The 2024 AFL Premiership winning team was the Brisbane Lions who defeated the Sydney Swans 120 – 60 for their fourth AFL Grand Final victory
There are 18 teams that face off in the current AFL Premiership competition each year playing for the Premiership Cup decided in the AFL Grand Final, traditionally run on the last Saturday in September.
When the Victorian Football League (VFL) was first inaugurated in 1897 there were only eight, all-Victorian clubs in the league. Now five of Australia’s six states are represented with Tasmania the only exception.
Victoria dominates the AFL Teams with 10 clubs including nine Melbourne-based squads. The other four states each have two teams. Of the current AFL clubs seven are foundation clubs having played since 1897 with the Carlton Blues, Collingwood Magpies, Essendon Bombers, Geelong Cats, Melbourne Demons, St Kilda Saints and Sydney Swans.
The former clubs that are no longer in the league are the Fitzroy Lions (1897 – 1996), Melbourne University Students (1980 – 1914) and the Brisbane Bears (1987 – 1996). The Melbourne University Football Club is the only team to leave the VFL and still plays in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA).
The Fitzroy Lions and Brisbane Bears meanwhile merged in 1996 to form the Brisbane Lions before Fitzroy broke away in 1998 and resumed playing the VAFA from 2009 onwards.
Below is a rundown of each AFL team (alphabetically) in the current league competition that punters can get behind in AFL Premiership betting each season complete with links to the latest 2025 AFL Grand Final odds for each club.
Australian tennis golden boy, the recently retired two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt has been the number one ticket holder for the Adelaide Crows since 2002.
- Inaugural Season: 1991
- Home City: Adelaide, South Australia
- Home Stadium: Adelaide Oval
- Stadium Capacity: 53,587
- Colours: Navy Blue, Red & Gold
- Mascot: Claude “Curls” Crown
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 2 (1997, 1998)
The club’s theme song is called “The Pride Of Brisbane Town” and the music is that of the French national anthem “La Marseillaise”. They played in the AFL Grand Final in 2023 going down by just four points to the Collingwood Magpies before coming back the following year to take out their fourth Premiership with a powerhouse 60-point win over the Swans in the 2024 AFL Grand Final.
- Inaugural Season: 1997
- Home City: Brisbane, Queensland
- Home Stadium: The Gabba
- Stadium Capacity: 42,000
- Colours: Maroon, Blue & Gold
- Mascot: Bernie “Gabba” Vegas
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 4 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2024)
One of the eight founding clubs and has long standing rivalries with the three other “Big Four” clubs in the current competition: Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon.
- Inaugural Season: 1897
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Stadium Capacity: 100,024
- Colours: Navy Blue & White
- Mascot: Captain Carlton
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 16 (1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995)
The “Pies” are Australia’s most watched pro sporting team and attract the highest attendance records at their games. They also set a membership record of 71,516 in 2011 and again in 2013 with 80,000 members. They secured their record-equalling 16th Premiership with their four-point Grand Final win over the Lions in 2023.
- Inaugural Season: 1897
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Stadium Capacity: 100,024
- Colours: Black & White Stripes
- Mascot: Jock “One Eye” McPie
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 16 (1902, 1903, 1910, 1917, 1919, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1953, 1958, 1990, 2010, 2023)
One of Aussie Rules’ longest standing clubs, the “Dons” boast the equal highest number of VFL/AFL Premierships (16) along with Carlton. Some of their most notable supports include pro basketballer Andrew Bogut and Midnight Oil singer and politician Peter Garret.
- Inaugural Season: 1897
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Docklands Stadium
- Stadium Capacity: 56,347
- Colours: Red & Black
- Mascot: Moz “Skeeta” Reynolds
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 16 (1897, 1901, 1911, 1912, 1923, 1924, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1962, 1965, 1984, 1985, 1993, 2000)
The second of the Western Australian clubs admitted to the league, the Dockers biggest rivalry is with the fellow Perth-based AFL team West Coast. They face off twice a year in the “Western Derby” matches.
- Inaugural Season: 1995
- Home City: Perth, Western Australia
- Home Stadium: Subiaco Oval
- Stadium Capacity: 43,500
- Colours: Purple & White
- Mascot: Johnny “The Doc” Docker
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 0
The “Cats” hold the equal highest number of McClelland Trophies, awarded to the AFL club that finishes first on the ladder after the home-and-away season having finished on top again in 2022 before their Grand Final victory that season. Their two biggest rivalries are with Hawthorn and Collingwood. They posted their 10th VFL/AFL flag and their first since 2011 in 2022 with a big 81-point Grand Final win over the Swans.
- Inaugural Season: 1897
- Home City: Geelong, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Kardinia Park Stadium
- Stadium Capacity: 27,000 (current redevelopment capacity)
- Colours: White & Navy Blue
- Mascot: Boom the Lightning Bolt
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 10 (1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2022)
The Suns recorded their first win on April 23, 2011 defeating Port Adelaide after trailing by 40 points in the third quarter, two years after the club’s establishment. Gary Ablett is their only Brownlow Medallist having won the award in 2013.
- Inaugural Season: 2011
- Home City: Gold Coast, Queensland
- Home Stadium: Carrara Stadium
- Stadium Capacity: 25,000
- Colours: Red, Gold & Blue
- Mascot: Sunny Ray
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 0
Greater Western Sydney Giants
GWS represent not only the greater Western Sydney region but the country’s capital, Canberra, as well. The club’s current team song, revealed in 2012, is called ‘There’s A Big Big Sound’ and was written by Harry Angus from top Australian band The Cat Empire.
- Inaugural Season: 2012
- Home City: Sydney, New South Wales
- Home Stadium: Sydney Showground Stadium
- Stadium Capacity: 24,000
- Team Colours: Charcoal & White
- Mascot: G-Man
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 0
The Melbourne Football Club is the oldest pro club of any football code in Australia having been founded in 1858 before their inaugural season in 1897. They broke the game’s longest-ever premiership drought winning the 2021 AFL Grand Final defeating the Western Bulldogs for their first title since 1964.
- Inaugural Season: 1897
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Stadium Capacity: 100,024
- Colours: Navy Blue & Red
- Mascot: Ronald “Dee” Man
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 13 (1900, 1926, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1964, 2021)
North Melbourne Kangaroos
Nicknamed the “Roos” or “Kangas” the North Melbourne Football Club is also unofficially known as “The Shinboners” harking back to the team’s abattoir-worker origins from the 19th-century when local butchers supported the club by dressing up legs of beef in the team’s colours.
- Inaugural Season: 1925
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium(s): Docklands Stadium
- Stadium Capacities: 56,347
- Colours: Royal Blue & White
- Mascot: Barry “Bruiser” Cracker
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 4 (1975, 1977, 1996, 1999)
Port Adelaide is the oldest profession football club in South Australia having been founded in 1870. Their unofficial team song since 2014 has been ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ by INXS. Some of their most notable supporters include Aussie rock legend Jimmy Barnes and the late great Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman.
- Inaugural Season: 1997
- Home City: Adelaide, South Australia
- Home Stadium: Adelaide Oval
- Stadium Capacities: 53,583
- Colours: Black, White & Teal Blue
- Mascot: Tommy “Thunda” Power
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 1 (2004)
Richmond’s mascot Tiger “Stripes” Dyer is named after AFL legend Jack “Captain Blood” Dyer who played for the club from 1931-49 and coached the Tigers from 1941-52.
- Inaugural Season: 1908
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Stadium Capacity: 100,024
- Colours: Yellow & Black
- Mascot: Tiger “Stripes” Dyer
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won : 12 (1920, 1921, 1932, 1934, 1943, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1980, 2017, 2019, 2020)
St Kilda has the unwanted tag of having finished last in the home-and-away season to secure the Wooden Spoon more than any other professional Australian Rules football club – 27 times to date.
- Inaugural Season: 1897
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Docklands Stadium
- Stadium Capacity: 56,347
- Colours: Red, White & Black
- Mascot: Trevor “Saint” Kilda
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 1 (1966)
The Swans were the first Aussie Rules football club to enter the professional league outside of Victoria. They also suffered the longest Premiership drought of any VFL/AFL club going 72 years without a win from 1933 – 2005. They appeared in the 2022 AFL Grand Final only to go down by 81 points to the Cats and were runners-up again in 2024 with a 60-point loss to the Brisbane Lions.
- Inaugural Season: 1897
- Home City: Sydney, New South Wales
- Home Stadium: Sydney Cricket Ground
- Stadium Capacity: 48,000
- Colours: Red & White
- Mascot: Syd “Swannie” Skilton
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 5 (1909, 1918, 1933, 2005, 2012)
The Hawks, founded in 1902 before their opening season in 1925, is the youngest of the Victorian-based AFL teams. Top tennis players Pat Cash and Mark Philippoussis along with the NRL Melbourne Storm team captain Cameron Smith are some of the club’s most notable supporters.
- Inaugural Season: 1925
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Stadium Capacities: 100,024
- Colours: Brown & Gold
- Mascot: Hudson “Hawka” Knights
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 13 (1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2015)
West Coast have a number of “sister clubs” affiliated with the team outside of Australia and have partnerships with internationally based clubs in Cambodia, Canada, China, Italy and Sweden.
- Inaugural Season: 1987
- Home City: Perth, Western Australia
- Home Stadium: Subiaco Oval
- Stadium Capacities: 43,500
- Colours: Navy Blue & Gold
- Mascot: Rick “The Rock” Eagle
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 4 (1992, 1994, 2006, 2018)
The Footscray Football Club has traditional rivalries with St Kilda and Geelong and has gone by the name Western Bulldogs since October 1996. Their club mascot is a real life bulldog named Sid, a pedigree British Bulldog who attends all of the home games donning the club colours.
- Inaugural Season: 1925
- Home City: Melbourne, Victoria
- Home Stadium: Docklands Stadium
- Stadium Capacities: 56,347
- Colours: Red, White & Blue
- Mascot: Woofer “Dogg” Whitten
- VFL/AFL Premierships Won 2 (1954, 2016)