Footballer (ANZSCO 452411)
On the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List
From the official Home Affairs skilled occupation lists, as at 2026-08-12. Lists change at each government update — always confirm on the official page before acting.
Which lists is Footballer on?
MLTSSL — Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List. The widest list — occupations on the MLTSSL can access the points-tested permanent skilled visas including the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), which needs no state nomination or employer.
Visas this occupation can access
Being on a list makes the occupation nominatable for these visas — each visa still has its own requirements (points, age, English, a positive skills assessment, and for sponsored visas a willing employer or state).
- Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) — Permanent, points-tested, no sponsor needed · all occupations for the 189
- Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) — Permanent, state or territory nominated · all occupations for the 190
- Skilled Work Regional visa (subclass 491) — Provisional, regional, points-tested · all occupations for the 491
- Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa (subclass 494) — Provisional, regional employer sponsored · all occupations for the 494
- Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) — Temporary, recent Australian graduates · all occupations for the 485
- Training visa (subclass 407) — Temporary, workplace training · all occupations for the 407
Skills assessment
A positive skills assessment for Footballer comes from:
- Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services (VETASSESS) (official site) · our guide to the VETASSESS process
What the assessment actually involves
VETASSESS assesses Footballer as a Group D occupation — AQF Certificate III or higher plus highly relevant employment as a professional player — with a suitable-occupation list naming all four football codes explicitly: Australian Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer. A professional athlete in any other sport does not fit this code regardless of professional status, since the suitable list is closed to those four codes by name rather than open to professional team sport generally.
Where these applications come unstuck
Footballer carries the fullest visa reach of any code in this family — 189, 190, 407, 485, 491 and 494, the complete MLTSSL set including the independent permanent pathway — and it is the specific contrast the family's other individual-athlete code, Golfer, makes sharpest: Golfer (ROL) reaches only 494, despite both being name-recognisable professional individual or team-sport occupations. The gap is sourced directly to the occupation lists themselves; no policy reasoning for it was found in this research pass, so don't assume either code's reach generalises to other professional-sport titles.
An honest read on this pathway
This is the strongest visa pathway of any code in the entire family, on par with Tennis Coach as one of only two codes reaching 189. Neither Footballer nor Tennis Coach reaches 186 or 482, so an employer wanting to sponsor either occupation faces the same structural gap — no code in this family reaches every one of 189, 186 and 482 at once.
VETASSESS assesses qualifications and employment separately. Both need documentation that agrees with itself. The Employment History Builder and Document Vault organise each trail before you lodge.
Talk it through with a registered agent
Whether nominating Footballer is your best route depends on your points, experience evidence and timing — exactly what a MARA-registered agent works through in an initial consultation. Describe your situation once through Migratio and compare real consultation quotes from registered agents, free.
Compare registered agents — free
Related occupations
All skilled occupations · Points calculator · Skilled visa agents