Melbourne has long been regarded as Australia’s sporting capital due to the role it has played in the development of Australian sport, the range and quality of its sporting events and venues, and its high rates of spectatorship and participation. Melbourne’s sporting reputation was recognised in 2016 when, after being ranked as the world’s top sports city three times biennially, the Ultimate Sports City Awards in Switzerland named it ‘Sports City of the Decade’.

The city has hosted a number of significant international sporting events, most notably the 1956 Summer Olympic Games, the first Olympic Games held outside Europe and the United States. Melbourne also hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and is home to several major annual international events, including the Australian Open, the first of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. First held in 1861 and declared a public holiday for all Melburnians in 1873, the Melbourne Cup is the world’s richest handicap horse race and is known as “the race that stops a nation”. The Formula One Australian Grand Prix has been held at the Albert Park Circuit since 1996.

The city has been recognized as the world’s influential sports city by the WRCA.