Sarah Ann Walsh (born 11 January 1983) is an Australian former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who is Head of Women's Football at

Football Australia Football Australia is the sports governing body, governing body of Soccer in Australia, soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Au ...

. A forward, she played for the

Australia women's national soccer team The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...

from 2004 to 2012.

Early life

Walsh was born in Camden,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Playing career

Club

Women's Professional Soccer, 2009

Walsh was selected in the first round of the

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

league's international draft in 2009 by

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

. On 26 June 2009, Walsh was dealt to the

Saint Louis Athletica Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte ...

. She had played in 5 games, 4 of them being starts (351 minutes) before being traded. She also added a goal and an assist for Sky Blue FC.

Western Sydney Wanderers FC, 2012–13

In October 2012, it was announced that Walsh had signed for

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

in the Westfield W-League in Australia for the 2012–13 season. She was promptly elected captain by the team members.

International

Walsh represented Australia at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup was a women's football tournament for women's national teams from countries affiliated to the Asian Football Confederation. It was the 15th installment of the AFC Women's Asian Cup. Unlike the previous tournament ...

and the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

. On 30 August 2012, Walsh announced her international retirement and stated that her last game would be an upcoming friendly match against the United States on 19 September 2012. After scoring a goal in the friendly, Walsh ended her international career when she was substituted out in the 54th minute.

Sports administration and other roles

Walsh is a representative of the Professional Footballers Association's Matildas Delegates' Committee, alongside Melissa Barbieri,

Lauren Colthorpe Lauren Elizabeth Colthorpe (born 25 October 1985) is an Australian women's football (soccer) player who plays as a midfielder. Club career Colthorpe joined the Brisbane Roar for the inaugural season of the Westfield W-League in 2008, winning ...

, Heather Garriock and Kate McShea. On 20 January 2010, the Committee and

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

announced a new pay deal for the Matildas to take them through to the

2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held from 19–30 May at the Chengdu Sports Centre in China PR. The winners, Australia, runners-up, Korea DPR, and third-place team, Japan qualified for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. With this victory, Aus ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. , she is

's Head of Women's Football, Women's World Cup Legacy & Inclusion. In November 2021, she was appointed as co-chair of the inaugural

National Indigenous Advisory Group Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

of Football Australia. The group aims at supporting and increasing Indigenous participation in the game.

Personal life

Walsh began dating American soccer player

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC, OL Reign of the National Wom ...

in 2009 while they both played for the WPS. After approximately five years together, Rapinoe and Walsh ended their relationship in 2013. She has since married a woman named Toni Knowlson.

In popular culture

In June 2011, Walsh was on the cover of the Australian ''FourFourTwo'' magazine, along with fellow Matildas Melissa Barbieri,

Sam Kerr Samantha May Kerr (born 10 September 1993) is an Australian professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Women's Super League club Chelsea F.C. Women, Chelsea, and the Australia ...

, Thea Slatyer and Kyah Simon.

Career statistics

International goals

''Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

: * W-League Premiership:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* W-League Championship:

International

;

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

*
Australia Football player profile

Sydney FC player profile

Saint Louis Athletica player profile

Institute of Sport player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Sarah 1983 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Sydney FC (women) players Gotham FC players Saint Louis Athletica players Pali Blues players Australian lesbian sportswomen Australian LGBTQ soccer players Western Sydney Wanderers FC (women) players Olympic soccer players for Australia Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Australia women's international soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Women's association football forwards Women's Professional Soccer players Soccer players from Sydney Sportswomen from New South Wales Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Australian expatriate women's soccer players 21st-century Australian sportswomen