AFL Sydney is an Australian rules football League, based in metropolitan Sydney, Australia which has been run since 1903. In 1980 was known as the "Sydney Football League" and renamed the "Sydney AFL" in 1998 before adopting its current name in 2009. It comprises 118 teams from 22 clubs which play across seven senior men's divisions, five women's divisions, a Master's Division and two under 19 men's competitions in season 2023.
The competition is technically Sydney's division of the New South Wales Australian Football League

Australian Rules football has been played in Sydney since 1866 however organised competition did not commence until the formation of the first New South Wales Football Association which operated between 1880 and 1893 and included East Sydney (founded 1880) as well as Sydney's oldest Australian rules club Sydney University (founded 1887) .

After a decade in hiatus a new governing body was formed under the same name in 1903 as the New South Wales Football Association on 12 February 1903 at a meeting held in the YMCA Hall in George Street. The competition was known as the New South Wales Football League. John See, Premier of New South Wales was elected the NSWFL's first president, and along with Phillip Sheridan of the Sydney Cricket Ground trust who was elected president of the NSWFA, helped to secure access to enclosed grounds for club and interstate matches.

11 clubs contested the opening season in 1903 (including: East Sydney FC, Ashfield Electorate FC, North Shore FC, North Sydney FC, South Sydney FC, YMCA FC, Paddington FC, Redfern FC, West Sydney FC, Newtown FC, Sydney FC and Balmain FC), with East Sydney taking out the first premiership with a 6-point win over North Shore.

By the 1920s, popularity had reached a point where the league was charging spectators at the gate and players were being paid with attendance to each match was in the thousands. However at the same time rugby league was booming in popularity, dwarfing the popularity of the competition, particularly in representative matches between New South Wales and Queensland, but also at the local level.

In the mid-1920s, the competition was split into two divisions: League and Association. In 1926, each of the clubs: Sydney, Newtown, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs, North Shore, and South Sydney had four teams across four grades including an Under 18 team.

By the 1950s, the competition had become highly popular with crowds for some matches attracting up to 5,000 spectators, however the league noted that there was a lack of juniors with no schools any longer playing the sport. However faced with increasing competition from the rugby league, the competition switched all finals matches to Sundays in 1950. It also faced increasingly bad behaviour of players, which it sought to curb through harsher suspensions. However the tough sanctions resulted in a decrease in players so an amnesty on suspensions was declared in 1952.

In 1980 the 'NSW Australian Football Association' became known as the 'Sydney Football League'.