Netball is a popular Commonwealth Games sport. 1998 was the first Commonwealth Games in which a netball competition was officially held, and has been included in all Games since. Prior 1998, there was a demonstration of netball (as was triathlon) at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games.

Just a single match was played in 1990, between Australia and New Zealand at Chase Stadium, Auckland on Feb 4. Australia won 53-35. No medals were on offer.

Australia and New Zealand fought out every gold medal match from 1998 to 2014, with Australia ahead 3-2. The evenness of the two nations was highlighted by the final in 2010, which had to go into double overtime before New Zealand finally won.

2018 saw a possible changing of the guard, with Australia being defeated in the final by England, and New Zealand finishing forth after a shock defeat to Malawi in the earlier rounds. England had won the bronze medal three of out the five previous times this event has been held, with Jamaica winning the other two.

Australia regained the title at the 2022 Games in Birmingham, beating Jamaica in the final.

Glasgow 2026 Netball

Netball at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games was played at the OVO Hydro. New Zealand’s Silver Ferns won gold, beating Jamaica 56-48 in the final for their first Commonwealth Games netball title in 16 years (since Delhi 2010). Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls reached their first Commonwealth final after a 46-45 semi-final upset of defending champions Australia, and took silver. Australia claimed bronze with a 68-50 win over England, who finished fourth. The medal winners are shown below.

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Netball (women) New Zealand Jamaica Australia

Competition

  • The competition is conducted according to the rules of World Netball (formerly the International Federation of Netball Associations, IFNA).
  • It is a women-only netball competition. The teams play a group stage on a round-robin basis, with the leading teams advancing to the semi-finals and medal matches.

Trivia

  • Netball is the only female-only sport at the Commonwealth Games - the gymnastics discipline of rhythmic gymnastics is also female only.
  • New Zealand’s Silver Ferns won netball gold at Glasgow 2026, their first Commonwealth Games title since 2010, beating Jamaica 56-48 in the final.
  • Jamaica reached their first Commonwealth Games netball final at Glasgow 2026, upsetting defending champions Australia in the semi-finals before taking silver.