Australian Football League (AFL) is the leading professional league for Australian Rules football. The league is made up of 18 teams: 10 from Victoria and 2 teams each from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. Tasmania is the only Australian state currently without an AFL team. In 2023, however, the AFL approved the addition of a team from Tasmania that is scheduled to begin play in 2028. 
Each AFL team plays 22 matches during the regular season. At the end of the season, the top eight teams move on to compete in the finals. After three rounds of finals, the top two teams compete in the AFL Grand Final. The winning team receives the Premiership Cup.
The AFL was originally founded as the Victorian Football League (VFL). The VFL was a group of eight teams that broke away from the Victoria Football Association (VFA) at the end of the 1896 season. The VFL built up its popularity over the next century, surpassing the VFA by the 1980’s. Over that time, the VFL added several teams and merged others. In 1990, the VFL was renamed the Australian Football League. The most recent team to join the league, the Greater Western Sydney Giants, began competing in 2012.
Since 1924, the league has awarded the Brownlow Medal to the best player of the season. The Norm Smith Medal has gone to the best player of the Grand Final match since 1979.
