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read moreThe AFL’s Round One of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season attracted 431,505 fans at matches across the weekend - breaking the record of the highest ever attended round.
It is only the fifth time in history more than 400,000 fans have attended a single round.
The average attendance across each of the host venues in Round One was 47,945.
Thursday night kicked off with the third consecutive crowd of over 80,000 for the opener between Carlton and Richmond, marking the eighth time in history this match has delivered a crowd of 80,000 plus in Round One.
The 80,735 fans who attended the Hawthorn vs Essendon match up was the highest ever home and away crowd between these two clubs. The previous best was 78,294 in 2017, while Sydney and Brisbane saw their Grand Final rematch reach 34,906, the largest crowd between these two clubs in 19 years.
AFL Chief Executive Andrew Dillon thanked fans who came out in such huge numbers across Round One and shared “Round One and all nine matches is always such an exciting time for all our clubs, and we are so thankful for all the fans turning out in record numbers.
“The clubs do so much work connecting with their fans and making the matches must attend events and on behalf of the AFL I want to thank all the fans, venues, broadcasters and clubs for giving us a Round One for the history books."
Top 10 attended rounds all-time
1. Rd 1 2025 - 431,505
2. Rd 1 2024 – 413,405
3. Rd 7 2024 - 408,433
4. Rd 8 2024 - 403,452
5. Rd 1 2017 - 400,401
6. Rd 3 2018 - 393,537
7. Rd 1 2023 – 392,248
8. Rd 5 2017 - 391,980
9. Rd 5 2018 - 381,880
10. Rd 1 2019 – 380,789
Image. Hawthorn fans celebrate a win over Essendon in round one, 2025. Credit: AFL Photos
14th March 2025 - AFL ‘blocks’ Cricket Australia’s bid for Adelaide Oval to host Sheffield Shield final
14th March 2025 - AFL launches new brand platform to engage younger audience
13th March 2025 - $45.7 million upgrade at Lyndoch’s Barossa Park completed as preparation begin for AFL Gather Round
5th March 2025 - Tropical Cyclone Alfred prompts AFL to call off Thursday’s season opener at the Gabba
28th February 2025 - AFL renews Marvel Stadium partnership with Delaware North
22nd February 2025 - AFL’s Hawthorn announces sale of Waverley Park home
21st February 2025 - AFL looks to increase match attendances to beyond 10 million fans a year
17th March 2025 - Albert Park posts record-breaking figures for Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix
30th December 2024 - MCG’s Boxing Day Test breaks attendance record for cricket crowd in Australia
4th December 2024 - Event Safety Institute to stage Applied Crowd Science courses in 2025
28th October 2024 - Sydney’s major venues attract record crowds
20th October 2024 - Capacity crowd at Go Media Stadium witness Auckland FC’s winning A-League debut
29th September 2024 - MCG welcomes crowd of more than 100,000 fans for AFL grand final
23rd August 2024 - 2024 Ekka attracts crowds over 340,000
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