The Victorian Football League became the Australian Football League in 1990.
The name change reflected the competition’s national expansion. Although the league had been based in Victoria since its establishment in 1896, clubs from outside the state had joined during the 1980s. The West Coast Eagles entered in 1987, followed by the Brisbane Bears in the same year, creating a competition that was no longer exclusively Victorian.
The VFL name was therefore replaced by AFL for the 1990 season. The change distinguished the national competition from the Victorian state-based football structure and gave the league a name that represented its wider membership.
The rebranding did not create a wholly new sport or erase the earlier records. AFL history generally treats the VFL and AFL as the same continuous top-level competition, with premierships and statistics carried forward. This is why historical records before 1990 are still part of the AFL’s official story.