THE AFL is pleased to announce the fixture for the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
Opening Round through to round 15 have today been released fully fixtured, with rounds 16 to 24 floating, with match ups and venues confirmed.
Following the matches that will feature as part of Opening Round, round one will begin with the traditional match-up between Richmond and Carlton at the MCG on Thursday, March 13 followed by a re-match of the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final between the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions on Saturday, March 15 at the SCG.
Gather Round in South Australia leads round five, followed by Easter Weekend in round six, as the Brisbane Lions host Collingwood on the Thursday night.
The annual Good Friday Super Clash will be played at Marvel Stadium between North Melbourne and Carlton ahead of the West Coast Eagles playing Essendon at Optus Stadium in Perth.
ANZAC Round will take place in round seven with the Anzac Day Eve match between Melbourne and Richmond being played on Thursday night before an Anzac Day double-header where Collingwood will host Essendon on Saturday afternoon before we head west for Fremantle to play the Adelaide Crows at Optus Stadium in the evening.
>> CHECK OUT THE FULL 2025 FIXTURE HERE
The first Showdown of the season will take place on Saturday night in round nine when Port Adelaide hosts the Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval.
Sir Doug Nicholls Round will launch in Darwin in round 10 when the Gold Coast Suns play Hawthorn on Thursday, May 15 before heading to Sydney for the traditional Marngrook clash between the Sydney Swans and Carlton at the SCG on Friday night.
Dreamtime at the 'G between Essendon and Richmond will take place on Friday, May 23 at the MCG and Marvel Stadium will host two matches on Saturday when Carlton plays GWS before North Melbourne takes on Collingwood in the evening, both separately ticketed events.
Three clubs will celebrate their centenary in 2025 beginning with the Western Bulldogs playing Collingwood on Friday, March 21 in round two.
Hawthorn will mark its 100th anniversary with a game against Richmond at the MCG on Sunday afternoon in round eight before North Melbourne's celebrations move to round 20 when it faces Geelong at Marvel Stadium.
WA fans will see a number of big clashes next season, including the West Coast Eagles hosting Fremantle on Sunday, March 30 in the first Western Derby.
Fans in the West will also see an additional two matches played as North Melbourne takes two of their home games to WA for the next three seasons in partnership with the WA Government. The Kangaroos will face the Eagles in Bunbury on Sunday afternoon in round 13 before heading to Perth for a round 14 clash against Fremantle on Saturday night.
As part of the AFL efforts to showcase the game in as many places as possible, matches will also feature in Alice Springs, Canberra and Launceston in addition to those games set to be played in Darwin and Bunbury.
The bye rounds will take place over rounds 12 to 16 and will feature at least seven games on each weekend and no team who has had two byes (due to Opening Round) will play against a team who hasn't had their bye yet.
For the six matches where clubs play an opponent for the second time, the League continues to use a weighted rule based on the previous seasons' ladder, grouping teams between the top six, middle six and bottom six.
AFL Head of Broadcast and Scheduling Josh Bowler said the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season was set to see some incredible match ups being played following a superb 2024 season.
"2024 saw a record-breaking season with more than eight million fans attending matches and one in 20 Australians belonging to an AFL Club and we are thrilled to announce a fixture that will build on this, while also being the fairest possible draw for all of our clubs as they look to chase the Premiership flag," said Mr Bowler.
"We are pleased to offer fans more Thursday nights than ever this season with 23 matches set to be played across the season.
"Sunday nights proved to be very popular last season and we have a number of marquee matches slated for this time slot, including Gather Round, Easter Sunday, Queensland Labour Day Eve, WA Day Eve and King's Birthday Eve.
"These matches, along with other big match ups fixtured for key dates in the country's calendar have become part of the holiday celebrations for fans to mark in their diaries and plan trips with friends and family around.
"We understand our fans want certainty and in these first 16 weeks we have scheduled a number of exciting marquee matches that our fans can plan around while the dates for Rounds 16 to 23 will be confirmed four to six weeks out, and round 24 to remain floating."
Bowler also thanked all the industry stakeholders involved in the building of the fixture.
"2025 is set to deliver an incredible season for our fans and on behalf of the AFL I would like to thank our clubs, venues and broadcast partners, SEVEN, FOXTEL and KAYO for their assistance," he said.
Ticketing information
Opening Round
An initial release of tickets will be made available on Thursday, December 5. SCG and People First Stadium will be via Ticketek, with the Gabba and Engie Stadium via Ticketmaster.
Gather Round
Tickets on sale Tuesday, December 10 at 10am (ACDT local time) for AFL and Club access members. Tickets available to the General Public the following day on Wednesday, December 11 at 10am (ACDT local time).
