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Football in Australia refers to numerous codes which each have major shares of the mainstream sports market, media, broadcasting, professional athletes, financial performance and grassroots participation: Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union and soccer (known in many other countries as "football").
In Australia, Australian rules football is the most popular spectator sport and the second most participated code of football.Since originating in Victoria in 1858 and spreading elsewhere from 1866, it has been played continuously in every Australian state since 1903 plus the two major territories since 1916.
Australian football match at Linkbelt Oval in Nauru, where Australian football is the national sport Countries in red have participated in the International Cup, held triennially in Australia. During the colonial period, Australian rules was sometimes referred to as Australasian rules, reflecting its popularity in New Zealand.
The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, [6] the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF).
In Australia, sport is an important part of the country's culture and dates back to the early colonial period. The first of the country's mainstream sports to become established in order of their organisation were cricket, Australian rules football, rugby union, tennis, soccer, basketball, netball and rugby league.
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.
In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australian rules football is a popular spectator and participation sport which has been played continuously since 1911. With 9,129 adult and 2,953 children playing the sport, it has the fourth highest team sport participation after soccer, basketball and netball. [1]
The Australian soccer champions are the winners of the highest league in Australian men's soccer, which since 2005–06 is currently the A-League Men. The National Soccer League was established in 1977. At the end of the 1977 season, Sydney City (now Hakoah Sydney City East) were the first club to be crowned champions.