

For participation, the clearest evidence comes from AusPlay. Its adult figures include recreational activity as well as competitive sport, which explains why the leading activities look different from a television schedule.

What Sports Do Australians Actually Play?

The Australian Sports Commission’s AusPlay tables released on 29 October 2026 cover July 2025–June 2026. For this survey, adults are people aged 15 and over who have lived in Australia for at least the previous 12 months. The measure below is participation at least once in the past 12 months, including informal activity.

The table uses the national total participation-rate column in By Sport Table 1: Participation by activity (adults), rounded to one decimal place. People can report several activities, so the percentages must not be added together. These are survey estimates, rather than club registrations or weekly participation rates.

This is a selection of activities, not the complete AusPlay ranking. The eight profiles below are arranged as an introduction to Australian sporting culture, rather than in participation order.

1. Australian Rules Football

Australian rules football combines kicking, handballing, marking and movement across an oval ground. The AFL and AFLW give viewers national competitions to follow, while local clubs provide a different connection through playing, volunteering and community rivalries.

Its written history reaches back to 17 May 1859, when William Hammersley, Tom Smith, James Thompson and Tom Wills drew up ten rules in East Melbourne. The AFL’s history of the game traces the development from those early rules to a distinct Australian code.

The sport is often called “footy”, but that word can mean a different game in a different Australian conversation. Naming the code makes a beginner’s search much easier.

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2. Rugby League

Rugby league offers club competition, State of Origin and international football. The NRL’s history records New South Wales Rugby League’s formation in 1907, the first premiership games in 1908 and the first State of Origin match in 1980.

Those layers give supporters different allegiances: a club, a state and a national team. A small share of adults playing the sport in a national survey does not measure the intensity of that support or the number of viewers.

The men’s national side is the Kangaroos and the women’s side is the Jillaroos. Learning possession, the tackle count and scoring is a useful first step before following a match.

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3. Cricket

Cricket is woven into Australia’s summer sporting calendar through local clubs, international fixtures and short-format competitions. Test cricket and Twenty20 offer very different viewing experiences, even though both rely on runs, wickets and innings.

Cricket Australia’s history of Test cricket dates what is now recognised as the first men’s Test to March 1877, when Australia played England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. That history helps explain the significance of the rivalry beyond an individual series.

For a new follower, choosing a format is as useful as choosing a team. A short-format match provides a compact introduction; a Test develops over several days.

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4. Football / Soccer

Football/soccer has a substantial adult playing base in AusPlay, alongside its club and national-team audiences. The national sides are known as the Socceroos and Matildas; using “soccer” alongside “football” distinguishes the sport from Australia’s other football codes.

The Matildas’ run at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup provided a major shared sporting moment. Football Australia’s 2023 annual review (PDF) records their fourth-place finish, the best World Cup finish by an Australian team.

Community football, professional club competitions and international tournaments offer separate ways into the game. The participation table counts people who played, rather than everyone who followed that World Cup campaign.

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5. Swimming

Swimming stands out because it combines a large recreational participation base with an established Olympic audience. A person swimming for exercise and an athlete racing for a medal belong to the same activity category, but their reasons for taking part can be very different.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Australia won seven gold, eight silver and three bronze medals in the pool. The Australian Olympic Committee’s review records that performance separately from the wider participation figures.

6. Tennis

The Australian Open gives tennis a major place in the summer calendar, while local courts and clubs support play throughout the year. Singles and doubles provide different ways to take part and follow the professional game.

The Australian Open’s 2026 event report records 1,368,043 attendances across three weeks, including Opening Week. That is an event attendance total, with repeat visits included, rather than the number of Australians who played tennis.

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7. Basketball

Basketball connects recreational courts and local associations with professional competition and the national teams. The men’s side is the Boomers and the women’s side is the Opals.

A landmark for the Boomers came at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, held in 2021. They beat Slovenia to win their first Olympic medal, a bronze, as documented by the Australian Olympic Committee.

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8. Netball

Netball links community competition with the Australian Diamonds and elite club netball. Its positions and court areas create a different style of play from basketball, even though both sports use a raised goal.

Australia won the 2023 Netball World Cup by beating England 61–45 in the final. Netball Australia’s match report records the victory as the Diamonds’ 12th world title. That dated result illustrates international success without serving as a participation ranking.

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Other Popular Sports and Activities

Golf, cycling, running, surfing and recreational walking also contribute to Australian sporting life. Rugby union has its own competitions and national teams, and should be kept separate from rugby league. Learn more in the rugby union guide or browse the sports encyclopaedia to explore another activity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “football” mean in Australia?

It can refer to Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union or association football/soccer, depending on the speaker and context. Check the code or competition name before assuming that “footy” always means the same rules.

Are children included in the participation table?

No. The table uses AusPlay’s adult category, aged 15+. AusPlay reports children aged 0–14 separately, with a parent or guardian answering about organised activity outside school hours. Those child estimates have a different scope and are not combined with this table.

Can these percentages be compared directly with other country guides?

Check the definitions first. This table counts participation at least once in 12 months among people aged 15+. England’s and Singapore’s guides use different age limits and recent-activity measures, so their percentages do not provide a like-for-like international league table.

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