Steph Catley and her Arsenal teammates have the prime-time slot at Global Football Week, and although they won’t play on the biggest stage of all – the MCG – the Matildas captain is starting to dream of playing on that hallowed arena one day soon.
As a Melburnian, Catley is excited to venture Down Under with her WSL team alongside English men’s teams Tottenham Hotspur – coached by Ange Postecoglou – and Newcastle United for this week’s three-match soccer extravaganza that will also involve two A-League All Stars teams.
Steph Catley celebrates scoring for Arsenal.Credit: Getty
The fact the women’s match has later billing for Marvel Stadium’s Friday-night double-header is further proof of the growing popularity of women’s soccer in Australia.
“We [women] have often been used as curtain-raisers … especially in an Australia venue, and [traditionally] the reason we’ve had access to the main stadiums and the biggest stadiums is if the men are playing afterwards,” Catley said.
“It’s really nice to see that change, and I think it goes along with the times and the flow and the power of women’s football at the moment and where it’s at… it does feel like a little change in the tide a little bit.”
Catley added that while there was still a long way to go in terms of equality within the code, the prime double-header spot, along with the support shown for the Matildas during last year’s Women’s World Cup, proved the women’s game was on the rise.
Catley has been part of two recent sold-out Matildas clashes at Marvel Stadium, each boasting more than 50,000 fans: their final Olympic qualifier against Uzbekistan in February (54,120) and last year’s “send-off” match against France on the eve of the Women’s World Cup (50,629).
“That was sort of the real beginning of everything, wasn’t it?,” Catley said of the Matildas’ 1-0 victory over the French, at that point the world’s No.5 team.
“And now it’s been how ever many sell-outs (12) on the bounce.”
However, when the Arsenal women’s match was announced, some fans questioned why it wasn’t fixtured at the MCG, where Tottenham and Newcastle will clash on Wednesday.
Alex Chidiac helps unveil the uniform for the A-League All Stars at Marvel Stadium.Credit: Getty
“As a Melbourne girl, [I] love the MCG, love what it stands for, would absolutely love to play there one day. But in terms of this fixture, I think Marvel’s a good place to host it, and it should be a really good spectacle,” she said, noting that at the AFL-based stadium, everything feels enclosed and every touch and tackle elicits a reaction.
Melbourne Victory and Matilda Alex Chidiac, who will play for the A-League Women’s All Stars, was initially unaware the women had been assigned the later slot, assuming they’d play first.
The 2023-24 A-League Women’s season attracted 284,551 fans over 22 rounds – the competition’s first full home-and-away season – with an average attendance of 2200 per match, while at Catley’s Arsenal, the average attendance for the 2023-24 Women’s Super League season was about 35,006.
“I was like ‘Oh, that’s a late night for me’,” laughed Chidiac. “But no, it is really cool, though. So, hopefully a lot of fans stick around.”
Matildas stars Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Kyra Cooney-Cross lift the League Cup they won at Arsenal in March.Credit: Getty
When pointed out by reporters that many of those attending were coming specifically for the women’s game, Chidiac responded: “Oh, that’s cool.
“I’ve seen them (big crowds) for the Matildas, but I’ve not seen them for, I guess, an A-League show like this. And I mean, I’m kind of fangirling as well,” she added.
Arsenal’s 19-player squad for the trip to Melbourne was confirmed on Tuesday, with a slew of big names included, notably captain Kim Little, Alessia Russo, Katie McCabe, Cloe Lacasse and Frida Maanum, and the famed Matildas trio of Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Caitlin Foord.
However, some stars were left at home to manage their fitness, including Leah Williamson, Lia Walti, Stina Blackstenius, Beth Mead, Manu Zinsberger, Laia Codina and Lotte Wubben-Moy (injured).
England women’s coach Sarina Wiegman has publicly noted how close the Australian games run to her team’s Euro 2025 qualifiers against France at St James’ Park on May 31 and then away on June 4.
“I was surprised about that trip [to Australia]. I think for all the players, with an already complicated calendar, it’s not good for them to go to the other side of the world,” Wiegman said in late March.
“It’s very short term; not having the time to adapt and play a game and come back and go for us. I would say for every European player that goes into the qualifiers that’s a thing that will be hard for them to take, and to perform at the highest level.”
Catley, Cooney-Cross and Foord have been with Arsenal in London since February’s Australian team camp in San Antonio, Texas, where the Matildas beat Mexico 2-0 in a friendly.
It served as preparation for the Olympics in July, where Catley is now expected to lead the Matildas in the absence of injured skipper Sam Kerr.
The defender said it was challenging to mentally switch from club and country so quickly, and so often.
“It’s something I’ve grown into, and I’ve gotten a lot better [at],” she said.
“You often, especially coming back from country to club, really don’t have a lot of time, we often you know get in from flying from Australia.
“We land we have one day of training and then often we’ll play the next day, and you really have to just reset everything … it can be a little difficult, especially when tactically what you’re doing is opposite or just really, really different.”
Catley said the fact both her coaches – Tony Gustavsson at the Matildas and Eidevall for Arsenal – were Swedish eased some of those difficulties.
“There’s definitely aspects of their ideals that crossover and there’s nothing too dramatic where I’m really having to switch my brain over to a completely different style of play,” she said.
While having Foord and, sometimes, Cooney-Cross playing alongside her on the left side of the field in both squads was another handy point of consistency, Catley said.
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