History
The Australia women's national under-20 soccer team (later nicknamed Young Matildas) were established in the early 1990s. [1] Initially they were organised as an under-19 team, [2] : 16 which played a three-match series against New Zealand U19 in Australia in September 1991. [3] Another U19 squad toured Netherlands in 1998. [4] As a member of Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) the Young Matildas participated in the 2002 OFC Women's Under 19 Qualifying Tournament, held in Tonga from 23 April to 3 May. After winning their group matches against Tonga (hosts) 0–16 and Cook Islands (0–15) they defeated Samoa (13–0) in the semi-final and New Zealand (0–6) in the final. With that victory Australia U19 qualified for the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship (predecessor to U-20 Women's World Cup). [2] : 16 That tournament was held in Canada in August–September, [2] : 16 and the Young Matildas finished fifth. This is the highest finishing place in a FIFA sanctioned world-wide competition of any Australian women's national soccer team until the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, when the senior Matildas reached fourth. [2] : 16
In April 2004 with Adrian Santrac coaching, the team won the 2004 OFC Women's Under 19 Qualifying Tournament, where they defeated Solomon Islands 13–0, [5] and hosts Papua New Guinea 14–1, [6] to proceed to the U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand in November. [7] The Young Matildas were sent home after losing their quarterfinal 0–2 against United States. [7] [8]
Young Matildas became a U-20 team when FIFA changed the upper age limit for its top women's age-grade competition from 19 to 20 effective in 2006. Also during that year all Australian international soccer teams switched from OFC to Asian Football Confederation (AFC). [9] Alistair Edwards, as coach, took the team to the 2006 AFC U-19 Women's Championship in Malaysia in April, [10] where they finished third by defeating Japan 3–2 in the third place play-off. [11] Due to their performance, the Young Matildas qualified for the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship, held in Russia. [12] At that tournament Australia U20 were eliminated in the group stage. [13]
As the third-placed team for the 2006 tournament, the Young Matildas automatically qualified for 2007 AFC U-19 Women's Championship in Chongqing, China during October 2007. [14] With their 1–0 loss against Japan and a 2–1 loss against North Korea, the Australians were eliminated at the group stage and did not qualify for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. [14] The Young Matildas did not qualify for any U-19/U-20 world cup until 2022 when Leah Blayney coached the Australian squad in Costa Rica, where they were eliminated in the group stage. [15]
From 2013 to 2018, the Young Matildas represented their nation at successive AFF Women's Championships (later renamed ASEAN Women's Championships): a regional tournament for senior national teams in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). Australia U20's best performances were finishing runners-up in both 2013 and 2018. [16] [17] In the latter final, they lost 3-2 against three-time champion Thailand despite Mary Fowler's Player of the Match performance scoring both Australian goals - Fowler also won the Golden Boot for most goals (ten) in the tournament. [17] [18]
Blayney coached the squad, which qualified for the 2024 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup, held in Uzbekistan in March. [19] The Young Matildas reached the finals, finishing third by defeating South Korea, 1–0. [19] [20] New coach Alex Epakis oversaw their three victories in the 2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers for Group C, held during August 2025 in Tajikistan. [21] Young Matildas reached the related tournament, which is due in April 2026 in Thailand. [21]
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