The Loyal Fan Index: Which sports team in Australia & NZ has the most loyal supporters?

Winning builds attention. Losing tests devotion.

Somewhere in the space between those two ideas sits the true measure of a sporting fanbase.

For decades, clubs across Australia and New Zealand have claimed the loudest supporters, the most passionate members, the most loyal faithful. 

Those claims are usually backed by attendance figures, membership totals, TV ratings or a highlight reel of finals appearances. Each of those metrics captures a slice of the truth. None of them isolate loyalty in a way that accounts for context, competition and performance cycles.

The Loyal Fans Index, developed by Engage Digital Partners, is an attempt to do exactly that. It is the first index of its kind across Australia and New Zealand sport, built to measure not just how big a fanbase is, but how it behaves relative to its environment. 

The model blends attendance strength, social engagement, on-field success, competition context and market pressure into a single ranking designed to answer one question:

Which clubs are supported by communities that keep choosing them, even when the conditions are not ideal?

The answers are flattering for some teams, confronting for others, and revealing for the entire sporting landscape.

How it all works

The framework behind the Loyal Fans Index is built around relative performance rather than raw scale. 

A 15,000 average crowd means something very different in the AFL compared to the A-League or Super Netball.

Digital engagement in cricket sits inside a different ecosystem to NRL in terms of the global audiences reached. The index corrects for those realities.

Teams across the men’s competitions of AFL, NRL, NBL, BBL, Super Rugby Pacific, A-League, in addition to Suncorp Super Netball were benchmarked for this initial index - with deeper dives into women’s fandom & competitions on the horizon.

• Attendance is measured both in terms of pure numbers in addition to as an index inside each competition. A team is assessed based on how strongly it performs compared to its peers, not just a universal benchmark. This prevents major leagues from swallowing the ranking simply through size. A SSN or NBL team that dominates its own environment earns credit for that dominance.

• The same logic applies to social engagement. Activity across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube is measured through engagement behaviour, not just follower counts. Commenting, sharing, watching and interacting carry more weight than passive subscription. Again, teams are judged both in sheer numbers and in relative to their competition.

• On-field success is included as context. Recent win rates, finals appearances and historical achievements over the past decade are factored into the model, but success is not treated as a reward in this ranking. Instead, it acts as a lens through which fan behaviour is interpreted. A fanbase that maintains high engagement during a poor season is telling a stronger loyalty story than one that spikes only when silverware is available.

• Competition adjustments recognise that not all leagues receive equal media oxygen. Teams operating in codes with less mainstream exposure (e.g. SSN, Super Rugby Pacific) receive additional credit when they generate meaningful engagement.

• There is also a city leveller that accounts for crowded sporting markets. Clubs fighting for attention in multi-team cities with an abundance of options for casual fans are operating in a harsher environment than one-team towns.

The result is a ranking that values effort. It highlights supporters who choose to show up rather than simply drifting toward whoever is winning.

Interpreting the index

The Loyal Fans Index reframes how loyalty is discussed in Australian and New Zealand sport. It shifts the conversation away from trophy cabinets and toward behavioural patterns. Attendance habits, digital engagement, cultural embedding and resilience during downturns become the central metrics.

The teams at the top are not simply the biggest brands. They carry their teams through losing seasons and amplify them during winning ones.

In an era where sporting attention is fragmented across streaming platforms, global leagues and constant digital distraction, that kind of loyalty is becoming rarer and more valuable. It represents a relationship that cannot be bought through marketing alone. It has to be built over time.

This index does not deliver a final verdict on which fans are ‘best.’ It offers a structured way to examine how devotion manifests across different environments. It invites debate, which is part of its purpose. 

Supporters will argue their club deserves to be higher. That argument itself is evidence of attachment.

The clubs that rank highly here are supported by people who keep choosing them, week after week, year after year, regardless of the scoreboard.

What the top of the table reveals: Top 10

The first thing that stands out in the top 10 is variety. AFL giants sit alongside rugby union traditionalists, an emerging A-League presence. one of the NRL’s largest clubs and a Super Netball franchise. 

There is no single blueprint for loyalty. There are multiple pathways that lead to it.

Three AFL teams make up the top three, all enduring pretty miserable on-field campaigns in 2025 but their fanbase have continued to turn up in the stands and digitally.

Bizarrely, just four index points separated those three AFL teams - the closest three teams in the entire ranking - perhaps challenging the notion that 'you never know how another fanbase feels.'

Carlton, Essendon and West Coast Eagles all continue to support their team in spite of results & ladder standings - albeit facing slightly different challenges and engaging in different manners.

Carlton and Essendon in the top three reinforces the power of legacy. 

The Blues draw one of the strongest average crowds in the AFL and remain a constant talking point in football conversation - for right or wrong reasons. Their recent success on the pitch has been mixed but has not diluted fans’ match-going habits. 

Essendon landing just behind Carlton strengthens the same theme. Few clubs generate as much discussion, debate and emotional investment. Essendon supporters still show up in large numbers on the whole and maintain incredible digital engagement, especially on platforms such as TikTok where they have developed a content output that does not hinge on on-field success.

West Coast’s position between the Blues and Bombers might be the purest loyalty signal in the entire dataset. 

A brutal season (again) on the field did not produce a collapse in attendance. Perth remains one of the most reliable matchday markets in the country, and West Coast supporters treated a poor year as something to endure together rather than abandon. 

Super Rugby Pacific operates in a somewhat fragmented media landscape between Australia & New Zealand and has seen years of structural change in formats. Yet the Waratahs continue to command a matchday presence that ranks at the top of their SRP, paired with a social footprint that holds its ground despite patchy on-field results. 

Their 2025 season was far from a success story - coming into the campaign off the back of a wooden spoon 2024 - but their supporters behaved as though the jersey still carries institutional weight, aided by the arrival of Joseph Aukuso-Suaalii and some tight wins in front of their home faithful at Allianz Stadium.

In a city as crowded as Sydney - with no fewer than 20 professional sports teams - that matters. The ranking suggests the Waratahs are supported by a base that views the club as identity when it comes to rugby union in NSW, not entertainment.

Collingwood round out the top five to highlight the strength of the Magpie Army even when on-field success is accounted for in this index. 

They have the highest success index (2025 and recent historical results) of any team in the top 40 in this index, meaning it would take some incredible fan engagement to get anywhere near the top 10 in the loyalty index. 

However, they top matchday attendance across the AFL and sit near the top of social engagement rankings. Love them or loathe them; the Magpie Army do not watch passively. 

The Highlanders’ appearance inside the top six is a reminder that loyalty does not require a mega-market. Dunedin is a smaller environment, yet the club pulls impressive relative crowds thanks in part to being a strong university town. The Landers maintain an active online presence despite a challenging on-field record in 2025.

Auckland FC’s rapid ascent inside the top 10 signals the emergence of a new football community. Strong crowds and a high social engagement ranking in a lower-coverage league suggest the club has connected quickly with its audience. 

Hawthorn’s ranking is powered by a remarkable digital presence. They hold the strongest social engagement profile in the dataset, paired with healthy attendance fuelled by a new wave of fandom. 

Similar to Collingwood, Brisbane Broncos’ inclusion in the top 10 highlights the sheer fandom of the 2025 NRL Premiers. Even when on-field success and the weight of the NRL competition is accounted for, their digital engagement and match attendance at Suncorp is too strong to keep them out of the top 10.

Suncorp Super Netball also sees a franchise make the top 10 in the form of Queensland Firebirds, making Brisbane the only other city alongside Melbourne to see more than one team feature in the top 10. 

Competition patterns

AFL clubs form the backbone of the ranking, which reflects their structural dominance in the Australian sports economy, particularly evident through a state-level with 4 x Melbourne-based teams making the top 10 with mammoth home crowds at the MCG a significant factor. 

Large media coverage, historical reach and embedded membership cultures provide a strong foundation. However, the index adjustments prevent those codes from monopolising the narrative.

Super Rugby Pacific teams that appear high in the table are doing so through effort and limited resource. They operate with less mainstream exposure than the likes of AFL and NRL, yet still generate meaningful engagement - signalling fanbases driven by legacy.

A-League representation inside the top tier is noteworthy, with football in Australia and New Zealand existing inside a volatile media environment. Auckland FC’s inclusion comes at a slight caveat being their first season in the competition, yet leading the way in the competition from a match attendance and digital engagement perspective.

Overall, five different codes are represented in the top 10 in addition to six separate cities.

Across competitions, the index suggests that media scale influences awareness, but not necessarily devotion. Smaller ecosystems often produce supporters who operate with higher intentionality. They choose their club. They sustain it.

Cities as loyalty laboratories

City context plays a quiet but powerful role in the ranking. 

Melbourne dominates the top 25 by sheer volume of clubs, yet the internal spread is wide. The city contains mega-brands, mid-sized institutions and smaller teams with fiercely protective communities. Melbourne’s sporting culture encourages tribalism. Multiple teams coexist inside a dense ecosystem, forcing supporters to define themselves through allegiance.

Sydney is a different battleground. The city’s sporting menu is fragmented across rugby league, union, cricket and football, with constant competition from entertainment alternatives. Teams that perform well in the index out of Sydney are winning a harder attention fight.

Perth operates with concentration. Fewer major teams share the spotlight, but matchday reliability is extremely high. West Coast’s placement demonstrates how a city can rally around a flagship property even during lean years. 

Auckland sits in an intriguing middle ground. When a team captures momentum, engagement spikes quickly. The presence of Auckland FC high in the ranking suggests the city is capable of forming new sporting identities at speed when the product resonates. Moana Pasifika indexing at no.20 overall is also testament to a unique fan culture in Auckland.

Then there are the one-team cities: Dunedin, Cairns and Christchurch being the key call-outs, where home support is embedded into the fabric of the town or city - reflected in the devotion of the fanbase seeing Highlanders (Dunedin) rank second in the Super Rugby Pacific standings, and Cairns Taipans also index at no.2 spot among all NBL teams.

A closer look at competition-specific leaders below though highlights something further: Brisbane is a hotbed for avid sports fandom.

A Brisbane team tops the league-specific index for three of the seven codes - indeed, it is the only city to top a code more than once.

• Brisbane Broncos top the NRL-specific index

• Brisbane Heat top the BBL-specific index

• Queensland Firebirds top the SSN-specific index

Every competition's top three teams with the most loyal fans

AFL

NRL

Super Rugby Pacific

NBL

Big Bash League (BBL)

A-League Men's

Suncorp Super Netball

Social engagement leaders

The social engagement rankings reveal which fanbases treat online spaces as extensions of the terrace. 

Hawthorn sits at the top of that list. Their unique content output across vertical formats especially has become the envy of many content teams as they engage new generations of casual footy fans.

Manly Sea Eagles have enjoyed an incredible 2025, powered by several ‘viral’ player-led outputs that have resonated not only on TikTok, but across other platforms such as Instagram and YouTube Shorts.

Auckland FC’s debut A-League campaign coincided with a minor Premiership (coupled with light-hearted engagement around Auckland City’s FIFA Club World Cup appearance in July), while the Broncos’ rollercoaster season delivered headline moments until their trophy lift in mid-October.

Moana Pasifika’s presence in the list below is also particularly significant. Their digital engagement suggests a community-driven identity that transcends win-loss cycles. Cultural connection fuels participation.

Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat both rank near the top, driven by big marquee signings for the 2025-26 season.

Adelaide’s basketball and netball teams also rate strongly. Their supporters operate inside tighter ecosystems, which often encourages deeper engagement & affiliation to the team. Smaller communities can produce louder relative voices.

Suncorp Super Netball teams over-index from a social engagement perspective with no fewer than three teams included in the top 15 in the form of Adelaide Thunderbirds, NSW Swifts and Queensland Firebirds, showing the devoted nature of the netball fanbase, producing on average higher engagement on platforms like TikTok than some AFL and NRL teams.

Mini ladder: Social engagement leaders top 15

Success and the loyalty paradox

One of the most provocative aspects of the Loyal Fans Index is how it treats dynasties. 

Several teams with extraordinary recent success sit surprisingly low. That does not mean their supporters lack passion. It suggests their engagement is more closely tied to on-pitch performance cycles.

Teams such as Melbourne City (A-League), Penrith Panthers (NRL) and Brisbane Lions (AFL) have enjoyed considerable on-field success in recent years. However, the level of engagement from a social perspective compared to their competition benchmarks does not reflect that success.

Clubs like West Coast and Essendon score highly because of their supporters’ maintained presence during poor seasons. That behaviour carries more weight than success spikes.

Conversely, strong winners who also rank highly show something impressive. 

The Broncos are a good example. A chaotic season featuring downturns in form, comebacks galore and eventual premiership  created a perfect storm of emotion - add in Reece Walsh drinking toilet water and you’ve inadvertently got fan engagement for years. 

Their supporters stayed loud throughout and were rewarded with an outpouring of engagement in October.

The ranking raises a difficult question for successful teams: How much of your support is structural, and how much is transactional?

The AU-NZ sports fandom is splitting into two fandom styles.

One group treats sport like content. They appear when it is trending and drift when it cools. 

The other group treats sport like identity and defend it online and in the stands. They attend through losing season upon season. They inherit it and pass it on to their thankless children to endure the same.