Soccer (or football) is a popular recreational and professional sport in Australia. The sport has a high level of participation in Australia. The professional A-League domestic competition has been operating since 2005 and the national team competes in the Asian Football Confederation. The national governing body is Football Federation Australia (formerly Soccer Australia).

The first recorded game played under Association Football rules (at the time known as British Association Rules) took place at the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum located in Wacol, Queensland, on the 7 August 1875 when the Asylum played Brisbane Football Club. The second earliest recorded game was played in Hobart on 10 May 1879 when the Cricketers Football Club played a scratch match. The first recorded inter-club match took place a month later when the Cricketers took on New Town FC on 7 June. This information predates what was thought to be the first recorded club, Wanderers, founded by a school teacher named John Walter Fletcher in Parramatta, New South Wales in 1880. The first game known to have occurred in New South Wales under Association Football rules took place the same year, when Wanderers played the Kings School rugby football team at Parramatta Common on 14 August. The oldest existing club is Balgownie Rangers, founded in 1883, which still competes in the Illawarra regional league.

While native-born Australians overwhelmingly played and watched Australian rules football or either code of rugby, soccer was highly popular with the various British and Southern European immigrant communities, all of which expanded rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s: Croatian, Greek, Italian and Serbian communities gave rise to most of the largest clubs. At the time, the game served as a bonding force within those ethnic minority communities, and as a point of identity amongst them and the wider Australian community. A similarly increasing number of British migrants also retained an interest in the sport.

While native-born Australians overwhelmingly played and watched Australian rules football or either code of rugby football, soccer was highly popular with the various British and Southern European immigrant communities, all of which expanded rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s: Croatian, Greek, Italian and Serbian communities gave rise to most of the largest clubs. At the time, the game served as a bonding force within those ethnic minority communities, and as a point of identity amongst them and the wider Australian community. A similarly increasing number of British migrants also retained an interest in the sport.

The Australian national association football team is nicknamed the Socceroos. In early 2005 with the re-launch of the game in Australia as "football", the FFA hoped the name would fade away, and for the team to be referred to as "Australia". Nevertheless, the name Socceroos was still used by other parts of the media, and by mid-2006 the name "Socceroos" was again being used on the official website, programs and merchandise.

The Australian national women's football team are known as the Matildas and regularly qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup and Olympic Games. The Matildas are widely acknowledged as one of the most improved teams currently in women's competition followed by their quarter-final showing at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup