Victorian Football League

The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in eastern states of Australia: Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland, including reserves teams for the eastern state AFL clubs. It succeeded and continues the competition of the former Victorian Football Association (VFA) which began in 1877. The name of the competition was changed to the Victorian Football League in 1996. Under its VFL brand, the AFL also operates a women's football competition known as VFL Women's, which was established in 2016.

The VFA was formed in 1877 and was the second-oldest Australian rules football league, replacing the loose affiliation of clubs that existed in the early years of the game. It was the top-level club competition in Victoria until 1896, becoming the secondary-level competition from 1897 after its eight strongest clubs seceded to form the Victorian Football League (now AFL). As a secondary-level competition, the VFA enjoyed peaks of popularity, in the 1940s with a faster-paced rival code of rules and in the 1970s by playing on Sundays at a time when its competitor, the VFL, played on Saturdays.

In 1995, the VFA ceased to exist as an independent organisation and control of its football competition was taken over by its former rival, the AFL, which initially operated the competition through its subsidiary, the Victorian State Football League (VSFL). AFL clubs' reserves teams first entered the competition in 2000. In 2021, the competition expanded geographically, when the VFL absorbed the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) to include clubs from New South Wales and Queensland. As of 2026, the competition includes 22 teams from the eastern states, eight of which have a continuous VFA heritage.