The smell of footy is in the air with the AFL pre-season kicking off in the build up to the official 2026 AFL season launch next week.
Footy is back and so is the AFL Star at Draftstars - Australia’s leading daily fantasy sports website. Once again this season, Draftstars are putting up a massive $1 million prize pool for the 2026 AFL Star with a top prize of $200,000 for one lucky winner.
To win your way into the AFL Star Final and the chance to compete for the big bucks, you’ll need to win one of the 240 Qualifiers that will run throughout the season. There are a heap of inexpensive satellites to win into the Qualifiers, spread across all major sports such as AFL, NBA, PGA and NRL. So there are plenty of opportunities for players of all budgets to win their way into the big dance.
The 2026 AFL Star Final will be scheduled for Friday September 4th 2026 which is the Qualifying Final for Week 1 of the Finals. Everyone will receive a $1,000 payout when they win a Golden Ticket, while additional payouts in the Final will extend all the way to 200th place this season.
Of course everyone has their eye on the top prize which is a massive $200,000!
Total Prize Pool Allocation
1st - $200,000
2nd - $100,000
3rd - $75,000
4th - $60,000
5th - $50,000
6th - $30,000
7th - $25,000
8th - $20,000
9th - $15,000
10th - $10,000
11th- 15th - $5,000
16th - 20th - $4,000
21st - 30th - $3,000
31st - 50th - $2,500
51st - 100th - $2,000
101st - 200th - $1,500
201st - 240th - $1,000
“Our number #1 tournament on Draftstars is back for the 2026 edition,” said Draftstars Operations Specialist, Luke Mathyssen. “After huge results for the 2024/2025 editions, we are ‘running it back’ once again.”
“We’ve listened to feedback from our passionate user base and we’ve made some small but effective adjustments to this year’s contest. We’ve knocked some prize money from the top, aka Robin Hood style, and given our finalists who finish in the top 200 a chance to win cash on the day. We also have moved the final to the Friday Night Qualifying final on September the 4th so our winners can certainly enjoy the spoils.”
“The demand for a spot in qualifiers is always hot, so we suggest reserving your entry in your preferred contest when you can.”
Qualifiers will be up on the Draftstars website shortly. Don’t forget that Draftstars and PlayUp are moving to NextBet this weekend. While there may be some disruptions to accessing some contests during the transition on March 1st, it’s otherwise business as usual at Draftstars with plenty of huge tournaments planned for 2026, headlined by the $1 million AFL Star!
