Hayley Raso

Hayley Raso made her debut for the Matildas in a June 2012 draw against New Zealand. Since then she has gone on to represent her country on multiple occasions at some of the most prestigious tournaments in Football.

She began her professional career with W-League outfit Canberra United in 2011. Multiple stints with different W-League clubs marked much of Hayley’s first decade at the professional level. Whilst in Australia, she won premierships with Canberra and the Brisbane Roar, as well as a championship in 2012 with Canberra.

While playing in America’s National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2017 Hayley helped the Portland Thorns to the championship and was voted supporters’ player of the year.

In 2018, Hayley’s career hit a crossroads when she suffered an almost career-ending injury, fracturing three vertebrae in her back in an on-field collision.

The injury kept Hayley out of the game for months and required her to go through gruelling rehabilitation and learn to walk again.

But she fought back to play for Portland again and was part of the Matildas team that made it to the round of 16 at the 2019 World Cup.

In 2020, she made the move to Merseyside to join English side Everton in the Women's Super League. The following season she made the move to Manchester City.

At Tokyo 2020 Hayley and the Matildas made all of Australia proud in putting together a historic achievement.

Their fourth-place finish, which was nearly a podium finish after a 4-3 loss to the USA in the bronze medal game, is the highest ever finish by the Matildas at an Olympic Games.

On the eve of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, played in Australia and New Zealand, Spanish superpower Real Madrid announced they had signed Hayley. She is the first Australian to play for the team.

At the World Cup, where the Matildas captured the imagination of Australians with their run to the semi-finals, Hayley played a key role. She scored the first two goals in a 4-0 group-stage win over Canada and was judged player of the match. She also scored in the round of 16 match against Denmark.

In February 2024, Hayley was among the scorers as the Matildas nailed down their place at the Paris Olympics with home and away victories over Uzbekistan.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Hayley and the Matildas faced Germany, Zambia and the USA in a tough Group B.

A tournament-opening 3-0 loss to Germany was followed by a dramatic 11-goal thriller against Zambia in which Raso headed home her first Olympic goal, where the Matildas came back from 5-2 down to win 6-5. Facing a must-win scenario against the USA to stay alive, the Matildas' tournament ended on another 3-0 loss.

Hayley’s habit of wearing ribbons in her hair has inspired her to write the children’s book Hayley’s Ribbon. Proceeds from the book go to the charity HeartKids.

“Hayley’s Ribbon is about my early childhood,” she said. “It goes through how I was shy when I was younger, but I came out of my shell.

“The story behind the book is that I get the ribbon from my nan and that empowers me.

“I still wear the ribbon to this day, so that’s the main feature of the book.

“HeartKids Australia is a charity close to my heart. My older brother Lachlan was born with a congenital heart disease and underwent open heart surgery.

“I’m just giving back some profits from the book to HeartKids to help other families and children going through that.”