Fan Engagement 2 min read

AFL Membership All-time Membership Record at 1.36 Million in 2025

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The AFL has announced an all-time club membership record of 1,363,437 members in 2025, with one in every 20 Australians now signed up to an AFL club.

The figure marks a 3.26% increase on last year’s record, including more than 240,000 new members across the 18 clubs.

A Season Defined by Record Crowds 

14 clubs broke their all-time membership records, including Adelaide, Brisbane, Collingwood, Fremantle, Geelong, Gold Coast SUNS, GWS GIANTS, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Sydney, West Coast and the Western Bulldogs.

The women’s competition also continued its rapid rise, with AFLW memberships reaching 79,309 — up 15% year-on-year and with memberships still on sale until the end of the NAB AFLW season.

Thanking the supporters for their passion and loyalty, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, said: “We have the greatest fans in the world, supporting the game week in and week out and backing their clubs by becoming members in record numbers.”

Club Membership Records

Three clubs once again surpassed the 100,000-member milestone — Collingwood, Carlton and West Coast. Collingwood set a new all-time VFL/AFL record with 112,491 members, while Carlton reached six figures for the second time and West Coast extended its streak to six consecutive years above 100,000.

Other standout results included reigning premiers Brisbane Lions, who posted an 18.7% increase, and Port Adelaide, North Melbourne and the Gold Coast SUNS, who each recorded membership growth above 10%. Six clubs — Brisbane, Adelaide, Geelong, Collingwood, Sydney and Port Adelaide — welcomed more than 15,000 new members each in 2025.

1 Collingwood 112,491
2 West Coast 107,079
3 Carlton 100,743
4 Richmond 92,531
5 Geelong 92,379
6 Hawthorn 87,204
7 Essendon 85,568
8 Adelaide 81,067
9 Sydney 76,674
10 Brisbane 75,115
11 Port Adelaide 72,656
12 Fremantle 66,179
13 Western Bulldogs 65,584
14 St Kilda 65,509
15 Melbourne 58,563
16 North Melbourne 56,283
17 GWS GIANTS 37,705
18 Gold Coast SUNS 30,107

Crowds also flocked to games in record numbers, with 7,652,682 fans attending the Toyota AFL Premiership Home and Away season, only the third time in history attendance has exceeded seven million.

With record memberships, surging AFLW growth, and Finals football set to begin, 2025 is shaping as one of the AFL’s greatest seasons on and off the field.

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