AFL National Championships

Originally known as the Teal Cup, it began in 1953 as a junior representative competition between the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. It was an annual match between the two states, the winners would possess a trophy donated by the Teal family of Queensland. The Australian Capital Territory was the first other side to enter in 1973. With the addition of teams from each Australian state and mainland territory in 1976, the tournament was rebranded as the National Championships and rotated between host cities. The championships were split into two divisions with the strongest states including Victoria (later split into two sides: Vic Metro and Vic Country) comprising Division 1. Papua New Guinea was the first other country to field a team in 1979.

Under-18 All-Australian and WA's Most Valuable Player award winner Anthony Morabito from the 2009 championship.

In the absence of a national league, and less regular senior competition, it grew into one of the most important competitions in the country. Early on it was an Under-17 competition, however the age limit has been progressively increased and separate junior championships added for Under-15 level (commencing as the Shell Cup, now the AFL National Development Championships) from the 1970s onwards. It was a major talent pathway for underage players outside of Victoria to the VFL. As part of the AFL Commission's role as national governing body, the Victorian TAC Cup competition was restructured in 1992 to become the primary pathway to the AFL. As a result, representative development sides from NSW/ACT and Tasmania for a time have played in that competition instead. However, in recent years, the National Championships has regained its status as a primary AFL recruitment pathway as the growth of the sport outside Victoria has accelerated.

The division 2 competition was replaced by the Under-19 Academy Series in 2017, with teams from the 4 Queensland and NSW AFL clubs' academies in addition to Northern Territory and Tasmania state teams. The entire competition was changed to under-19s in 2021 (the competition has previously operated under-17s and under-18s competitions).

With the AFL Commission phasing out representative football at senior level since 1994, the National Championships are one of the few opportunities for players to play for their state or territory. Players typically share the senior team's guernsey (with the exception of Victorian teams, which play in variations of the state team guernsey—Vic Metro has a light blue Big V insignia, while Vic Country plays in a reverse white with navy Big V).

The best players from the academy competition then combine to form an 'Allies' team in conjunction with South Australia, Western Australia and two Victoria teams, Metro (Melbourne Metropolitan Area) and Country to contest the division 1 tournament.

The winner of the 2023 division 1 tournament was the Allies.

The tournament is currently sponsored by the National Australia Bank, having previously been sponsored by Caltex and the Commonwealth Bank.[8]

• AFL Women's Under 18 Championships

• Lovett, Michael, ed. (2005). AFL Record Guide to Season 2005. p. 764. ISBN 0-9580300-6-5.