Adam Goodes and his wife Natalie Croker announce the birth of their first child 

Sydney Swans champion Adam Goodes and his wife Natalie Croker have announced the birth of their first child. 

The baby girl, named Adelaide, was born on Wednesday according to close friends.

In an interview earlier this year announcing Croker’s pregnancy, Goodes said the pair were ‘very excited’ to be starting a family.

Goodes and Croker’s daughter, named Adelaide, was born on Wednesday morning according to close friends (The pair are pictured walking through Bondi last month)

‘We are not finding out the sex. It’s going to be a surprise,’ Goodes told The Daily Telegraph in February.

‘The most exciting thing for me is from day one this baby is going to know it’s an Aboriginal person and is connected to the longest living culture in the world, which is something I didn’t have when I was growing up,’ Goodes told GQ at the time.

‘Every opportunity we can we’ll be giving him or her an indigenous experience, teaching him or her about what it means to be aboriginal. 

‘For me as a father, I feel I have a role to play to instil that culture, as well as discipline and having fun.’

Goodes, 39, retired from the AFL in 2015 after playing 372 games – the most ever by an Indigenous player. 

The pair began dating during Goodes’ last years in the league before he proposed in 2016.

Goodes and Croker began dating in his last few years in the league before he proposed in 2016 and they married later that year

They married in September that year in a low key ceremony, inviting only 20 guests.

While the AFL legend has often made headlines for speaking out on key Indigenous matters, he has kept his private life private.

Goodes has recently finished filming a documentary on his experiences being booed by opposition crowds towards the end of his AFL career.

‘The Final Quarter’ has been shown to players of all 18 AFL clubs and will eventually be broadcast on Channel Ten, it was announced this week.