Lydia Williams, the most enduring player for the CommBank Matildas, has announced she will retire from international football.
At the conclusion of Australia’s Paris 2024™️ Olympic Games campaign, Williams will bring down the curtain on a storied international career that commenced on 28 July 2005 and has currently spanned 103 international matches and close to 19 years.
As a proud Noongar woman, Williams (cap #138) is one of only two footballers to represent Australia at senior FIFA tournaments on five occasions (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023). The CommBank Matildas veteran has also donned the gloves at six AFC Women’s Asian Cups (2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022), two Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournaments (2016, 2020), and the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
Williams made history as the first Australian female goalkeeper and only the second Indigenous footballer after Kyah Simon to surpass 100 international caps.
During her peak, she was renowned as one of the world's leading goalkeepers, garnering numerous accolades including multiple W-League/A-League Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year awards, PFA Women’s Footballer of the Year, induction into the Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame and named in the IFFHS AFC Women’s Team of the Decade (2011-2020).
Most recently, Williams was a valued member of the CommBank Matildas' squad who finished a historic fourth at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™️ on Australian soil.
Reflecting on her international career and its considerable moments, Williams shared: “After a lot of thought and discussion with my family and friends, now seems like the right time to announce I will be stepping away from international football following the end of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“It has
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