Sydney FC is again the most widely supported A-League club ahead of the Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory
New research from Roy Morgan shows Sydney FC topping the 2024 Roy Morgan A-League club supporter ladder with 761,000 fans, virtually unchanged on a year ago, and well over 100,000 more fans than any other club in the league.
Sydney FC has been the most successful club in the A-League Men winning 5 Championships – although only one Championship victory in the last five years in 2019-20.
The Brisbane Roar is clearly in second place with 642,000 supporters, virtually unchanged on a year ago. The Roar has also been amongst the most successful clubs in the history of the A-League and has won 3 Championships – although their last victory was over a decade ago in 2014.
In a clear third place is the Melbourne Victory with 588,000 supporters, representing a significant decrease of 27,000 (-4.4%) on a year ago – the largest decline of any club in the competition. The Victory have been the second most successful club in the A-League Men winning 4 Championships.
The current back-to-back A-League Men Champions the Central Coast Mariners increased their support by 18,000 (+10.3%) in the last year to 192,000 and have more than doubled their support since the low of 2020 (84,000). The Mariners won back-to-back Championships in 2023 and 2024.
A-League Club Supporter Ladder 2024
Over 4 million Australians now support an A-League club, up over 1.4 million (+52.5%) on 2020
Support for the A-League as a whole has increased over 50,000 (+1.3%) from a year ago and is up over 1,400,000 (+52.5%) on four years ago.
Since 2020 two new clubs have joined the A-League Men. Macarthur FC joined the A-League Men for the 2020-21 season and now has 58,000 supporters and Auckland FC joined the A-League Men this season and sits on top of the ladder undefeated after the first seven rounds of the season. Auckland FC debuted in the A-League Men after the interviewing dates for this research.
In total, over 1.6 million Australians (7.2%) watch the A-League on TV. However, a much larger 6.1 million (27.2%) have watched any soccer match on TV.
This large audience includes 5.3 million (23.6%) who watched at least part of the FIFA World Cup – last held in Qatar in November and December 2022. This means a significant untapped market of around 4 million Australians is available for the A-League, in the shape of those who exclusively watch international leagues or international tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup.
A look at who engages with the A-League shows TV viewership is highest for Generation X* (7.8%) and Millennials (7.6%) and Generation X (7.1%). When it comes to attending a soccer match the younger generations leads the way with Generation Z in front at 7.5% ahead of Millennials at 7.4%.
Roy Morgan Industry Communications Director Julian McCrann says:
“An impressive seven out of the 12 continuing A-League clubs have increased their supporter bases over the last year – and new club Auckland FC currently sits on top of the A-League ladder undefeated after seven rounds.
“Now over 4 million Australians support an A-League club, an increase of 50,000 (+1.3%) from a year ago and a massive increase of over 1.4 million (+52.5%) from four years ago since 2020.
“Unsurprisingly, the most widely supported clubs are the most successful clubs located in Australia’s three largest cities of Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. Sydney FC is again in front with 761,000 supporters, well in front of the Brisbane Roar on 642,000 and Melbourne Victory on 588,000.
“Sydney FC has won five A-League Men’s Championships (2006, 2010, 2017, 2019 & 2020) ahead of Melbourne Victory with four (2007, 2009, 2015 & 2018) and Brisbane Roar in third place with three (2011, 2012 & 2014).
“The most successful club of the last two seasons, the Central Coast Mariners, have experienced a surge in support over the last four years – more than doubling and up by 111,000 (+137%) since 2020 – the largest percentage increase of any long-standing club. The Mariners have won the A-League Men’s Championships three times – including the last two (2013, 2023 & 2024).
“Melbourne City have also experienced a stunning increase in support in recent years with support for the club increasing by 37,000 over the last year to 315,000 – the largest increase of any club compared to a year ago. Looking back further, City’s support has almost doubled compared to four years ago up by 150,000 (+90.9%).
“The increase in support for City in recent years is no surprise given the club won its first A-League Men’s Championship in 2021 and won three straight A-League Men’s Premierships in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 – the only club to finish on top of the table in three consecutive years.
“Although the A-League has increased its support base rapidly in recent years there remains a large untapped market of millions of Australians who consume the sport played overseas rather than the local product available around Australia. Bringing these two markets together remains the leading challenge for those leading the sport in this country.”
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*Roy Morgan Generations
Each generation denotes a specified period of 15 years in which people were born. The years that relate to each generation are as follows: Interwar (born pre-1946); Baby Boomers (born 1946-1965); Generation X (born 1966 - 1980); Millennials (born 1981 - 1995) & Generation Z (born 1996 - 2010).
In 2024 these generations correspond to the following ages: Interwar (78+yrs old); Baby Boomers (58-78yrs old); Generation X (43-58yrs old); Millennials (28-43yrs old) and Generation Z (14-28yrs old).
About Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan is the largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state of Australia, as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom. A full-service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan has over 80 years’ experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers.
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
