Junior Matildas announce extended squad for ASEAN U16 Girls Championship

CommBank Junior Matildas Head Coach Michael Cooper has confirmed a 33-player extended squad ahead of the ASEAN U16 Girls’ Championships 2025™ to be held in Indonesia from Monday, 18 August to Friday, 29 August.

The squad, which will be cut to 23 prior to the competition, were drawn in Group C earlier this week alongside Singapore and Thailand, with Group A featuring the host nation Indonesia, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste, and Group B made up of Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

The ASEAN U16 Girls’ Championships 2025™ will be the first time this group of CommBank Junior Matildas represent Australia, as well as their first international competition.

Michael Cooper said that every player in the squad has earnt their place and he is excited to lead the team in their first international competition.

“It is exciting for us to begin to lay the foundations for the next generation of CommBank Junior Matildas,” Cooper said.

“Over the last few months, the team and I have been watching and assessing emerging talent from across a range of Australia’s elite youth development pathways and the extended squad is a reflection of this.

“We’ve worked closely with Member Federations and clubs to ensure we’re casting the net wide and giving players the opportunity to show what they can bring to the national team setup. This has included talent identification at the CommBank Emerging Matildas Championships last week.

“With that said, the door is open for individuals not named in this extended squad to be part of the future of the Junior Matildas training camps and tournaments.

“What is key to me is that we have players and staff that buy into our culture where development, performance and growth is just as important off the pitch as on.

“We are keen to create a challenging and supportive environment within the CommBank Junior Matildas that inspires young players to dream big and to take ownership of their journey. It is important that every member of the team buys into this as well.

“Our role is to introduce the CommBank Junior Matildas to international competition, guide them through their first experience of representing Australia, while also preparing the team for the Qualifiers later this year.

“The ASEAN U16 Girls’ Championships 2025™ is the first crucial step in preparing for the upcoming AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup 2026™ and the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2026™, and it will help us identify the strengths of the group and how to best support them as we enter other international competitions.”

The ASEAN U-16 Women’s Championship is an international women’s youth football tournament organised by ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and this is its fifth edition.

Returning after a five-year hiatus, the 2025 AFF U16 Women’s Championship features nine participating teams, maintaining the number from previous editions held in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

A notable change this year is the group format: instead of two groups, the teams are now divided into three groups of three, playing in a single round-robin format. The top team from each group and the best-performing second-placed team will advance to the semi-finals.

COMMBANK JUNIOR MATILDAS | ASEAN U16 2025™ EXTENDED SQUAD | JULY 2025