World Netball (WN), Netball Australia (NA) and netball nations from around the world are uniting to call for players, participants, and fans to support a global campaign named “Back the Bid: It’s Netball’s Time” and sign a global pledge of support for netball’s inclusion in the Olympic Games Brisbane 2032.
If you haven’t already signed the pledge, here are five reasons why we think you should:
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ALIGNMENT WITH THE IOC
In line with its ETHICAL values, WN is committed to ensuring excellence and integrity in everything that it does.
WN has been recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1995, a status which was earned because of netball’s global popularity, strong and effective governance structures, and compliance with the Olympic Charter and IOC Code.
WN integrates the core principles of the IOC Code into its governance day-to-day operations, implementing a strong governance structure that prides itself on transparent decision-making and clear accountability, and is underpinned by robust policies, codes of conduct and ethics.
Just like the IOC, WN also has an athlete-centred approach, with athlete welfare, equality, and fair play at the heart of the sport.
Since 2023, WN has had an Athlete Director on its Board, ensuring that the Voice of the Athlete is heard at the highest level.
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A GROWING GLOBAL AUDIENCE
WN has a growing global audience, in terms of membership, participants and spectators and through Olympic inclusion, can help the IOC reach new territories and communities worldwide.
The sports reach has now extended far beyond its commonwealth roots, with WN having over 77 Member nations across its five Regions.
All five Regions are also represented within the top five of the WN World Rankings, highlighting the global and competitive nature of the sport.
Netball’s online presence is equally as impressive with WN social channels alone having over 318,000 followers, and the reach on these channels exceeding 69 million already in 2025.
WN’s pinnacle event, the Netball World Cup, broke records in 2023 with 42.3 million viewers across TV, digital and social platforms.
At the most recent Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022, 158,728 tickets were sold for the 10-day netball event, with fans filling the arena.
Around the world, outside of WN major events, netball fans continue to break records and fill stadiums year on year too.
The UK’s Netball Super League (NSL) has just hosted England Netball’s biggest ticketed event ever, with over 9,800 fans attending the Grand Final at the iconic O2 Arena, and in New Zealand the average attendance for ANZ Premiership 2025 games was up by 15% year on year.
In Australia (we will have more on them later!), the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) League also broke records in 2025, with a total season attendance of 386,455.
This marked the biggest SSN season in history, cementing the league’s status as the most attended in Australian women’s sport for the second year in a row.
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A STRONG HOST NATION PRESENCE
Staying on the topic of Australia, it only seems right that Australia’s number one participation sport for women, netball, is included in the next Olympic Games that they host – Brisbane 2032.
As Australia’s most successful national team, the Diamonds carry a legacy of excellence built on 12 Netball World Cups and five Commonwealth Games Gold Medals — a legacy that positions them well to reach the podium in Brisbane, inspiring the nation and providing a powerful platform to engage the host nation in the Games.
Netball is the biggest team sport in Australia, played by over one million men, women and children all over the country and one third of Australians are also fans of netball, meaning the sport will have the backing of the host nation population too.
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AN EXCITING NEXT GENERATION OF TALENT
Netball’s future has truly never looked brighter.
Whilst the sports social and broadcast figures grow, major events sell out and participation figures rise, what has also never been more prominent is the level of world class talent we have in our sport.
The cohort of athletes that could take to court at the Brisbane 2032 Games have recently competed at the Netball World Youth Cup 2025.
During this event, the global netball family enjoyed watching world class talent, with WN’s digital channels alone reaching over 26 million people during the nine days of competition, with over one million engagements across all WN social channels.
It was the Brisbane 2032 Games hosts, Australia, that were crowned Champions of the event, beating New Zealand 48 – 63 in the Final, live on NetballPass.
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EMPOWERING WOMEN AND GIRLS
Finally, we are a sport that is proud of our female focused foundations whilst we are working actively to involve and include men and boys in our strategy going forward.
The IOC is striving to increase inclusivity, and to include an elite international sport, designed by women, for women, would only help that and send a powerful message that they are taking inclusivity seriously and women’s sports can be a main event too.
Through WN’s charitable arm, the WN Foundation, and WN’s Strategic Development Fund (SDF) netball’s impact on different communities around the world goes far beyond the court.
The WN Foundation, is on a mission to create new possibilities through netball and harness the power of netball to change lives, focusing primarily on girls and young women that are vulnerable or marginalised due to lack of education, cultural bias, and gender-based poverty.
Through the WN Foundations partnership with Maitrayana, over 500 girls have been put through life changing programmes where they had the opportunity to take part in both netball and life skills programmes, with a focus on their rights.
So, there you have it. Five reasons why we think netball should be included in the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.
Now we need your help.
Back the Bid: It’s Netball’s Time.