Perth International Football Cup: Matildas and global stars of the world game to light up football festival

Superstars of the women’s game — both Australian and overseas — are set to light up the HBF Park pitch as four major European clubs descend on WA for the Perth International Football Cup. Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, West Ham United and Leicester City will call Perth home for the next week to kick off the football festival. And while a quartet of Matildas have received top billing, several of the world game’s greatest players will be on show across the three dates at HBF Park. Off the back of the glow of last year’s Women’s World Cup, the three Women’s Super League teams and Premiere Ligue giants are excited to capitalise on the opportunity offered by the growth of women’s football. With less than a month to go until all four teams’ domestic seasons kick-off, the three-game pre-season tournament looms as a vital part of their preparations. Manchester City’s Matildas stars Mary Fowler and Alanna Kennedy have settled into pre-season preparations after they missed out on the WSL title by goal difference. Midfield maestro Katrina Gorry will be a key part of the Hammers’ side in Perth, while World Cup defender Courtney Nevin is part of the travelling Leicester squad. But this is not just the Matildas show. Take, for example, Vivianne Miedema, Manchester City’s new major signing from an Arsenal, the current record-holder for most goals in WSL history and one of the biggest stars of the women’s game over the past decade. Miedema is joined in City’s travelling party by English World Cup stars Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood and Japanese Olympians Aoba Fujino, Yui Hasegawa and Ayaka Yamashita. Also in Perth is Jamaican superstar Bunny Shaw, who netted 21 goals in just 18 games last season en route to the WSL golden boot award. Shaw told The West Australian she was taken aback by the fans lining the stands at last year’s World Cup and was excited to play in Australia once again. “I was surprised to see how many people were at every game. That was something that shocked me a bit, but it goes to show that whatever they’re doing over here is definitely working. “For women’s football, the sky’s the limit. Shaw said the growth of the women’s game hit home when she considered how the top stars were now role models to the next generation. “I didn’t really have someone that I could say, ‘oh, I see that person on TV multiple times to say I look up to that person,’” she said. “To see where we are now, having young girls and boys, kids looking up to us to say, I want to be like that person one day, gives me hope the game is growing rapidly.” It is not just City who have brought their big guns; PSG boast English goalkeeper and World Cup Golden Glove winner Mary Earps, American Olympic gold medalist Korbin Albert and four members of France’s Olympic team, including veteran midfielder Grâce Geyoro and star striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto. West Ham will boast former Perth Glory defender and Canadian international Shelina Zadorsky and American midfielder Kristie Mewis, while German World Cup forward Lena Petermann and Belgian great Janice Cayman are making the trip for Leicester.