Sydney FC has topped the Roy Morgan A-League supporter ladder for 2018 with 613,000 supporters, an increase of 11.7% over a year ago following the club's back-to-back wins as A-League Premiers in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Defending Grand Final winners, Melbourne Victory, were second with 526,000 supporters, down 8.7% on a year ago despite the club becoming the first to come from outside the top 2 sides during the A-League finals to win the Grand Final.
Brisbane Roar are the third most widely supported club in the A-League with 461,000 supporters, down 19.8% on a year ago. The Roar have not tasted success in the A-League since winning the ‘double’ in 2014 and being crowned both A-League Premiers and Champions.
The Western Sydney Wanderers are in fourth place overall with 289,000 supporters just ahead of Adelaide United with 263,000 supporters and Perth Glory with 253,000 supporters although all three clubs have lost support over the last year.
All three clubs to increase support over the last year are based in New South Wales.
In addition to Sydney FC becoming Australia’s most widely supported A-League club the Newcastle Jets marginally increased their support to 146,000 (up 0.7%) and support for the Central Coast Mariners was up 3.1% to 99,000.
A-League club supporter ladder, 2018. Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, July 2016 – June 2017, n=14,544 and July 2017 – June 2018, n=14,836. Base: Australians 14+. *Wellington Phoenix support only includes Australian-based supporters.
Not surprisingly, most A-League supporters are men but West Sydney has highest degree of female support.
Analysing the gender breakdown of the 2.75 million A-League club supporters shows just two-thirds of A-League supporters are men (67%) compared with only a third that are women (33%). Of Australia’s nine A-League clubs eight now field teams in the female counterpart the W-League.
The gender split is apparent when analysing the supporters of Australia’s A-League clubs.
Over two-thirds of supporters of Sydney FC (72%), Melbourne Victory (71%), Perth Glory (70%), Brisbane Roar (69%) and Melbourne City (67%) are men compared with less than a third of these clubs supporters being women.
The clubs with the highest degree of female support are both based in New South Wales, led by the Western Sydney Wanderers with 43% female supporters and the Newcastle Jets with 42%.
Gender split of support for Australian A-League clubs. Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, July 2017 – June 2018, n=14,836. Base: Australians 14+.
And guess what? A-League supporters are more likely to be on the lookout for a new mobile phone!
Nearly half of Melbourne City supporters (49.4%) intend to buy or upgrade their mobile phone within the next two years – significantly higher than the average Australian aged 14+ (33.8%).
Supporters of other leading A-League clubs are also far more likely to intend to buy or upgrade their mobile phone within the next two years including supporters of the Newcastle Jets (46%), Sydney FC (44.9%), Western Sydney Wanderers (44.8%), Melbourne Victory (43.7%) and Adelaide United (43.5%).