Michelle Pearl Heyman (born 4 July 1988) is an Australian soccer player and commentator who currently plays for Canberra United in the W-League in Australia. She became the all-time record goalscorer in the W-League in March 2021, after scoring her 73rd goal. She has previously played for W-League teams

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The ...

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was ...

, and

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

as well as the Western New York Flash in the American

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

. Heyman has represented Australia since 2010, playing at the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup, the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

and the 2016 Summer Olympics. In May 2019 she retired from international football.

Club career

Heyman began playing at the age of 11 with the Warilla Wanderers. She later played for Port Kembla FC and Shellharbour City before signing with Illawarra Stingrays in the New South Wales Women's Super League (now NPL NSW Women's). She has returned to play for the Stingrays several times between W-League seasons. Prior to the beginning of the 2008–09 W-League season, Heyman trialled for

. Out of 120 triallists, she was one of only ten to be signed by the club. Heyman signed from Sydney FC in the off-season to join Central Coast Mariners. On her debut for the Mariners, Heyman scored a double against her old club, Sydney FC. In 2009, Heyman won the Golden Boot award for most goals scored during the League season along with the

Julie Dolan Medal The Julie Dolan Medal is awarded annually to the player voted to be the best player in the highest women's soccer league in Australia. The medal has been presented for players in the W-League and previously the Women's National Soccer League (WN ...

as the 2009 W-League player of the year. In 2010, Heyman signed with Canberra United. During the

2011–12 W-League The 2011–12 W-League season was the fourth season of the W-League, the Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Aus ...

season, she was the leading goal-scorer in the league as Canberra United won the W-League premiership/championship double. Heyman spent five months in 2012 playing in Denmark for

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was pr ...

. She returned to Canberra United in time for the start of the

2012–13 W-League The 2012–13 W-League season was the fifth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's football (soccer) competition. The season consisted of twelve matchdays followed by a finals series. This season saw the addition of a new te ...

season. On 9 July 2015, Heyman signed with US side Western New York Flash where she played nine matches in the

2015 National Women's Soccer League season The 2015 National Women's Soccer League season was the third season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2 ...

. In 2016, rejoined the Illawarra Stingrays in the NPL NSW Women's competition during the W-League off-season. On 21 July 2018 it was announced that Heyman was leaving Canberra United after eight seasons. She made 93 appearances for Canberra, and scored 56 goals. She won the Golden Boot twice, and won two Championship Titles and three Premierships. On 24 August 2018

announced they had signed Heyman to a one-year contract for the 2018–19 W-League Season. At the end of the season, Heyman left Adelaide. After a season not playing soccer, Heyman returned to the W-League, signing with Canberra United.

International career

Heyman made her debut for the national team in 2010. She was part of the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup squad that finished the tournament as runners-up. Heyman played five matches for Australia at the

. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Heyman played four matches for the Australian team that was eliminated in the quarter finals. Heyman was named to the Matildas squad for the

2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was originally schedul ...

, but she did not appear in any matches. Australia finished Runner-up to Japan and qualified for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

. In May 2019 she announced her retirement from international football.

Career statistics

International goals

''Scores and results list Australia's score first.''

Honours

International

Australia * AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 2016 Rio Summer Olympics 2016

Club

; Canberra United * W-League Premiership: 2011–12, 2013–14 * W-League Championship: 2011–12,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Individual

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

* W-League Golden Boot:

, 2011–12

Personal life

Heyman is openly lesbian. She was the only openly gay Australian athlete at the 2016 Olympics.

References

External links

*
Matildas player profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyman, Michelle 1988 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Sydney FC (A-League Women) players Central Coast Mariners FC (A-League Women) players Canberra United FC players Adelaide United FC players Lesbian sportswomen Australian LGBT soccer players Australian LGBT sportspeople A-League Women players Australia women's international soccer players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportswomen from New South Wales Soccer players from New South Wales Women's association football forwards Western New York Flash players Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States National Women's Soccer League players Olympic soccer players of Australia