Kyah Simon was just a teenager when she made her debut for the Matildas. Sixteen years later she is still playing for Australia’s favourite football squad and is now tentatively prepping for the Paris 2024 Olympics. If she is selected, it won’t be her first Games – Simon represented Australia at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
The Anaiwan and Biripi woman has a long list of achievements on the field. Simon made history in 2011 when she became the first Indigenous Australian, male or female, to score at a Fifa World Cup. And she scored the winning penalty goal at the 2010 Asian Cup final, dramatically securing Australia’s victory. (Simon was part of the Tillies’ squad for the 2023 Fifa World Cup but was on the bench nursing a calf injury during that penalty shootout.)
