Kylie Minogue to headline 2026 AFL Grand Final entertainment: Report
Updated ,first published
The AFL arranged for Kylie Minogue to perform in the grand final at the MCG this year.
The league confirmed it had reached an agreement with Minogue after many years of chasing her to headline the musical extravaganza as the season decider.
Minogue said in a statement: “Melbourne’s first and only AFL Grand Final at the forever iconic MCG? Yes please! As a Melburnian, I’m thrilled to be coming home to the biggest day on the Australian sporting calendar.”
League boss Andrew Dillon said Minogue had been on the league’s Grand Final wish list for some time.
“There is no better artist to lead our performance before our biggest game of the season,” Dillon said.
“Our AFL team recently joined Kylie at the MCG for a Grand Final content shoot and you could already feel the excitement of the build in September.”
The news comes on the same day the league confirmed the traditional grand final will kick off at 2.30pm in 2026 and 2027, despite calls for the game to be held at night.
New AFL chief executive Craig Drummond did not rule out a change after 2027 but wanted to give fans certainty for now.
“As we’ve said, we’re very focused on the fans, the football and the quality of the football product, but we’re not saying we won’t consider re-evaluating in the future,” Drummond said on Sunday.
“But we think it’s really important to give our stakeholders certainty at this point, and so we think two years makes perfect sense.”
Seven reports that Minogue had previously only wanted to perform at night so she could use additional lighting and pyrotechnics, but will now perform in the afternoon, with an official announcement expected as early as this week.
Minogue, known as the Princess of Pop, is an Australian superstar who has won two Grammy Awards and four Brit Awards as a singer, songwriter and actress.
Minogue performed at billionaire Anthony Pratt’s birthday party earlier this month and if she reaches the grand final, she would follow the path of past AFL grand final headliners such as US pop star Katy Perry, who performed at Pratt’s birthday in 2024 and then called the AFL’s decider that year.
The league has focused on overseas performances in many of its recent major finals; US hip hop legend Snoop Dogg made headlines with some tasteless lyrics at last year’s grand final, impressing some fans and angering others. came back to haunt him.
KISS, Robbie Williams, Perry and The Killers have also headlined grand final performances over the past decade.
Minogue would be the first Australian to lead the grand final entertainment since Eskimo Joe and several other local acts headlined the 2021 entertainment when the game was moved to Optus Stadium in Perth due to COVID restrictions in Melbourne.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said on Sunday the league would review the timeframe for the grand final ahead of the 2028 season when the Tasmania Devils enter the competition.
The twilight timeslot used for the 2021 grand final in Perth (a nighttime start for viewers in the eastern states) has long been seen as the league’s preferred option to move away from the afternoon, in part due to the time required for presentations and post-game festivities. The 2020 and 2021 grand finals were played away from the MCG as Victoria was in COVID quarantine at the time.
“It was more about the fact that we’re going to have a 19th team in 2028 so we’re going to have a different fixture structure, so there’s going to be a lot of planning around Tasmania coming in and how the season structure is going to work, and grand final timing could be part of that as well,” Dillon said.
Roy Ward is a sports writer, live blogger and breaking news journalist. He has been writing for The Age since 2010.Connect with: X or email.
