Matildas superstar Sam Kerr hopes her recognition in the Australia Day honours list enables more female high achievers to be acknowledged both in and out of the sporting arena.
Kerr was one of 30 sportsmen and women who received Medals of the Order of Australia in this year's list for her service to football.
The 28-year-old last week eclipsed Socceroo great Tim Cahill to become the all-time Australian goalscorer in international football with five goals as the Matildas kicked off their Women's Asian Cup campaign in India with an 18-0 rout of Indonesia.
It continues a remarkable 12 months for the West Australian, which has included multiple trophies with English club Chelsea, including two goals in an FA Cup final triumph at Wembley in December.
Kerr was also the FA Women's Super League golden boot in Chelsea's title-winning 2020-21 season before captaining Australia to a historic fourth-place finish at last year's Olympics.
"It's really important that females get recognition for whatever they're doing," Kerr said.
"Now the times have changed and we're getting more and more recognition but we've got to keep breaking down barriers and that's what things like this are for, to give people belief and give females that confidence to do what they love and do what they're passionate about and do it with conviction.
"I feel like for so long people haven't been recognised, especially in female sport, so it's nice to kind of break down those barriers and hopefully there's many more females to be recognised for the work that they do."
As well as her footballing ambitions, including this month's Asian Cup and next year's Women's World Cup on home soil, Kerr hopes to use her honour to achieve goals outside the game.
"There's so many communities that don't have the resources to have young girls and boys grow up and play sport so I would love to get into that," she said.
"Even in Asia, being here in India, it's been amazing to see the growth and how interested people are in women's sport.
"I would love to tap into my Indian heritage and help Asian girls grow up but also Australia I'd love to help there be more pathways for young girls and boys in football."
