Get to know Sam Kerr

Kerr comes from a big sporting family. Her grandfather Denzil, who was born in India to an English father, was a featherweight boxer, while her grandmother Coral played competitive basketball in Calcutta. Her father Roger and brother Daniel both became professional Australian rules football players, with the latter, a hard-hitting midfielder, inspiring the West Coast Eagles to back-to-back Grand Finals in the mid-noughties. Her mother Roxanne’s father and several other relatives, including Shaun McManus and Con Regan, also played Aussie rules, while an uncle, J.J. Miller, rode future Australian Racing Hall of Famer Galilee to glory in the 1966 Melbourne Cup.

Cathy Freeman, a national darling at the height of her galactic popularity, was Australia’s only shot at an Athletics medal at an Olympic Games they were proudly hosting. She had the weight of the sixth vastest country in the world on her shoulders, and that was evident as the camera panned on to her and 112,524 inside Stadium Australia erupted moments before the starter’s gun for the 400 metres final. ‘Our Cathy’, the foremost Aboriginal celebrity who had, in the words of onlooking Prime Minister John Howard, “done so much to break racial barriers”, simply had to do it. Freeman was third coming round the final bend. Befitting to the green, gold and silver superheroine’s bodysuit she was wearing, however, the 27-year-old hurtled past Katharine Merry and Lorraine Fenton to complete one of the most inspirational, emotional, iconic and ground-breaking performances in Olympic history.

“Cathy Freeman, I think she’s the sporting moment that really changed how I thought about sport,” Kerr, who had just turned seven when she watched that race, told FIFA. “Just watching how one person can be so focussed and have the weight of the nation on her back, that really appealed to me as a kid. I feel we can have a Cathy Freeman moment. Everyone knows where they were when Cathy ran that race.” Now Kerr and Co will attempt to ensure every Australian remembers where they were when they won the FIFA Women’s World Cup™.

“Growing up I was 100 per cent [Aussie rules] football,” said Kerr. “I hated soccer. I never had a soccer ball around the house. The West Coast Eagles, they were like movie stars. I remember being proud, feeling special that my brother played AFL. All I wanted to do was play football. If it was up to me, I would have stayed with football. I only started soccer at 12.” A year later future Matildas coach Alen Stajcic saw Kerr for the first time. “She got the ball in her own half and ran with it for about 70 metres before scoring a goal for Western Australia against Queensland. It's abnormal that a person can run the ball that far at 13 years of age against 15 and 16-year-olds who are the best in their state.”

Astonishingly, just three years after taking up soccer, a 15-year-old Kerr made her senior Australia debut against Italy. By contrast, several modern greats made their international bows in their 20s, including Abby Wambach (21 years old), Lucy Bronze (21), Megan Rapinoe (21), Jenni Hermoso (22) and Beth Mead (22). “Even at that age, with so little experience, she was up there with the best athletes on the team,” said then Australia coach Tom Sermanni. “It was clear she was an extraordinary talent.”

• WhatsApp was readying to be launched in the US. Instagram and iPads didn’t exist.

• Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) by Beyonce, Right Round by Flo Rida, Poker Face by Lady Gaga and Sober by Pink were flying high on singles’ charts across the world.

• Barcelona Femeni had yet to win a Liga F title or even participate in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. They are now the record eight-time Spanish queens and have conquered Europe in two of the past three seasons.

• Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Glee, Modern Family, Sherlock, The Good Wife, The Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead had yet to hit TV screens.

• Cristiano Ronaldo had just been crowned FIFA World Player of the Year for the first time. Lionel Messi had yet to seize the award.

• Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards at that month’s Oscars, with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Dark Night also successful at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

It is to the women’s game what Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘SIUUU’ is to the men’s: theatrical, entrancing, copycat-inspiring. Kerr taught herself how to backflip when she was nine and began using it to celebrate goals spontaneously. “It’s a spur-of-the-moment thing,” she told FIFA. “When it is a big match, or a big goal, it seems to happen. People always ask me when I'm going to do it and I never know. It is just pure emotion.” Chelsea initially attempted to stop her performing backflips for fear of injury, but have since embraced the move and immortalised it with a sign on Stamford Bridge.

Kerr’s pre-match meal is a pasta sandwich. Confused? “It’s just pasta in a sandwich – nothing else,” she explained. “People think it’s disgusting. “I have to sit in the same seat on the bus, on the plane. I drive our kit manager mad. I check all my socks, can't have any threads. Just got to be perfection in my socks.”

Kerr is widely regarded as the best header of a ball on the planet. “There’s no female who has the nous to get on the end of crosses and score headers like she does,” said Elise Kellond-Knight. In her first full season in the English Women’s Super League, Kerr smashed the record for headers in a season, netting nine in 22 appearances. Michelle Akers and Abby Wambach were both exceptional in the air, but they stood at 1.78m and 1.80m respectively. The fact that Kerr is just 1.67m and scores headers with military regularity is mind-blowing.

• Kerr is one of only three players to have scored more than three goals in a FIFA Women’s World Cup™ game, having been on target four times against Jamaica four years ago. Americans Michelle Akers and Alex Morgan netted five apiece against Chinese Taipei in 1991 and Thailand in 2019 respectively.

• Kerr outranked 50-goal Tim Cahill to become the highest-scoring player for Australia in January 2022. Formerly a winger, she now has 63 goals to her name, with 55 coming in her last 72 internationals.

• Kerr holds the American NWSL record for most goals in a season (18) and is the only player to register 10 or more goals in three straight campaigns, netting 17, 16 and 19 from 2017 to 2019. She also shares the record for most goals in a game (4) and netted the most hat-tricks in a season (2).

• Despite only playing in the NWSL for seven seasons – the likes of Alex Morgan and Christine Sinclair have had 11 campaigns – Kerr remains the competition’s 77-goal all-time leading markswoman.

• Kerr is amazingly the only player to have finished top goalscorer in three different leagues on three different continents. She has finished as a championship’s leading markswoman seven times in total.

• Kerr became the first female to make the global cover of the FIFA video-game series, appearing alongside Kylian Mbappe on the Ultimate edition of FIFA 23.

• Kerr finished top of The 100 Best Female Footballers in the World – a voted-for list compiled by The Guardian – for 2019. She has finished third, second, first, seventh, third and third over the last six years.

• Such is her esteem within her homeland that Kerr led the Australian delegation, which included the nation’s prime minister and governor-general, at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla in London on 6 May 2023.

• The forward became the first recipient of the Keys to the City of Perth in eight years in 2022. Previous recipients were Nobel Prize-winning scientists Professor Barry Marshall and Doctor Robin Warren, and the West Coast Eagles on becoming the first team outside of Victoria to win the AFL Premiership.

• Kerr recently became the first Australian and one of the first female footballers to be made into a LEGO figurine. “It’s a proud moment for me,” she said. “It might seem like something fun and silly, but it is honestly amazing and something I’ll probably have in my house when I’m older and remember forever. If we win the World Cup, I’ll be requesting an entire Matildas’ set.”

• Kerr has a boxer dog named Billie and a cat named Helen. “I’d say I’m more of a dog person,” she said. “Sorry Helen!”

• Sam listens to English DJs Dimension and Sub Focus to get her pumped up for games. If she hadn’t become a footballer, she would have liked to go into music producing.

• Her cheat foods are cheeseburgers and crème brûlée.

• Fellow Matildas Mackenzie Arnold, Caitlin Foord, Alanna Kennedy and Emily van Egmond are among her best friends.

• Sam loves coffee and has a big collection of trainers.

• Professional boxer and Aussie rules footballer Tayla Harris is a big Kerr fan. She even dressed up as the Matildas captain to participate in the Big Freeze 2023 in aid of motor neurone disease.

The East Freemantle native has co-written five children’s books alongside Fiona Harris in the Sam Kerr: Kicking Goals series. Published by the esteemed Simon & Schuster, the inspiring, enchantingly-illustrated works involve football, school, friendship, dealing with bullies and following your dreams.

The world discovered a footballing power couple in the aftermath of one of the most pulsating games in Olympic history. Kerr was on target, but braces from Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd inspired USA to a 4-3 victory in the bronze-medal match at the Tokyo Games. Desolate, the Australia captain sunk to the Kashima turf, where she was warmly comforted by American Kristie Mewis, sparking rumours of a romance, which the pair soon confirmed. Kerr and Mewis had competed against one another before, but began communicating via social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was about three or four months until we could hang out in person,” explained Kerr. “Because of restrictions, the first time we met we had to spend two weeks together. It would have been awkward if we hadn’t like each other!” “It’s confusing because my girlfriend and my sister are both called Sam and their middle names are May and June!” said Mewis, laughing. Despite living in London and New Jersey respectively, the couple are happier than ever. Can you imagine what it would be like if they squared off in the FIFA Women’s World Cup final at Stadium Australia?

Kate Gill – 15 goals in 2007 Sarah Walsh – 14 in 2007 Sam Kerr – 12 goals in 2022 Sam Kerr – 11 in 11 in 2017 Sam Kerr – 11 in 11 in 2019

“It’s hard to believe what she does. Even though I’ve seen it over and over again, it’s still hard to believe. She’s a joke.” Steph Catley “She’s phenomenal. I don’t know how many decades we’ll wait to see another Sam Kerr. I think when I looked back on my career, coaching her will be my greatest privilege.” Ante Milicic “I’ve never seen a centre forward move as much as her. She’s a nightmare to defend. Her energy levels, it’s like she’s a 12-year-old. It’s infectious. But her qualities, that’s her ability. I don’t know a striker in world football that can do what she does. She’s the best.” Emma Hayes “Sammy's got everything. She is tremendously fast. Her speed change is astronomical – I haven't seen anything like it, especially in a female footballer.” Bobby Despotovski “Her speed and mobility are the best in the world, and her awareness of space and how to use it are extraordinary and very instinctual.” Alen Stajcic “It’s just having that kind of bat sonar in the box, to know where the goal is and to be able to make a strike on it without having that little bit of doubt of, ‘Should I pass or shoot?’. She’s really honed her sense of when to go for goal, and you’ve seen that with some of the goals she scored from outlandish positions.” Moya Dodd “I think you could argue that Sam was the best player in the world when she was in the US. She had the speed, the power, the ability, she was amazing in the air. But I think since she moved to England she’s taken her game to a whole new level. Her decision-making and composure in the final third is now exceptional." Tom Sermanni “She’s fantastic. I think she's just got better and better. In her younger days, a lot of her success came from her strength, speed and athleticism. I think as she's grown as a player, she's become very, very clinical around the goal. She's become a very, very complete player, one of the best in the world. I think she’s clearly in the conversation for the very best in the world. She scores great goals, she scores those [scrappy] goals. She has that something special that very few players have. Her game is at an extremely high level.” Randy Waldrum “Sam Kerr is fantastic. I wish I was allowed to select her for us!” Graham Arnold on wanting to select Kerr for the Socceroos