By Dame Liz Nicholl DBE, World Netball President
To be in the multi-sport Olympics or Paralympics is an ambition for every athlete and if ever there is an Olympic opportunity for our sport, it is now with the 2032 event being hosted in Australia in 2032.
It’s netball’s time.
As a young netballer, I competed for Wales in two Netball World Cups, way back in 1975 and 1979, but if I’d had the opportunity to compete in the Olympics, it would’ve been the highlight of my sporting career. The Olympics is uniquely special.
There are so many Olympic and Paralympic sports, so many nations represented by the best athletes in the world.
When asked at the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 what Olympic inclusion would mean to her, Singapore U21 Co-Captain, Faithmaria Ifeoma Mckevin Lawrence, added: “It would mean the world to me if netball made the Olympics.
“We are not a sport to be overlooked.
“We put in the effort, and all our hard work and sacrifices are the same as every other sport so to be able to finally make it there in the Olympics would really mean a lot to me and every single netballer.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Having not had the opportunity myself and knowing that Brisbane 2032 is the best opportunity that netball has had for some time to be included in the Olympic Games, I am passionate about World Netball persuing this opportunity alongside Netball Australia on behalf of the wider Netball Family.
As President of World Netball, it is also my duty alongside the World Netball Board to prioritise the pursuit for Olympic inclusion, because our Members have included the ambition in our Articles of Association, so it is a requirement now placed on our Board to work with Netball Australia to do our very best to see if we can make that possible.
We often hear people say that netball is confined to the Commonwealth and of course, the Commonwealth will always remain at netball’s core, because our sport was spread through the Commonwealth by teachers in the early years providing opportunities for women and girls to compete, and we are proud of our roots, but our reach has now extended well beyond that.
World Netball now has over 76 Member nations across our five regions, and all five regions are represented within the top five of the World Netball World Rankings, highlighting the global and competitive nature of our sport.
With netball being played in over 100 countries, and with men now also competing, our dynamic team sport will enable the IOC to take the Olympic movement into new communities and assist with the development of sport in new territories.
Australia, the hosts of the Brisbane 2032 Games, are at the pinnacle of our ambition.
Not only is netball the number one female sport for participation in Australia, but their Diamonds side is also ranked number one in the World Netball World Rankings, and we have seen record breaking crowds in Australia for well over a decade.
When they last hosted World Netball’s pinnacle event, the Netball World Cup, back in 2015 they broke the record for the greatest number of fans to attend a netball match, with 16,752 attending the Netball World Cup 2015 Final.
That record still stands today, as the Netball World Cup returns to Australia in 2027 with plans to be bigger and better than ever, and the message being to ‘Brace Yourself’ to see netball like you have never seen it before.
More recently, we have seen Australia’s elite domestic league, the Suncorp Super Netball League (SSN), excel with a total season attendance of 386,455, 2025 marking the biggest SSN season in history.
We know we have the backing of a lot of the population in Australia, and we have got the backing of all our Member nations from across the globe as well.
This was made clear when we recently launched the “Back the Bid: It’s Netball’s Time” campaign, calling for players, participants, and fans to support a global campaign and sign a pledge of support for netball’s inclusion in the Olympic Games Brisbane 2032.
The campaign launched at the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Final, alongside our netball nations, and we have now reached over 70,000 supporters from over 100 countries.
I want to take this opportunity to thank every single one of you that has signed the pledge and backed the bid so far, you are helping us on our journey to creating history.
However, we need more of you to get behind our bid, so if you haven’t already, please sign the pledge here:https://bit.ly/4gGHoBb
We will continue to work closely with Netball Australia, the IOC, and the Brisbane 2032 Local Organising Committee as inclusion in the Olympics remains a top priority for World Netball and we will keep you updated and take you on this journey with us.