The Australian Football International Cup is a triennial international tournament in Australian rules football. It is the biggest international tournament in the sport that is open to all nations. More than 26 nations have participated and the competition has expanded into multiple pools and both men and women's divisions. At the time of the last tournament in 2017, the sport had a record 170,744 registered players outside Australia growing at a rate of 25 per cent per annum.
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 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.
The United States national Australian rules football team, nicknamed the Revolution, represents the United States of America in the sport of Australian rules football. The Revolution are named after the American Revolution and wear the colors of the American flag.
Women's Australian rules football, is the female-only form of Australian rules football, generally with some modification to the laws of the game. It is played by more than half a million women worldwide and with 119,447 Australian adult and 66,998 youth female participants in 2023 is the second most played code among women and girls in Australia behind soccer.
The Samoan national Australian rules football team, nicknamed the Kangaroos, represents Samoa in the team sport of Australian rules football. The team is selected from the best Samoan born players, who are currently mostly players from the Samoa Australian Rules Football Association.
In New Zealand, Australian rules football dates back to the 1860s, was home to the first club formed outside Australia in 1876 and was the first colony outside of Australia to take up the sport. The sport's official name was changed in 1890 to Australasian Football acknowledge New Zealand's participation and remained for some time even after the country was expelled from the Australasian Football Council. After a half century hiatus of organised competition, it has grown rapidly as an amateur sport. Today five of New Zealand's sixteen regions have organised competitions: Auckland ; Canterbury ; Wellington ; Waikato and Otago. A four-team national competition with a national draft has been contested at the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland since 2016 for men and 2019 for women. The national team were crowned International champions at the 2005 Australian Football International Cup and competed annually against the AFL Academy between 2012 and 2019. Since the 2010s the game has also grown at junior level among New Zealand schools as the "Hawks Cup".
In the United States, Australian rules football is a team and spectator sport which has grown rapidly across the country since the 1996. The USAFL National Championships is currently the largest club tournament in the world with 41 teams competing across 6 divisions in 2022. A national youth team has also been established and participation is growing in women's teams, junior teams and in modified and non-contact variations such as Metro Footy and Footy 7s. The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) is the governing body, with various clubs and leagues around the country it oversees more than 2,000 players more than half of which are American. An active fan based organization, the Australian Football Association of North America also exists to promote a broader audience.
Australian rules football in England is a team sport and spectator sport with a long history. It is home to the longest running Australian rules fixture outside Australia, the match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities which has been contested annually since 1923. All other current competitions originated in 1989 with the founding of what is now AFL London, the longest running Australian rules football league in Europe. The current governing body, AFL England, was formed in 2012 and expanded the game in 2018 to include the additional regional divisions: AFL Central & Northern England and AFL Southern England.
Australian rules football in South Africa is a team sport played at amateur level in the country with a small audience. The governing body is AFL South Africa.
The 2008 Australian Football International Cup was the third time the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition, has been contested.
Australian rules football in Samoa has been played since 1997.
The sport of Australian rules football has been played in Fiji since at least 1963, when an exhibition was held in Suva.
Australian rules football in China has been played since the 1989 and grew in popularity in the 2010s.
Israel ‘Isileli Folau is a professional dual-code rugby player who plays as a fullback for Japan Rugby League One club Urayasu D-Rocks. Born in Australia, he represents Tonga at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.
Australian rules football in Africa is most organised in South Africa, although there are programs under development in many African nations including Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe and there are plans to introduce the sport into more African countries.
Australian rules football in Oceania is the sport of Australian rules football as it is watched and played in the Oceanian continent. The regional governing and development body, AFL South Pacific, is affiliated to the AFL Commission and was formed in 2008.
Australian rules football in Asia dates back to 1910 but was only sporadically played until the 1980s after which it has boomed. Clubs have begun in most Asian countries and a governing body for the region, AFL Asia was formed in 2008 to coordinate the Asian Championship and promote its affiliated leagues. AFL Asia estimates that there are now more than 10,000 Australian Football players across the continent.
Australian rules football in the Middle East describes the minority sport of Australian rules football as it is watched and played in the Middle East region.
Australian rules football has been played in the Americas since the turn of the 20th Century, beginning with North American countries Canada and the United States in 1905 and 1906 respectively. However it has only been played consistently at an organised regular amateur level since the establishment of the current Canadian competition in 1989 followed by a United States competition in 1996. More recently it has been played in South America in Colombia since 2015 and Chile since 2017. There have also been clubs formed for occasional play in other South American nations including Bermuda, Brazil and Argentina. As there are too few countries playing separated by great distances, there is currently no formal regional governing body and international competition between countries is currently overseen cooperatively by AFL Canada and the USAFL.
Sport in Tonga consists of many games. Rugby union is the national sport, sumo has a following, while football, judo, surfing, volleyball, and cricket have gained popularity in recent years. Rugby league and Australian football are also played.
