Australia’s U-23 Women’s National Team Head Coach Melissa Andreatta has finalised the 24-player squad who will participate in the Four Nations Tournament in Växjö, Sweden later this month.
To be held during the May/June FIFA Women’s International Window at Visma Arena and Värendsvallen, Australia will feature in three friendly fixtures against the U-23 women’s national teams of Sweden (29 May), Germany (1 June) and Poland (4 June).
The squad for the tournament features a heavy Liberty A-League Women’s flavour with 21 of the 24 players having played their football in the recent season representing ten different clubs. Premiership Winners’ Melbourne City FC lead the contingent with five representatives including the 2023-24 A-League Women Young Footballer of the Year, Daniela Galic.
Named among the squad are two Greek Australians including defender Alexia Apostolakis (Western Sydney Wanderers FC / Football NSW) and forward Peta Trimis (Central Coast Mariners FC / Football NSW).
2023-24 A-League Women Goalkeeper of the Year, Morgan Aquino earns her first call up at U-23 level, while 11 members of the CommBank Young Matildas AFC U-20 Women’s Asian Cup 2024™ bronze medal winning squad also feature in the final selections.
Fresh from assisting Crystal Palace FC Women in earning promotion for next year’s Women’s Super League season, defender Polly Doran heads up the overseas-based cohort alongside Tottenham Hotspur FC Women forward Milly Boughton and Sporting De Huelva forward, Anna Margraf.
Head Coach Melissa Andreatta stated that the selections reflected the efforts of the players during the recent Australian and European season.
“This is a squad of players that have put their hand up for this fantastic opportunity to play high quality nations through their performances in the recent A-League Women and European football seasons,” Andreatta explained.
“That 10 of the 12 A-League clubs are represented speaks to the evenness of the competition this season and is recognition of the developmental work that is being undertaken week in and week out.
“Excitingly, with this roster there are a significant number of players that are in-form and showing high potential to be a future CommBank Matilda. Now it is about taking this opportunity to challenge and test themselves against some of the best in Europe, which has been at the global forefront of women’s football development in recent years.”
Several players eligible for the age group have not been brought into selection contention with Sarah Hunter, Charlie Rule and Amy Sayer all unavailable through injury. A number of other players are in contention for various other women’s national team activity across the age groups resulting in their absence.
“With Sharn Freier and Kaitlyn Torpey making their debuts in the last two FIFA international windows, recently we have seen the U-23 program demonstrating its purpose in developing players and giving them the skills physically mentally, technically and tactically to step into the senior team environment,” Andreatta said.
“To bring the group together as we prepare for three strong matches will be brilliant experience for the players and will expose them to what is required to push on in their careers.
“We hope through the hard work of the staff and the players themselves, we can give more players the opportunity to perform at a high level and to earn future senior national team recognition down the track.”
Players and staff of the U-23 Women’s National Team squad will commence their camp in Sweden on Thursday, 23 May 2024.
