Sport is an important part of the culture of the Australian state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Many different sports are played in Queensland, whether recreationally, competitively, or professionally.

Australian rules football

Australian Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

has a long history in

. The first foray made by the then VFL came in the form of the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

, who began playing Premiership matches in 1987. Despite some rocky times in the northern state, the game now appears to be entrenched within the Queensland, thanks to a hat-trick of

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

Premiership wins from 2001 to 2003. The introduction of the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

in 2011 highlights the game's growth in Queensland.

Basketball

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

is a popular sport in Queensland, and offers an alternative to outdoor sport during rainy weather. Since the National Basketball League's inception in 1979, at least one team has been based in Queensland. Queensland has two current NBL teams: *

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL ...

– based at

Nissan Arena The Queensland State Netball Centre, also known commercially as Nissan Arena, is a multi-purpose facility located in the southern Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The centre features a 5,000 seat indoor arena that is the home court of Super Netball ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

– founded in 1979 *

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Convention Centre, known colloquially as "The S ...

– based at the

Cairns Convention Centre The Cairns Convention Centre is a convention and entertainment centre in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The venue was selected the World's Best Congress Centre in 2004 and 2014. Description The centre has a floor space of on a site in the C ...

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

– founded in 1999

Cricket

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

is popular in Queensland. Many domestic and international matches are held at

the Gabba The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Gab ...

. The

Queensland Bulls The Queensland men's cricket team or the Queensland Bulls is the representative cricket side in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments for the Australian state of Queensland: *Sheffield Shield: four-day matches with first-class status, sinc ...

and the

Brisbane Heat The Brisbane Heat are an Australian professional franchise men's and women's cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League (BBL). The Heat are the successors of the Queensland Bulls who playe ...

are based in

and represent

in Australia's domestic

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

tournaments: *

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season * Marsh One-Day Cup, a one-day (50 over per side) tournament with

List-A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numb ...

status, since its inception in 1969/70 *

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (BBL), also known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Australia. Established in 2011 by Cricket Australia, the Big Bash League replaced the previous competitio ...

, a 20 overs per side tournament, since its inception in 2011/12

Rugby league

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

is the most spectated sport in

Queensland Rugby League The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the mem ...

has been in operation since 1908, creating strong roots in both city and regional communities. There are currently four teams in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

competition, two of which have been part of the NRL since its inauguration in 1998: *

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

- based at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

– founded in 1988 *

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

- based at Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast

– founded in 2007 *

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

- based at

Queensland Country Bank Stadium North Queensland Stadium, currently known as Queensland Country Bank Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Rugby League stadium located in Railway Estate, a suburb of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is the home ground of the North Queensl ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

– founded in 1995 *

Dolphins (NRL) The Dolphins are a professional rugby league football team, based in the Redcliffe Peninsula area of the City of Moreton Bay (which is part of the greater Brisbane area of South East Queensland, South East Queensland), that competes in the Aus ...

based at Kayo Stadium, Redcliffe,

- founded in 2023 The other major rugby league team is the

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

who play New South Wales Blues in the fiercely contested three game State of Origin competition. The Maroons have recently won their third straight Origin series, as well as their eleventh from the past twelve. The other major state based competition is the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

Rugby Union

Rugby Union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

is a major sport in Queensland with more than 55,000 registered players in 210 clubs and 235 schools across the state. The first games were played in 1876, and Queensland has been represented by the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

since 1882, who currently compete in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

competition. In 2011, the Reds won the Super Rugby Championship in front of more than 52,000 fans. They repeated this feat in the 2021 Super Rugby AU Final.

Soccer

The annual estimate for Adults 15+ participating in soccer was 1,086,094 (or 5.4% of the Adult 15+ population) and in children, 30% play the sport, second only to swimming in terms of participation. Over 300,000 people are registered to play soccer with 308 clubs organised by

Football Queensland Football Queensland (FQ) is the governing body for soccer, futsal and beach soccer in the Australian state of Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australi ...

. In 2023, the participation breakdown was 69.8% male and 30.2% female meaning more than 100,00 females play the sport Soccer was first organised in the State in 1867 and today is represented professionally by

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

in the men and women's

A League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

, and semi-professionally there are 12 clubs in the Queensland National Premier League, and a further 50 or so clubs in the Queensland Premier League (QPL). All 308 clubs are entitled to enter Australia's largest knock out competition, The

Australia Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national association football, soccer single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Fo ...

, organised by

Football Australia Football Australia is the sports governing body, governing body of Soccer in Australia, soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Au ...

. The State regularly hosts

The Matildas The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...

and Socceroos.

Swimming

Swimming is also a popular sport in Queensland, with a majority of Australian team members and international medalists hailing from the state. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, Queensland swimmers won all six of Australia's gold medals, all swimmers on Australia's three female (finals) relays teams were from Queensland, two of which won gold. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2005 and 2007 World Long Course Swimming Championships, Australia won both the 4 × 100 m freestyle and medley relays. In five of these teams, three out of the four swimmers were from Queensland, and in the medley relay in 2007, all were from Queensland.

Triathlon

Triathlon has been a popular sport in Queensland since the early 1980s with the state three times hosting the ITU World Championships in addition to: the Noosa Triathlon - the world's largest triathlon (also the country's longest-lasting event at the same venue), Mooloolaba Triathlon, Hervey Bay Triathlon and the Gold Coast Triathlon to name but a few.

Major events

1982 Commonwealth Games

*Motto: The Friendly Games *Nations participating: 46 *Athletes participating: 1,583 *Events: 141 events in 12 sports *Dates: 30 September to 9 October *Mascot:

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Mathilda (gastropod), ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae * Matilda (horse) (1824–1 ...

(Kangaroo)

1994 World Masters Games

*Motto: The Challenge Never Ends *Nations participating 71 *Athletes participating: 23,659 *Events: 30 sports *Dates: 26 September to 8 October

2001 Goodwill Games

*Nations participating: 70 *Athletes participating: 1,300 *Events: 155 in 14 sports *Dates: 29 August to 9 September

2018 Commonwealth Games

*Motto: Share the Dream *Nations participating: 71 *Athletes participating: 4,426 *Events: 275 in 18 sports *Dates: 4 April to 15 April *Mascot: Borobi (Koala)

2019 INAS Global Games

*Nations participating: 50 *Athletes participating: 814 *Events: 11 sports *Dates: 12 October to 19 October *Mascot: Lori (Lorikeet)

Other events

* Birdsville Races - annual horse races at

Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with both the Northern Territory and South Australia. The town is situated north of the South Australian bord ...

which were first held in 1882. *

Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race The Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race is held annually, starting on Good Friday. The premier blue water classic begins from Shorncliffe in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, and finishes in Gladstone Harbour. Yachts compete for the Courier Ma ...

Gold Coast Indy 300 The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a str ...

- open-wheel motor race at the

Surfers Paradise Street Circuit The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Surfers Paradise, in Queensland, Australia. The beach-side track has several fast sections and two chicanes, having been shortened from an origi ...

held between 1991 and 2008. *

Gold Coast 600 The Gold Coast 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Boost Mobile (Australia), Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars Championship, Supercars, held at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Parad ...

* International Rally of Queensland * Queensland 400 * Quicksilver Pro and Roxy Pro * State of Origin - Best of three

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

games between New South Wales and Queensland which began in 1980. *Annual

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has varied, as has the n ...

matches - Australia vs New Zealand

Queensland Sports Awards

Each year the Queensland Sport Awards are held. The major award is the Sport Star of the Year: *1995 Susan O'Neill - Swimming *1996 Susan O'Neill - Swimming *1997

Michael Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan ( ; born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. Biography Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attend ...

- Motorcycling *1998

- Motorcycling *1999

Loretta Harrop Loretta "Loz" Harrop (born 17 July 1975, in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian triathlete. As a teenager she attended Cavendish Road State High School along with her siblings and as of 2007 has a house named after her. Harr ...

- Triathlon *2000 Susan O'Neill - Swimming *2001

Grant Hackett Grant George Hackett Order of Australia, OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle swimming, freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in ...

- Swimming *2002

Matthew Hayden Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman who, along with opening partners Ju ...

- Cricket *2003 Patrick Johnson - Athletics *2004

Jodie Henry Jodie Clare Henry, (born 17 November 1983) is an Australian former competitive swimmer, Olympic gold medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and former world-record holder. Swimming career At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Henry wo ...

- Swimming *2005

- Swimming *2006

Emma Snowsill Emma Laura Snowsill OAM (born 15 June 1981) is an Australian professional triathlete and multiple gold medalist in the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. She won the gold medal in triathlon at the 2008 Olympics. Snowsill is marrie ...

- Triathlon *2007

- Cricket *2008

Stephanie Rice Stephanie Louise Rice, OAM (born 17 June 1988) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009. On 9 April 2 ...

- Swimming *2009

Greg Inglis Gregory Paul Inglis (born 15 January 1987), also known by the nickname of "G.I.", is a retired Indigenous Australian professional rugby league footballer, who regularly played as a centre, fullback, five-eighth and wing. From 2011 to 2019, Ing ...

- Rugby league *2010

Stephanie Gilmore Stephanie Louise Gilmore (born 29 January 1988) is an Australian professional surfer and eight-time world champion on the Women's WSL World Tour (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2022). Career Of Scottish descent, Gilmore's life as ...

- Surfing *2011

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...

- Tennis *2012

Sally Pearson Sally Pearson, OAM (née McLellan; born 19 September 1986) is a retired Australian athlete who competed in the 100 metre hurdles. She is the 2011 and 2017 World champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles. She also won a si ...

- Athletics *2013 Adam Scott - Golf *2014 Mat Belcher - Sailing *2015

Jason Day Jason Anthony Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer. Day had early success as a professional, earning PGA Tour membership in his teens and winning an event in his third season, the HP Byron Nelson Championship. In 20 ...

- Golf *2016

Cate Campbell Cate Natalie Campbell, (born 20 May 1992) is a Malawian-born Australian former competitive swimmer. She is the current world record holder in the short course 100 m freestyle. She is also a former world record holder in the long course 1 ...

- Swimming *2017

Jeff Horn Jeffrey Christopher Horn Jr. (born 4 February 1988) is an Australian former professional boxer who competed from 2013 to 2020. He held the WBO welterweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics, ...

- Boxing *2018

- Swimming *2019

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh Jacinta Barty (born 24 April 1996) is an Australian former professional tennis player and cricketer. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

- Tennis *2021

Emma McKeon Emma Jennifer McKeon, (born 24 May 1994) is a retired Australian competitive swimmer. She is an eight-time world record holder, three current and five former, in relays. Her total career haul of 14 Olympic medals following the 2024 Olympic Gam ...

- Tennis & Swimming *2022

Cameron Smith Cameron or Cam Smith may refer to: * Cammie Smith (Cameron Wilberforce Smith, born 1933), West Indian cricketer * Cam Smith (artist), British comic book artist * Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983), Australian rugby league player * Cameron S ...

- Golf *2023 Molly O'Callaghan - Swimming *2024

Kaylee McKeown Kaylee Rochelle McKeown ( ; born 12 July 2001) is an Australian swimmer and quintuple Olympic gold medalist. She is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 metres backstroke. She is the world record holder in the long course 50 metre ...

- Swimming

Teams in national competitions

Brisbane-based

Outside Brisbane

Australian rules football

Basketball

Cricket

Rugby league

Rugby Union

Soccer

Swimming

Triathlon

Major events

1982 Commonwealth Games

1994 World Masters Games

2001 Goodwill Games

2018 Commonwealth Games

2019 INAS Global Games

Other events

Queensland Sports Awards

Teams in national competitions

Brisbane-based

Outside Brisbane

Sporting Venues

Brisbane

Outside Brisbane

See also

References