Karly Roestbakken ( no, Karly Røstbakken, born 17 January 2001) is an Australian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Melbourne City in the

A-League Women A-League Women (known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Federatio ...

in Australia.

Club career

Canberra United

On 26 November 2016, Roestbakken made her professional debut aged 15 in a W-League match against the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

. In Canberra's next match, Roestbakken came on as a half-time substitute and became the second-youngest goalscorer in W-League history when she netted an 83rd-minute winner in a 2–1 victory over Melbourne City. She continued to play as part of the Canberra United Academy side in the NPLW Capital Football league, captaining the team to a Federation Cup Final in 2018. By the beginning of her third season, a high level of roster turnover meant she was the second longest serving Canberra player that season behind Nickoletta Flannery. In December 2018, Roestbakken was nominated for the W-League young footballer of the year, eventually winning the award. For the 2019-20 season, Roestbakken was appointed the co-captain of Canberra United alongside Nikola Orgill. She was 18 years old at the time of the appointment.

LSK Kvinner

In April 2020, Roestbakken transferred to the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

champions,

LSK Kvinner FK LSK Kvinner Fotballklubb is a Norwegian women's football club from Lillestrøm. They currently play in Toppserien, the top division of Norwegian football. The club was founded as Setskog/Høland Fotballklubb on 10 October 1989. History The cl ...

. Although due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

there was uncertainty about when she could join her new team due to the border closures. She debuted for the Norwegian club in the first game of the

2020 Toppserien The 2020 Toppserien was the 34th season of the highest women's football league in Norway. The season was to start initially on 21 March 2020 but due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed. It finally commenced on 3 July 2020 and e ...

season on 3 July, playing the full 90 minutes against Rosenborg. On 14 October 2020, Roestbakken extended her contract with LSK Kvinner until the end of the

2022 Toppserien The 2022 Toppserien is the 36th season of the highest women's football league in Norway. The season started on 20 March 2022. Format This season is the first with a new play-off system. It was set to be introduced in the 2020 season, but it was ...

season.

Loan to Canberra United

On the eve of the

2021–22 A-League Women The 2021–22 A-League Women, known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the fourteenth season of the A-League Women, the Australian national women's association football competition originally known as the W-League until the pr ...

season, Roestbakken was loaned back to

Canberra United Canberra United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the southern Canberra suburb of Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 2008 by Capital Football, the club was an inaugural member of the W-League and t ...

for a season.

Melbourne City

In October 2022, Roestbakken joined

club Melbourne City.

International

In 2018, Roestbakken was called up to the Australia Under-20 squad. She was 16 at the time. She was part of the team that qualified for the

2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship The 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship was the 10th edition of the AFC U-19 Women's Championship, the biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's und ...

, winning all six of their

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

games. On 6 June 2019, Roestbakken was promoted from the standby list to the senior

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

squad for the 2019 World Cup, replacing the injured

Laura Alleway Laura Colleen Gloria Brock (; born 28 November 1989) is an Australian soccer player who plays for EA Guingamp in the Division 1 Féminine. She made her debut for the national team in 2010. Club career Melbourne Victory, 2008–2010 Allew ...

. Her U20 manager,

Gary van Egmond Gary Rudy Peter van Egmond (born 29 June 1965) is an Australian former soccer player and former head coach of Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Playing career Van Egmond began his playing career with APIA Leichhardt in 1982. It was not until he ...

, also acts as assistant with the senior team and had previously hinted at her chances of making the squad despite being uncapped, praising the teenager's work rate, technique and desire for the game. She made her senior debut as a

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

substitute in Australia's second group game of the World Cup, a 3–2 victory over

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Personal life

Roestbakken's father, Jack, played semi-professional football in the

2. divisjon The Norwegian Second Division, also called 2. divisjon and often referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the third-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. There are 28 teams divided into two groups, and at the ...

of his native

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

before moving to Australia. Her older brother, Sam Roestbakken, is also a footballer and most recently played with NPL1 team Monaro Panthers. She attended

Merici College , motto_translation = , location = , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Australian Capital Territory , pushpin_image = , pushpin_mapsize = 240 , pushpin_map_alt = , pushp ...

and graduated in 2018.

Career statistics

Club

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roestbakken, Karly Living people 2001 births Australian women's soccer players Women's association football midfielders Canberra United FC players LSK Kvinner FK players Melbourne City FC (A-League Women) players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Australia women's international soccer players Toppserien players Australian expatriate women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Australian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Australian people of Norwegian descent People from Queanbeyan Sportswomen from New South Wales Soccer players from New South Wales