Stephanie Catley

Steph Catley learned a lot of things when Sam Kerr told her about her calf injury the day before the Matildas’ first match in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and handed her the captain’s armband – most of them about herself.

The Matildas’ run to the semi-finals of the World Cup, played in Australia and New Zealand, captured the imagination of the nation. And with Sam unable to play for much of the tournament, Steph stepped up and became a household name. The experience allowed her to develop in ways she had never imagined.

“You know, I was anxious in all the most intense ways,” she said. “You’re going into a home World Cup as a player and then Sam gets ruled out less than 24 hours before our first game – I mean, for that to happen the day before we start, after years of preparations, ahead of one of the biggest moments of all our careers, it was a lot. What I learned about myself is that I’m resilient in ways I thought I could never be.

“I think I handled what was really an epic amount of pressure in a way that I didn’t anticipate I could. I had a lot of leadership experience. I knew I could handle captaincy as a role, but when it came to things like taking penalties and stepping up more on the field, taking more responsibility for things that were happening during a game, and just filling the shoes of someone who does so, so much for us, someone who wins us games, I came to realise I was actually able to lead our team on the field in a way I wasn’t necessarily aware of before.

“I was able to push my level a lot further than I’d ever done before. At my age and stage as a player, you can think sometimes you’ve hit your ceiling. It was cool to push that boundary and do the things I did. I never thought I’d be where I am today.”

Steph made her senior national team debut with the Matildas in 2012 when she was 18 years old after spending three years with W-League team Melbourne Victory.

Originally playing in midfield before converting to left-back, Steph’s defensive prowess and leadership led to her becoming captain of Melbourne Victory and later, captain of three-time W-League champions Melbourne City.

During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Steph made all five starts at left-back for Australia and played all 450 minutes. She made eight tackles and won them all. Steph also made 12 interceptions and won 13 duels and had a 72.4 percent accuracy for passing.

Steph went on to play for the Matildas during the Rio 2016 Olympics. She appeared in all four games for the Matildas, making three starts.

At Rio, the Matildas had the honour of being the first Aussies to compete, when they took on Canada two days before the Opening Ceremony in Sao Paolo.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the start the side wanted after they went down a goal in the opening minute and eventually lost 2-0.

The Aussies came out firing in their second match against Germany taking a two-goal lead before the Germans struck late in both halves to see the match end in a 2-2 draw. Needing a win in their final match to progress, the Aussies delivered that and more as they thrashed Zimbabwe 6-1 to set up a quarter-final clash with hosts Brazil.

After a tense 120 minutes of football, neither side could find the back of the net and the match went to penalties. Australia looked to have the upper hand when Brazil missed the first penalty but in front of 60,000 locals the home side claimed the shootout 7-6 to progress through to the final four.

Steph returned to Australia to captain Melbourne City from 2016-18 while also playing for NWSL side Seattle Reign FC. She was named vice-captain of the Matildas for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and in 2020, signed with WSL club Arsenal.

Steph made her second Olympic appearance in Tokyo 2020, where Australia was drawn in a group with powerhouse teams Sweden, USA and New Zealand. Victory over New Zealand and a draw against USA saw Australia progress to the quarter-final stage of the tournament.

The Matildas furthered their medal hopes after defeating the United Kingdom 4-3 in a tense extra-time affair advancing into the semi-finals. Unfortunately for the second time in the tournament they lost to Sweden, and entered a bronze place rematch against the United States, where they narrowly missed a medal.

On the eve of the 2023 World Cup, Steph was happy to accept the captain’s armband when Sam was injured. Her first big test came when Australia were awarded a penalty in the 52nd minute of the opening match against Ireland. Sam would normally step up to the plate, but now it was Steph. And she nailed it, giving the Matildas a 1-0 win.

She scored again in Australia’s 4-0 win over Canada, again via a penalty.

Steph was in charge again when the Matildas decisively defeated Uzbekistan in home and away Olympic qualifiers in February 2023, ensuring the place at the Paris Olympics.

Having been part of a Matildas team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and fourth at the World Cup, Steph and a core group of teammates who are close to the end of their careers, saw Paris as a massive event.

“With this group we have come very, very close to achieving something physical,” Steph said. “At the last Olympics and the World Cup we finished fourth, and that’s something that sits pretty heavy within this group.

“We obviously are all getting a little bit older now and the opportunities for major tournaments is getting thinner, and we’re definitely very motivated to get something physical out of the last however-many years that we’ve built this team up to the point that we are now.

“I think the football we’ve played, especially over the last couple of years, we are competing with the best in the world consistently. And we want to continue to do that for as long as we can."

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Steph kept the captaincy role as 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 Steph scored twice, 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.