List of VFL/AFL players with international backgrounds

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This is a list of Australian Football League players that come from diverse backgrounds in terms of nationality and birthplace. 15 per cent of all players are either born overseas or have a parent born overseas.[1] A total of 121 players from a multicultural background (at least one parent born overseas) are among the 817 AFL listed players in 2013. Richmond Football Club has the most multicultural players with 30% and Carlton Football Club has the least with almost 5%.[2] Of the current 121 multicultural players (2015 season), more than half have one parent from Anglophone countries, mainly the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand.[3]

Years Number of seasons played in the Australian Football League ^ Denotes players in the Australian Football Hall of Fame
* Denotes current players in the Australian Football League
Nationality Birthplace Player Career Notes Ref.
 Ireland  Ireland Colm Begley 2006–2009 Born in Ireland [4]
 Ireland  Ireland Ciarán Byrne 2014–2018 Born in Ireland [5]
 Ireland  Ireland 2014-2016 Born in Ireland [5]
 Ireland  Ireland Ray Connellan 2017–2018 Born in Ireland [5]
 United Kingdom  United Kingdom Conor McKenna 2014–2020 Born in the UK [5]
 Ireland  Ireland Paul Earley 1984 Born in Ireland [4]
 Ireland  United Kingdom Conor Glass 2016–2020 Born in the UK [5]
 Ireland/ United Kingdom  Ireland Cian Hanley 2015–2018 Welsh mother, Irish father [5]
 Ireland/ United Kingdom/Australia  United Kingdom Pearce Hanley 2008–2020 Born in England, UK; Welsh mother, Irish father [6][5]
 Australia/ United Kingdom  Australia Mitch Golby 2011–2015 Born in Australia; English father [7]
 Australia/ United Kingdom  Australia Ryan Harwood 2010–2017 Born in Australia; English mother [7]
 Australia/ South Africa/ United Kingdom  Australia Ryan Lester 2011– Born in Australia; English-born mother and South African-born father [6]
 Australia/ United States of America  Australia Archie Smith 2014– Born in Australia; American-born mother
 Australia/ United States of America  United States of America Sanford Wheeler 1989-1994 Born in the US
 Australia/ United States of America  United States of America Don Pyke 1989–96 Born in the US
 United States of America  United States of America Jason Holmes 2014–2017 Born in the US [5]
 Australia/ United States of America  Australia Zac Clarke 2009–2017 Born in Australia; American father [8][9]
 Australia/ United States of America  United States of America Mason Cox 2015- Born in the US [10][5]
 Australia/ France  Australia Allan La Fontaine^ 1934–1942, 1945 Born in Australia; French [11]
 Australia/ Ireland  Ireland Jim Stynes^ 1987–1998 Born in Ireland [11]
 Australia/ South Korea/ United States of America  South Korea Peter F. Bell^ 1995–2008 Born in Korea; Mother born in South Korea, father born in America [11][12]
 Australia/ Brazil/ Democratic Republic of Congo  Brazil Heritier Lumumba 2005–2016 Born in Brazil; Congolese father, Brazilian mother [13]

Albania[]

Austria[]

  • Alex Jesaulenko (Austrian-born, born in Salzburg)
  • Justin Leppitsch (Austrian-born father)[7]

Barbados[]

  • Josh Gibson (Bajan father)[1][6]

Canada[]

Chile[]

China[]

Name Origins Career
Jack Wunhym Chinese father[18] 1927–29
Ernie Foo Chinese parents[19] 1914
Lin Jong Taiwanese mother; Timorese-Chinese father[6] 2012–
Wally Koochew Chinese father and Norwegian mother[20][21] 1908
Dannie Seow Born in Singapore; Chinese father[22][23] 1986-1987; 1989-1990
George Tansing Chinese father[23][24][25] 1908

Cook Islands[]

Croatia[]

Cyprus[]

  • Andrew Demetriou[32]

Czech Republic[]

Denmark[]

East Timor[]

  • Lin Jong (Taiwanese mother, Timorese-Chinese father)[6]

Egypt[]

Ahmed Saad (Egyptian parents)[35]

Estonia[]

Fiji[]

Germany[]

Ghana[]

Greece[]

see: Greek Team of the Century[44]

Hungary[]

  • Patrick Veszpremi (Hungarian father)[6][45]

India[]

Ireland[]

Main article: Irish experiment
Name Origins Career
Colm Begley Born in Ireland[4] 2006–2009
Dermott Brereton Irish parents[12] 1982–1992;1994–1995
Born in Ireland[5] 2017–
Ciarán Byrne Born in Ireland[5] 2014–
Ray Connellan Born in Ireland[5] 2017–
Conor McKenna Born in Ireland[5] 2014–
Paul Earley Born in Ireland[4] 1984
Cian Hanley Welsh mother, Irish father[5] 2015–
Pearce Hanley Irish, born in England, UK; Welsh mother, Irish father[6][5] 2008–
Darragh Joyce Born in Ireland[5] 2017–
Tadhg Kennelly Born in Ireland[4] 2001–2008;2010–2011
James Magner Irish parents[6] 2012–13
Jock McHale Irish parents 1903–1920
Niall McKeever[6] Born in Ireland[4] 2010–2013
Dermot McNicholl Born in Ireland[4] 1990
Caolan Mooney Born in Ireland[6] 2012–2014
Conor Nash Born in Ireland[5] 2017–
Mark O'Connor Born in Ireland[5] 2017–
Brett O'Hanlon [52] 2012–
Jamie O'Reilly Born in Ireland[6] 2010–2011
Colin O'Riordan Born in Ireland[5] 2017–
Setanta Ó hAilpín Irish father, Fijian mother[6] 2005–2013
Michael Quinn Born in Ireland 2009–2010
Ciarán Sheehan Born in Ireland[5] 2014–
Brian Stynes Born in Ireland[4] 1992
Zach Tuohy Born in Ireland[6][5] 2011–
Tommy Walsh Born in Ireland[6] 2012–2014
Sean Wight Born in Scotland, UK, Irish parents[4] 1984–1995
Aidan Corr Born in Ireland[5] 2013-

Israel[]

Italy[]

Kenya[]

  • Aliir Aliir (See Sudan below)
  • Majak Daw

Latvia[]

Lebanon[]

Lithuania[]

Malaysia[]

  • Robert Ahmat (Malay and Torres Strait Islander ancestry)[60]
  • Paul Medhurst (English father, Malaysian mother)[61]

Malta[]

Myanmar[]

  • Andrew Embley (Anglo-Burmese father)[62]
  • Trent Dennis-Lane (Anglo-Burmese father)[63]

Netherlands[]

New Zealand[]

See also: List of New Zealand Māori AFL players

Nigeria[]

North Macedonia[]

  • Josh Daicos (Father's parents)[12]
  • Peter Daicos (Parents born in Greek Macedonia)[12]
  • John Gastev
  • Mark Nicoski (Mother born in Croatia; father born in North Macedonia)[6]
  • Nick Malceski (Macedonian father)[45]
  • Alex Marcou (Parents born in Greek Macedonia)[74]
  • Paul Peos (Parents born in Greek Macedonia)
  • Sam Petrevski-Seton (Half Indigenous Australian / Half Macedonian)[75]

Norway[]

Papua New Guinea[]

  • Mal Michael[4]
  • James Gwilt (British Welsh father, Papua New Guinean mother)
  • Aiden Bonar (Papua New Guinean mother, Scottish father)

Philippines[]

  • Mathew Stokes (Aboriginal, Filipino-Spanish descent)[23][76]
  • Alex Woodward (Filipino mother)[6]

Poland[]

Russia[]

  • Bohdan Jaworskyj
  • Alex Jesaulenko (Born in Salzburg, Austria to a Ukrainian father, Russian mother)[79]
  • Oleg Markov (born in Belarus, to Russian parents)[5]

Samoa[]

  • Aaron Edwards (See above New Zealand)[69]
  • Karmichael Hunt[26]

Seychelles[]

Serbia[]

Slovenia[]

  • Nick Suban
  • Rene Kink
  • Dayne Zorko (father born in Yugoslavia, now Slovenia)

South Africa[]

South Sudan[]

Spain[]

Sri Lanka[]

Sudan/South Sudan[]

Tom Jok (Essendon)

Sweden[]

  • Kris Massie (Born in Sweden)

Switzerland[]

Taiwan[]

  • Lin Jong (Taiwanese mother, Timorese-Chinese father)[6]

Thailand[]

Tonga[]

  • Israel Folau
  • David Rodan (Fijian-Tongan mother, Tongan father)[6][37]

Turkey[]

Tuvalu[]

  • Scott Harding

Uganda[]

  • (Born in Uganda)[5]

Ukraine[]

United Kingdom[]

England[]

Northern Ireland[]

  • Conor Glass (Born in Northern Ireland)

Scotland[]

Wales[]

Zimbabwe[]

See also[]

  • List of Australian Football League players born outside Australia

References[]

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