The Matildas have been named one of the ‘gayest’ teams in the FIFA World Cup for having one of the highest representations of LGBTQ+ players in the competition.
Pink News gave the Matildas the title ahead of Australia’s match against England on Wednesday night.
The Matildas lost their first-ever semi-final game 1-3 and will play Sweden on Saturday for a chance at third place in the World Cup.
Women’s professional soccer football has long been more inclusive of LGBQT+ players than men’s football, and the Matildas tied with the Brazil team for the most openly queer players in the 2023 World Cup.
See below for your guide to the Matildas’ LGTBQ+ players and couples.
Kyah Simon
Kyah Simon became the first Indigenous Australian to score a goal in a FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2011.
The history-making striker is dating footballer and Reading FC defender Faye Bryson.
Earlier this year, she opened up on how the Matildas ‘comforted’ her as she prepared to come out.
‘I did have like-minded teammates who had similar or the same experiences as I did, whether it was parents who were, you know, welcoming with that news or that experience, or whether it was the opposite,’ Kyah told Elle Australia earlier this year.
‘So, I think I probably found people who were going through the same thing, which gave me a little bit of comfort with that, even though it didn’t go down as smoothly as I would hope in my own home life.’
Indigenous Matildas player Kyah Simon (left) is dating footballer and Reading FC defender Faye Bryson (right)
Sam Kerr
Sam Kerr is in a relationship with American football star Kristie Mewis, who is a midfielder on the US squad.
The sporting couple went public with their romance in 2021, according to Marie Claire Australia.
While they haven’t squared off against each other on the World Cup pitch this year – due to the US team being knocked out by Sweden – they’ve previously faced one another.
It was after the 2021 FIFA World Cup, for instance, that rumours began to arise about a relationship between the pair, after Mewis comforted Kerr post-match when the US defeated Australia.
Sam Kerr is in a relationship with American football star Kristie Mewis (pictured together above), the couple went public with their romance in 2021
Alex Chidiac
Alex Chidiac, 24, currently splits her time between Australia, where she plays for Melbourne Victory, and the USA, where she stars for Racing Louisville.
She has been in a relationship with Erin Clout, a player relations manager for Professional Footballers Australia, since 2019, according to PinkNews.
The stunning couple often take to Instagram to share loved-up photographs of themselves together.
It has been a rollercoaster four years for Alex since she was controversially left out of Australia’s squad for the 2019 World Cup, with previous management not agreeing with Chidiac’s decision to play in Spain with Atletico Madrid.
Alex Chidiac (left) began dating Erin Clout (right), a player relations manager for Professional Footballers Australia, in 2019
Emily Gielnik
Australian footballer Emily Gielnik, 31, who is a reserve on the team today, plays as a forward for Aston Villa.
She has been with her fiancée Temica Sayer for eight years. But heartbreakingly, for much of that time she didn’t feel comfortable telling the world about it.
Gielnik recently revealed that there were many ‘dark times’ in her personal life, because, given her family upbringing, she didn’t feel comfortable coming out.
‘My mum being Croatian… being gay was frowned upon, so I never saw how I was going to come out and tell my family,’ she said on the Disney+ documentary, Matildas: The World At Our Feet.
‘So I tried everything to live this lie for years. There was a lot of dark times.’
‘To be honest, if I didn’t have football, I don’t really know what other outlet I would have had,’ she said. ‘Football was the saving grace. The Matildas is a support system around everyone being equal and open, and I finally realised you love who you love.’
And she is head over heels in love with Sayer – with the documentary capturing the heartwarming moment that changed her life forever.
When the Matildas were set to go into camp ahead of two friendlies against Canada during August and September last year, Gielnik flew in from the UK one day early so she could propose to Sayer.
Australian footballer Emily Gielnik (left) who is a reserve on the team today, plays as a forward for Aston Villa. She has been with her fiancée Temica Sayer (right) for eight years
Courtnee Vine (left) is currently dating her Sydney FC teammate, Charlotte Mclean (right)
Cortnee Vine
Outside of the World Cup, Courtnee Vine plays for Sydney FC.
She is currently dating her Sydney teammate, Charlotte Mclean.
Tameka Yallop
Australian Matildas Tameka Yallop has previously opened up about feeling forced to repress her sexuality in the early parts of her career.
Thankfully, the Aussie was able to be comfortable in her own skin after meeting New Zealand international Kirsty Yallop – who she then married in 2017. Their daughter Harley was born in August 2020.
‘I felt for a long time it (sexuality) had to be suppressed and not really made common knowledge,’ Yallop told News Corp earlier this year.
‘It probably wasn’t until I met Kirsty that I was able to talk about it and felt we had each other and we would support each other in whatever was said or maybe looked down upon, or if we did come into any hurdles.’
Australian Matildas Tameka Yallop (left) married New Zealander Kirsty Yallop (right) in 2017
Larissa Crummer announced her secret elopement to her wife, Jodie, last week (pictured, the ceremony)
Larissa Crummer
Larissa Crummer came out alongside Matildas teammate Tameka Yallop and announced her secret elopement to her wife, Jodie, last week.
‘A month ago we eloped!,’ she captioned a pair of sweet photos from the ceremony.
‘It’s something we were always going to do and there is nothing better then a cheeky surprise for everyone. I love you Jods, forever won’t be long enough.’
Emily van Egmond
Currently in the USA playing her trade for San Diego in the NWSL when not starting for the Australian squad, Emily Van Egmond recently got engaged to partner Kat Thompson.
The footballer popped the question to her digital creator girlfriend during a romantic proposal by the ocean in California.
Constantly looking loved-up in photographs shared online, the couple told New Idea they were ‘aiming for the summer’ for their wedding date.
Mackenzie Arnold
Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold is currently in a relationship with Scottish footballer Kirsty Smith.
The pair – who have been dating since 2022 – are teammates as they both play for West Ham.
Emily van Egmond (left) recently got engaged to partner Kat Thompson (right) in a romantic proposal by the ocean in California
Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold (left) is currently in a relationship with Scottish footballer Kirsty Smith (right)
Katrina Gorry
When she’s not repping Australia at the World Cup, Katrina Gorry plays as a midfielder for Swedish team Vittsjö GIK.
It was there she met her now fiance Clara Markstedt. The pair were engaged in June after 13 months of dating.
Markstedt’s father passed just two days before the Matildas’ quarter-final game against France last Saturday.
In tribute, all the Matildas wore a black armband.
Gorry is the proud mum of her two-year-old daughter, Harper.
Last week she told MamaMia the process she faced undergoing IVF as a single woman.
She underwent the treatment in Norway in 2021 between competitions.
‘I was ready to start a family,’ she said.
‘I [also] knew that if I was trying to go for the Olympic Games, then maybe I wouldn’t be 100 per cent in it. So I decided I would let the universe decide for me.’
Chloe Logarzo (left) announced her long-term partner McKenzie Berryhill (right) had said yes to her marriage proposal in August 2021
Chloe Logarzo
Chloe Logarzo, 28, who is a midfielder for Australian club Western United and the Matildas, announced her engagement to her former Washington Spirit teammate McKenzie Berryhil in 2021.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the launch of the A-League Women’s season in November 2022, Logarzo said she isn’t pushing any agendas – but just being true to herself.
‘I grew up not knowing anyone who was gay, literally not knowing a single soul, even though clearly they existed.
‘I didn’t have an avenue to express my true self and I felt like I was on my own,’ she said of her upbringing in Sydney during the late ’90s and early 2000s.
‘I don’t want to share an advocate in a way that I’m pushing it on people. I just live my life without lying to people about it, because I don’t want to hide who I really am.
‘If you want to get offended by something, you can be offended, but that’s on you and it’s your choice – it’s not a reflection on me. I’m just living my life and bringing a positive attitude… (and) putting back into the world what I would want to see.’
Unfortunately, despite being so comfortable in her own skin now and trying to be a role model for the next generation, it wasn’t always so easy.
‘I’d come out as gay to my parents when I was 17. They were a bit stunned and didn’t show emotion either way,’ Logarzo wrote for the Athlete’s Voice in 2018.
‘That wasn’t good enough for me. I took it to mean they didn’t approve when all they were really trying to do – as I realised much later – was deal with the initial shock and process what I’d told them.’
Ellie Carpenter (left) and partner Danielle van de Donk (right) can often be seen taking in the sights of Europe when they’re not on the field
Ellie Carpenter
Hailing from the tiny farming town of Cowra in central-west NSW, Ellie Carpenter is now a certified globetrotter, having played in the US and France, where she is a lynchpin in football’s most successful women’s club side, Olymipique Lyonnais.
She’s a two-time Champions League winner, PFA Women’s Footballer of the Year and won the French league three times, all while retaining her wicked sense of humour, a twinkle in her eye and a relentlessly sunny attitude – albeit with a little more Versace.
The self-confessed foodie has just bought a house in Lyon with partner and teammate Danielle van de Donk (who will play for Netherlands at this World Cup).
She can often be seen on her Instagram feed taking in the many gourmet eateries in the famous town, or at exotic European locations if she isn’t on the pitch.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk