(Reuters) - All Australian Football League (AFL) clubs will have a team in AFLW, the women's top flight of Australian Rules football, for the start of the 2022-23 season after the league awarded licences to Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and Sydney Swans on Thursday.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan confirmed the AFLW will expand to an 18-team competition by the end of 2022, describing the move as a "defining day" in the history of Australian football.