sport

For star Matildas veteran Lisa De Vanna and other Australian players, the worldwide shutdown of soccer is having devastating consequences – both financially and psychologically.

Where once Australia’s soccer success rode on the shoulders of European migrants, a new generation of African Australians has started to kick serious goals.

While the recent Matildas pay deal is a welcome boost for gender equality in sport, women athletes – Ash Barty aside – still have a long way to go to reach equal pay with their male counterparts.

An early exit from the FIFA Women’s World Cup left the Matildas bitterly disappointed. But for Indigenous goalkeeper Lydia Williams it just offers another opportunity to overcome adversity.

After a tumultuous few months marred by speculation and scrutiny, the Matildas’ fightback against Brazil showed a team determined to prove its critics wrong.

As firm friends playing soccer in Spain’s women’s league, Australians Aivi Luik and Alex Chidiac both have a higher honour in their sights – a spot in the Matildas’ World Cup squad.

How politics, power struggles and the 2022 FIFA World Cup are all at play in the detention of Melbourne-based soccer player and Bahraini refugee Hakeem al-Araibi.

The dumping of Matildas coach Alen Stajcic has polarised Australia’s soccer community, with claims of everything from a psychological damaging team culture to a manipulative ‘lesbian mafia’.

Teenage futsal player Zahli Currie on international competition and the Deadly Dancers.