AFL Grand Final

AFL Grand Final

Panorama of the Melbourne Cricket Ground prior to the 2018 AFL Grand Final
Other names	VFL Grand Final (historical), "the Granny", "The GF",[1] "The Big Dance",[2] "The Big Day", and "The One Day in September[3]
Sport	Australian rules football
First meeting	24 September 1898
Latest meeting	30 September 2023
Next meeting	28 September 2024[4]
Broadcasters	Seven Network
Stadiums	Melbourne Cricket Ground (all but 11 occasions)
Statistics
Meetings total	128
Most wins	Carlton, Collingwood (16)[5]

The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victorian Football League. Played at the end of the finals series, the game has been held annually since 1898, except in 1924. It is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As the premier match of the AFL season, it attracts one of the largest audiences in Australian sport, regularly attracting a crowd of more than 100,000 and a television audience of millions.

The game has spawned a number of traditions and activities, which have grown in popularity nationally since the interstate expansion of the Victorian Football League to become the Australian Football League in the 1980s and 1990s.^[6]

The club which wins the grand final receives the AFL's premiership cup and flag; players on the winning team receive a gold premiership medallion, and the best player receives the Norm Smith Medal.

As of the end of 2023, a total of 128 grand finals have been played, including three grand final replays. The Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club have both won 16 grand finals, the most of any club; the Essendon Football Club has also won 16 premierships, although only 14 were earned in grand finals. Collingwood has appeared in the most grand finals, a total of 45; and Collingwood has also won the most consecutive grand finals, with four between 1927 and 1930. Every current AFL club has played in at least one grand final, with the exception of the 2011 expansion club Gold Coast.