Sofia Sakalis (born 11 July 2002) is an Australian soccer player currently playing for Perth Glory in the A-League Women. She has represented Australia in the Australia U-17 and Australia U-20. Sakalis plays in the attacking midfielder position.

Early life

Sakalis, who is of Greek-Australian background, showed interest in soccer at the age of three and began playing two years later. When she first started playing, coaches assigned her to teams with boys her age but advanced her to play with older boys. At age 13, her performance at the National Championships earned her call-ups to three training camps with the Junior Matildas, Australia's under-17 national team.

Playing career

Club

Melbourne City, 2017–2021

After training with

Melbourne City FC Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Professio ...

in 2015–16, Sakalis signed with the team for the 2017–18 season at the age of 15. She made her debut for the club during the team's 5–2 win over 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 Australian ...

on 12 November.

Perth Glory, 2021–present

Sofia signed a 2-year deal with Perth Glory ahead of the 2021–22 season.

International

Sakalis competed with the Junior Matildas at the

2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualification The 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualification was a women's under-16 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship. A total of 24 teams entered the qualification tournament, which deci ...

tournament in Vietnam where they finished first in their group with an undefeated record. During the team's first group match against Palestine, Sakalis scored five goals, and scored a total of 11 goals over 5 games. She was the top scorer at the qualifying tournament, helping Australia secure a place at the

2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship The 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship was the 7th edition of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's under-16 national teams of ...

in Thailand.

National Premier League

Sakalis was awarded Football Victoria's Gold Medal Award for the best player of 2022.

Honours

Sakalis was named 2016 Sport Stars of the Year with Olympic boxer

Jason Whateley Jason Eric Whateley (born 18 November 1990) is an Australian professional boxer. As an amateur, he competed in the men's heavyweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Whateley said that he is a supporter of the Australian football team Hawth ...

by the ''Whitehorse Leader''.

References

External links

Melbourne City player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakalis, Sofia Australian women's soccer players Living people Melbourne City FC (A-League Women) players Perth Glory FC (A-League Women) players A-League Women players 2002 births Women's association football midfielders