🇬🇧
Ball Sports
Football
The world's most popular team sport — two sides of eleven aim to score more goals than the opponent using any part of the body except the arms and hands.
🇦🇺
Ball Sports
Australian Rules Football
Australia's homegrown 18-a-side contact sport played on a huge oval with a red leather ball — a fast, high-scoring blend of kicking, marking and long running.
Two football codes that share a name — but almost nothing else.
| Attribute | Football | Australian Rules Football |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Ball Sports | Ball Sports |
| Origin | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| Estimated origin | 1863 (codification of the Laws of the Game) | 1858–1859 (codified) |
| Team or individual | Team | Team |
| Players | 11 per team | 18 per team |
| Playing area | pitch | oval |
| Field dimensions | 100–110 m long × 64–75 m wide (FIFA international standard). | 135–185 m long × 110–155 m wide — the largest playing surface of any team sport. |
| Match duration | ~90 min | ~100 min |
| Match structure | Two halves of 45 minutes with a 15-minute half-time. | 4 quarters × 20 min + time-on for stoppages (roughly 25–30 min real time per quarter). |
| Scoring | A goal is scored when the entire ball crosses the goal line between the goalposts and under the crossbar, provided no infringement (offside, handball, foul) has been committed by the attacking team. | Goal = 6 points; behind = 1 point. Scoreline is written 'goals.behinds (total)' — e.g. 15.10 (100). |
| Objective | Score more goals than the opposing team by putting the whole ball across their goal line, between the posts and under the crossbar. | Score more points than the opposition by kicking the ball through the tall centre posts. |
| Governing body | Fédération Internationale de Football Association | Australian Football League |
| Olympic sport | Yes | No |
| Popularity | global | regional |
Want a comparison we haven't made? Suggest one — we curate every pair by hand.