{"id":562196,"date":"2026-03-25T00:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562196\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T00:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:25:09","slug":"football-australia-vows-high-quality-matildas-opponents-in-lead-up-to-2027-womens-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562196\/","title":{"rendered":"Football Australia vows high-quality Matildas opponents in lead-up to 2027 Women’s World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football Australia has vowed to schedule Matildas fixtures against elite countries ahead of next year’s World Cup, after agreeing on their participation in a friendly tournament in April featuring two sides ranked outside FIFA’s top 100.<\/p>\n

FIFA announced on Tuesday that Australia would play in a friendly series in Nairobi in their first matches since last Saturday’s heartbreaking 1-0 Asian Cup final loss to Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia, ranked 15th in the world, will face number 153 Malawi and then, assuming they are victorious, take on the winner of the other game between 67th-ranked India and hosts Kenya, ranked 134th.<\/p>\n

With a little more than 15 months to go until next year’s World Cup, coach Joe Montemurro stressed in the aftermath of the loss to Japan<\/a> the need for his side to play higher-quality opponents in the lead-up to Brazil 2027.<\/p>\n

Matildas need a grand plan to stave off end-of-an-era concerns<\/a><\/p>\n

The Women’s Asian Cup has shown that without a grand plan for the future of women’s football and a willingness to stick to it, the Matildas may never capture an elusive major trophy again.<\/p>\n

But Malawi has never qualified for a Women’s World Cup and India was humiliated in an 11-0 loss to Japan at this month’s Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

Host federation Kenya, meanwhile, is currently facing threats of boycotts from players in its domestic league over financial concerns and a lack of investment in women’s football.<\/p>\n

FA’s executive director of football and deputy chief executive, Heather Garriock, said the Matildas’ choice of opponent was limited for the April window and suggested Malawi would still provide Montemurro’s side with a worthwhile challenge.<\/p>\n

“As we prepare for the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year, Football Australia’s focus is on playing global opponents outside of Asia,” Garriock said in a statement to AAP.<\/p>\n

“With the UEFA, CONMEBOL, OFC and CAF all looking to qualify for the Women’s World Cup and Concacaf in Women’s Championship fixtures, there were limited options in the April window.<\/p>\n

\"Matildas<\/p>\n

Coach Joe Montemurro has flagged the likes of Sam Kerr probably will not play the April games. (Getty Images: Paul Kane)<\/p>\n

“Playing two African opponents is a good opportunity to test the team against a very different style of opponent as well as a chance to test the depth of the squad.<\/p>\n

“Malawi also has two top international strikers, sisters Tabitha Chawinga (Olympique Lyonnais) and Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City).<\/p>\n

“Football Australia are also focused on having the Matildas play in different international environments, which will test the team, and we have obligations to play a mix of games, in preparation for the Women’s World Cup, both home and away, in different locations against varied global opponents.<\/p>\n

“Football Australia’s focus is on top 15 opponents with different styles of football leading into the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year.”<\/p>\n

Montemurro has flagged he will look to blood players on the fringe of the senior set-up in April, likely meaning stars such as Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord and Mary Fowler will not feature.<\/p>\n

FIFA Series 2026 fixturesApril 11: Australia vs Malawi at 9pm AESTApril 12: Kenya vs India at 1am AESTApril 15: Match 1 loser vs Match 2 loser at 9pm AESTApril 16: Match 1 winner vs Match 2 winner at 1am AEST<\/p>\n

* All games at Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football Australia has vowed to schedule Matildas fixtures against elite countries ahead of next year’s World Cup, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,277115,1209,34534,165999,44964,61950,85],"class_list":["post-562196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fifa-series","tag-india","tag-kenya","tag-malawi","tag-matildas","tag-nairobi","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}