墨尔本市于1835年正式成立，体育从一开始就是城市文化的重要组成部分。三年之后，墨尔本板球俱乐部成立了。到1853年，墨尔本板球场（MCG）向公众开放，现已成为澳大利亚最大的体育场馆。墨尔本举办了很多世界经典体育赛事，据《时代报》报道，墨尔本4次荣获国际著名体育杂志SportBusiness颁发的“体育城市终极大奖（Ultimate Sport City Awards)，打败了德国柏林、英国伦敦以及美国纽约，也是南半球第一个主办过夏季奥运会的城市。2020年3月30日，WRCA世界影响力评审委员会授予澳大利亚墨尔本市“世界影响力的体育文化城市”称号。

Melbourne has long been regarded as Australia’s sporting capital due to the role it has played in the development of Australian sport, the range and quality of its sporting events and venues, and its high rates of spectatorship and participation. Melbourne’s sporting reputation was recognised in 2016 when, after being ranked as the world’s top sports city three times biennially, the Ultimate Sports City Awards in Switzerland named it ‘Sports City of the Decade’.

The city has hosted a number of significant international sporting events, most notably the 1956 Summer Olympic Games, the first Olympic Games held outside Europe and the United States. Melbourne also hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and is home to several major annual international events, including the Australian Open, the first of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. First held in 1861 and declared a public holiday for all Melburnians in 1873, the Melbourne Cup is the world’s richest handicap horse race and is known as “the race that stops a nation”. The Formula One Australian Grand Prix has been held at the Albert Park Circuit since 1996.

The city has been recognized as the world’s influential sports city by the WRCA.