The AFL's inaugural women's competition will launch with eight clubs that play just six matches each before a top four vies to make a grand final set to coincide with round one of the 2017 premiership men's season.
Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs have beaten a disappointed Richmond, Geelong, North Melbourne and St Kilda in the competitive bid for Victorian licences.
Fremantle's submission got the nod from the AFL Commission ahead of West Coast.
Greater Western Sydney, the Brisbane Lions and an Adelaide-Northern Territory team round out the foundation sides that Fairfax Media revealed before the official unveiling by AFL Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick and league CEO Gillon McLachlan at the MCG on Wednesday morning.
The league received 13 submissions and while Carlton is said to have put forward a most compelling case, there was a genuine sense of surprise among rival clubs when the Blues emerged successful.
Carlton's own Mark LoGiudice-led hierarchy openly admits it lags significantly behind the AFL competition in terms of its female membership, which is understood to be under 30 per cent.
But the Blues are concertedly pushing to change this and, after consulting widely in preparing their women's team pitch, have campaigned consistently on the topic.
The five unsuccessful clubs that pitched – Geelong, Richmond, St Kilda, North Melbourne and the Eagles – have provisional licences for entry to the competition at a date to be stipulated by the AFL.
The Saints, who were the first club in VFL/AFL history to add a woman – Peta Searle – to their coaching list, were among many that employed external consultants to help with their pitch.
Richmond, which has the AFL's only female president in Peggy O'Neal, pitched around the unique facilities and work the club has done around Indigenous footballers.
The Tigers also commissioned and produced a landmark gender report, the findings of which they have determinedly implemented in recent years in pursuit of gender equality.
Fitzpatrick and McLachlan made the formal announcement surrounded by half a dozen top female footballers.
Fitzpatrick said the number of women and girls playing football had doubled over the past five years - it was a revolution.
He thanked all those people who had worked to turn a "bold plan" into a reality.
"A fully-fledged national competition, the best women in the country will grace AFL grounds, wearing AFL club jumpers, representing immensely proud and passionate tribes," he said.
He said great women players would become role models and heroes for the next generation of footballers.
"Our game will never be the same," he said.
Fitzpatrick said all 13 submissions had been outstanding and he was delighted at the enthusiasm shown by the clubs.
Those that missed out on a women's team would be part of the newly formed league in the future.
Composition of the competition
Western Bulldogs
Melbourne
Collingwood
Carlton
Greater Western Sydney
Adelaide-North Territory
Fremantle
Brisbane Lions
Unsuccessful
Geelong
Richmond
North Melbourne
St Kilda
West Coast
