Mary Boio Fowler (born 14 February 2003) is an Australian soccer player who plays for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and the Australian national team. Mainly a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, she has also been used as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

recently.

Early life

Mary Boio Fowler was born on 14 February 2003 in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Club career

Adelaide United

Fowler made her W-League debut for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

in the first game of the 2019–20 season. She scored her first goal in that game in a 2–1 loss against

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

Montpellier

In January 2020, Fowler signed for French Ligue 1 club

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current i ...

on a 3-year contract after an undisclosed transfer fee was paid. She made her debut against Olympique Lyonnais in February 2020. The French league was subsequently abandoned after the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. Th ...

. The 2020–21 season saw the young striker received significant playing time. As of 1 June 2021 she had made 22 appearances for her club, starting 15 of them and scoring 5 goals. She was named to ESPN's 21 under 21, an international list of footballers representing the next generation of talent, in May 2021.

Manchester City

In June 2022, Fowler signed a four-year contract with English

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

club

International career

2018 Tournament of Nations

In 2018, Fowler was added to the Australian squad for the

Tournament of Nations The Tournament of Nations was a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's soccer in non-World Cup and non-Olympic years hosted by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) in several American cities. The inaugural tournament ...

. She made her debut late in the game against Brazil, thus becoming the fifth youngest player for the Matildas at 15 years and 162 days. She was again used as a substitute in Australia's friendlies against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and France later in the year, but was unavailable for the matches against Chile to attend trials with the first teams of

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

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and

, who all wanted to sign her. She also attended sprint and power training sessions in Manchester with coach Mick Clegg. Fowler has received wide praise for her abilities as a player, with coach

Alen Stajcic Alen Stajcic (born 2 November 1973) is a former Australian soccer player and is the head coach of the Philippines women's national football team. While as a footballer he was a NSW Premier League player and an Australian Youth Representative. S ...

said that she has "probably got the most weapons I've seen from a young player her age in women's football".

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup

Fowler was called up to the Australian squad for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

2020 Summer Olympics

Fowler was selected to the Australian squad for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. She made her Olympic debut as a substitute in a

Group G Group G may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing * One of eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group G ** 2018 FIFA World Cup Group G ** 2014 FIFA World ...

match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The Matildas advanced to the quarter-finals with one victory and a draw in the group stage. In the quarter-finals against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, which ended in a 4–3 win for Australia after extra time, Fowler scored a goal in the 104th minute. However, they lost 1–0 to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the semi-finals and lost 4–3 in the bronze medal match to the United States.

Personal life

Fowler's father is originally from the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

and her mother is from

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Her siblings are also talented soccer players, with her brother Caoimhin and sister Ciara both having played for Irish youth teams. Ciara has also played for the Australian under-20 team. Fowler began her professional career together with Ciara when they were both signed by Adelaide United in the same year. They played together professionally for the first time in the first match of the 2019–20 season when Ciara came on as an 85th-minute substitute. This was the debut for both sisters.

Career statistics

Club

KNVB Women's Cup The KNVB Women's Cup ( nl, KNVB Beker voor Vrouwen) is the cup competition for women's football in the Netherlands. The competition was established in 1980, along with the KNVB Amateur Cup. From the 2007-08 season onwards, the first round of th ...

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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Mary 2003 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Australia women's international soccer players Women's association football forwards Adelaide United FC (A-League Women) players Montpellier HSC (women) players Manchester City W.F.C. players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Australian expatriate women's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian people of Irish descent Australian people of Papua New Guinean descent Sportspeople from Cairns Soccer players from Queensland Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of Australia Sportswomen from Queensland Women's Super League players Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's footballers in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands