Thea Kay Slatyer (born 2 February 1983) is an Olympian, and former member of the

Australia Women's National Football Team The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) si ...

, The Matildas. She was an intimidating, no-nonsense defender similar to Manchester United's Vidic. Slatyer was a tough tackler and very strong in the air. Thea last played for

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

in the Australian W-League in 2016.

Playing career

Club career

Slatyer played for

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Uni ...

(2006),

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 ...

(2009),

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 ...

(2011) and

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

(2012) in the Australian W-League before retiring in 2012. In 2015 Slatyer came out of retirement to join

, reuniting with former teammate and captain

Melissa Barbieri Melissa Anne Barbieri (born 20 February 1980) is an Australian international football goalkeeper who plays for Melbourne City in the A-League Women. She earned over 86 caps with the Australia women's national soccer team and competed at four ...

International career

After making her debut for

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 ...

in 2002 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada, Slatyer earned a total of 51 caps playing for the ''

Matildas The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) si ...

'', scoring three times. Slatyer debuted as a young Matilda in 2002, and represented Australia in the inaugural FIFA U19 World cup in Canada. After making selection in the 2003 World Cup team, Slatyer tore her ACL in a pre World Cup tour in Sendai Japan, ending World Cup participation. Slatyer returned to the Matildas and was selected in the 20-player 2004 Australian Olympic Team, competing in Athens. In June 2011, Slatyer was on the cover of the

Australian FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had e ...

Magazine along with fellow Matilda's

Sam Kerr Samantha May Kerr (born 10 September 1993) is an Australian professional football player who plays as a forward for Chelsea in the FA Women's Super League and the Australia women's national team (the ''Matildas''), which she has captained si ...

Kyah Simon Kyah Pam Simon (born 25 June 1991) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Tottenham Hotspur of the FA Women's Super League. In 2011, Simon became the first Indigenous Australian player to score a goal in a FIFA ...

and

Sarah Walsh Sarah Ann Walsh (born 11 January 1983) is a retired Australian soccer player who most recently captained Western Sydney Wanderers FC in Australia's W-League. She is a former member of the Australia women's national soccer team, the Matildas. ...

Working life

Thea is a NSW volunteer fire fighter, and previously worked as a sound engineer and DJ around Sydney. She continued her career as a mounted security patrol for the ATC, a

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, w ...

and security detail for various celebrities/prominent figures, and is a black belt in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

.Bodyguard to the stars a star to Matildas – www.theage.com.au
/ref> Thea currently works as an integrity inspection engineer in the marine, aerospace and energy sectors.

International goals

Honours

; With

* AFC Women's Asian Cup Winners:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

* 2009 Inaugural W League Tournament finalist * 2007 FIFA World Cup Finalists, China * AFC Women's Asian Cup runner up:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* 2004 Australian Olympic Team, Athens, Greece * 2003 FIFA World Cup Team Selection * 2002 Inaugural U19 FIFA World Cup Tournament finalist * Australian Institute of Sport * NSW Institute of Sport

References

External links

Interview with Four Four Two magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slatyer, Thea 1983 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Washington Freedom players Canberra United FC players Newcastle Jets FC (A-League Women) players Sydney FC (A-League Women) players Melbourne Victory FC (A-League Women) players A-League Women players Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Australia women's international soccer players Women's association football defenders Soccer players from Sydney Sportswomen from New South Wales Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Australian expatriate women's soccer players