| Soccer in Australia | |
|---|---|
 The Australian national team playing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, May 2006 | |
| Country | Australia |
| Governing body | Football Australia (FA) |
| National team(s) | Australia men's national soccer team Australia women's national soccer team |
| Nickname(s) | Socceroos, Matildas |
| First played | 7 August 1875 in Goodna, Queensland. |
| Registered players | 1,232,726 (adult) 632,249 (child)[1] |
| Clubs | 14,021[citation needed] |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
International competitions | |
Audience records | |
| Single match | 114,000 Spain vs Cameroon; Stadium Australia, 30 September 2000[2] (National teams) 99,382 Real Madrid vs Manchester City; Melbourne Cricket Ground, 24 July 2015 (Club teams) |
In Australia, Soccer, also known as British football, is the most played outdoor team sport,[3][4] and ranked in the top ten for television audience as of 2015.[5] The national governing body of the sport is Football Australia (FA) which comprises nine state and territory member federations, which oversee the sport within their respective region. The season in Australia is played during the summer, to avoid clashing with Australian rules and Rugby league which dominant spectator and media interest there.
Modern soccer was introduced in Australia in the late 19th century by mostly British immigrants. The first club formed in the country, Wanderers, was founded on 3 August 1880 in Sydney, while the oldest club in Australia currently in existence is Balgownie Rangers, formed in 1883 in Wollongong. Wanderers were also the first known recorded team to play under the Laws of the Game. A semi-professional national league, the National Soccer League, was introduced in 1977. The NSL was replaced by professional A-League, in 2004, which has contributed to a rise in popularity in the sport. Australia was a founding member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) before moving to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 2006. The main professional leagues are the A-League Men, A-League Women and the Australia Cup however foreign leagues such as the Premier League, the Championship and the Women's Super League are also popular.
The men's and women's national teams, known as the Socceroos and the Matildas respectively, compete globally. Australia cohosted the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup with New Zealand. The Matildas finished fourth in that tournament (Australia's best ever performance at any World Cup, male or female), and the majority of Australians watched them play on television or at the stadium. It had a major impact on Australian sport, and the phenomenon is commonly known as "Matildas fever".
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
participation 2023/24was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Higham, James (2012). Sport Tourism Destinations. Routledge. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-7506-5937-6.
- ^ "Australia's most popular sport: Landmark study". The New Daily. 28 March 2018.
- ^ "The Top 20 sports played by Aussies young and old(er)". Roy Morgan. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- ^ "AFL is clearly Australia's most watched Football Code, while V8 Supercars have the local edge over Formula 1". Roy Morgan. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.