These Are the Most Unmissable Sporting Events in Melbourne

There's no debate; Melbourne is Australia’s most sports-mad city, with a heady sports scene, whatever the discipline. 

If you're in town during the AFL season, can you even say you've visited if you haven't caught a match? Footy, cricket, tennis, motorsports, horse racing... name it and Melbourne's got an event, a festival, or even a public holiday to celebrate it. 

This is your guide to the biggest and best annual sporting events in Melbourne.

Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and the US Open – the Australian Open keeps good company as one of the four tennis tournaments on the international Grand Slam competition. And Melbourne goes absolutely, stark-raving-tennis-mad when the AO is in town, in late January. The festival spans three weeks, with not only the tennis, but top restaurants, bars, kids’ activations, and big screens showing all the matches. All the action takes place at Melbourne Park, with matches screened day and night in Fed Square for those without tickets. Unmissable. 

The first race of the international Grand Prix season, the world's most glamorous motor racing festival takes over Albert Park each March. Tickets sell out well in advance as petrolheads pour down to the circuit to catch a glimpse of the international drivers and their teams. Dedicated trams run from the city to the main entrances; it’s a vast site, so download a circuit map beforehand to navigate your way. The city entrances are less than 4km from the centre of Melbourne, but expect significant traffic re-routing around Albert Park and the surrounding suburbs. 

An iconic Melbourne event run since 1861, the Melbourne Cup (simply referred to as The Cup) always runs on the first Tuesday in November. The ‘race that stops the nation’ is even a public holiday for Melburnians, so factor into your travel plans closed businesses and altered public transport timetables. The Cup is the highlight of the Spring Racing Carnival, whose events include Derby Day (the dress code on course is strictly black and white); Oaks Day (also known as Ladies’ Day, it’s bright and colourful) and the more relaxed Stakes Day. The festival also sees events held in country racecourses right around the state.  

The biggest day on the AFL calendar, and one of the biggest days on Melbourne’s events calendar, the AFL Grand Final takes place in late September each year. Tickets can be acquired by luck, connections, and lots and lots of queuing; while you can try buying tickets online, die-hard fans will queue, sometimes for days, to get their hands on the hottest tickets in town. If you can't get a ticket to the Grand Final, the season starts in March, and there are 207 regular matches including four weeks of finals, for plenty of opportunities to shout, bite nails, and eat pies like a Melburnian. 

Held each October in the centre of the city, the Melbourne Marathon festival’s races include the original 42-kilometre marathon, a wheelchair marathon, half marathon, runs (or walks) of 10, 5, and 2.5 kilometres, and even a one-kilometre kids’ ‘marathon’. The first Melbourne marathon took place in 1978 and now the festival – with more than 40,000 starters – regularly attracts Olympians to its course. It starts near the Rod Laver Arena on Batman Avenue and finishes at the MCG. 

With Christmas Day done and dusted, Boxing Day is a red-letter day for cricket tragics: it’s the reason the MCG lives and breathes (apart from the AFL Grand Final). Held here every year since 1865, Australia has historically been pitted against England, Pakistan, India, South Africa, New Zealand, or the West Indies during the four-day men’s series. One of Australia’s top cricketing fixtures, it’s always a sell-out, with tickets only available through Ticketek, going on sale from June. If you’ve scored a seat, be prepared for huge crowds, and temps as hot as the action on the pitch. BYO zinc cream. 

Melbourne has some of Australia’s most iconic sporting stadiums and venues – the grandaddy of them all is, of course, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (the MCG, or simply, the ‘G’).  Read on for a list of the top sporting venues in Melbourne. 

Hands down Australia’s most iconic stadium, ‘the G’ is a national icon. Established in 1853, club membership is prized and worn like a badge of honour. Its time is shared equally between AFL (April to September) and cricket (October to March). It hosts the annual AFL Grand Final every year (except when pandemics intervene), it’s seen the 1956 Summer Olympics, was the birthplace of Test cricket in 1877, and one-day international cricket a century later. World Cup qualifiers, rugby league, and State of Origin, the G has seen it all. The Matildas, Australia’s women's soccer team, bring the house down whenever they play here. 

The MCG hosts a range of women’s and men’s cricket, including Test, one-day internationals, and Twenty20 Internationals. T20 Big Bash League team, Melbourne Stars, plays its home games here, while the Victorian Bushrangers play their Sheffield Shield matches at the G as well.  

Forget about self-driving to the G, there’s almost no parking. However, it's only 15 minutes’ walk from Flinders Street Station to the G, the number 48, 70 or 75 trams pass by, or you can take a train to Jolimont or Richmond stations. To soak up all its history, take a tour of the Australian Sports Museum, open seven days a week, whose attractions include iconic racehorse Phar Lap’s hide. 

Also known as Docklands Stadium, Marvel Stadium is the home of large-scale events in Melbourne. It is linked to the major transport hub Southern Cross Station by dedicated pedestrian bridges. If Taylor Swift is playing in town, this is where you’ll find her sell-out concerts; on a sporting level, it's homeground to several AFL teams. 

Most of the year, Albert Park is a green haven for the city; during the Australian Grand Prix, held each March, the energy is electric as the world’s top F1 drivers and their teams pour into town to drive this motorsport street circuit. Melbourne has owned the Grand Prix since 1996, which is the first race in the global F1 season. Crowds are also here for the Supercars Championship Melbourne SuperSprint, the Formula 2, and Formula 3 races. 

Rod Laver Arena, AAMI Park, John Cain Arena, and Margaret Court Arena, home to some of the world’s best tennis when the Australian Open is in town. Walking distance from Federation Square, free trams also connect from Flinders Street Station to the precinct, which also comes alive during key soccer tournaments. 

The home of the Melbourne Cup, Flemington bursts with colour during the Spring Racing Festival each October-November – literally – the roses on the course are timed to bloom as the festival kicks off. While the biggest events, such as the Cup, regularly see 90,000 patrons on course, tickets often sell out early. Free trams run the 11km route from the city to the racecourse in Melbourne’s inner west – take the No 57 from the city to the main gate.