The Matildas have returned to Perth this week for the opening game of the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup. The 21st edition of Asia’s premier women’s tournament promises to be its biggest yet with a dozen nations calling Sydney, Perth and the Gold Coast home for next three weeks.
Perth will host ten games commencing with Sunday afternoon’s tournament opener between Australia and the Philippines at Optus Stadium. It will be the Matilda’s seventh outing in Perth – here’s a rundown on how each of those previous games played out…
Perth hosted it’s first women’s international fixture on 26 March, 2018, when hometown hero Lisa De Vanna (Cap #124) orchestrated Australia’s 5-0 thrashing of Thailand. A crowd of 7,549 turned out on a Monday night at Perth Oval for the history-making friendly, which came just a month out from that years Women’s Asian Cup in Jordan.
Alex Chidiac got the show on the road after just 6 minutes with De Vanna and Chloe Logarzo increasing the margin before the break. De Vanna grabbed herself a second goal with Larissa Crummer rounding out the scoring. West Australian-born Lydia Williams (Cap #138), Samantha Kerr (Cap #168) and Aivi Luik (Cap #169) also featured for the hosts.
The Matildas headed back to Perth five years later for a trio of Olympic Games qualifiers. On Thursday 26 October, 2023, 18,798 fans watched on as Iran were out-classed to the tune of 2-0, Ellie Carpenter’s fourth goal in national team colours highlighting the Matildas 82% share of first half possession.
A triple substitution midway through the second period by coach Tony Gustavsson worked a charm with Steph Catley combining with Mary Fowler whose low pass across goal presented newly introduced Kerr with the simplest of tap-ins to secure the win at Perth Oval.
Three days later the Matildas produced an emphatic performance to thrash the Philippines 8-0 at Optus Stadium. The crowd of 59,155 that afternoon was the largest home crowd recorded for an standalone Australian women’s sports event outside of an Olympic Games or a World Cup.
Fowler prised the floodgates open after 15 minutes with Kerr adding the first of her three goals soon after. Caitlin Foord also finished the day with a hat-trick but it was Australia’s eighth goal that was the pick of the bunch, a cracking long-range strike from substitute Clare Wheeler. Watch the game highlights.
The Matildas made a clean sweep of the qualifying series by downing Chinese Taipei 3-0 on Wednesday 1 November, 2023, at Perth Oval. But despite registering 17 shots to one in the first half and enjoying 79% possession, the Matildas had to be content to enter the interval at nil-all.
The crowd of 19,084 was finally given reason to cheer after 62 minutes when Fowler trapped a floated pass and took one more touch before unleashing a powerful strike from 20-metres. Six minutes later, Kerr scored the Matildas’ 900th goal from point-blank range before substitute Tameka Yallop sealed the deal on 76 minutes.
Joe Montemurro began his time at the Matildas helm with a two-week training camp in Perth and a pair of friendlies against each Slovenia and Panama. The newly installed coach’s first game took place at Perth Oval on Thursday 26 June, 2025, when Australia eked out a 3-0 win over Slovenia.
Emily Gielnik’s 3rd minute strike got Australia off to a flyer but it was an otherwise scrappy performance in front of a crowd of 8,678. The under-strength Matildas didn’t make the game safe until the closing stages when Holly McNamara notched her first international goal followed soon after by a tidy finish from Hayley Raso.
The two nations shared the honours at 1-1 when they met again three days later at the same venue. It took until five minutes into the second half for the breakthrough goal to arrive, Michelle Heyman side-footing in on the end of a move that involved Remy Seimsen and Carpenter.
Charli Grant came close to killing the game off but had her shot cleared off the line. The visitors raised the tempo late and in stoppage time substitute Mirjam Kastelec bundled the ball in from close-range after Naja Poje Mihelic’s low strike bounced back off the base of the upright.
The Matildas kicked off their two-game series against Panama in the regional city of Bunbury. Unfortunately, the disruption caused by Montemurro making a whopping ten changes to his starting line-up proved too great with the Central Americans claiming a surprise 1-0 success on 5 July, 2025.
Panama silenced the 10,272-strong crowd by taking a 56th minute lead through 19-year old substitute Sherline King on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon at Hands Oval. The Matildas pushed hard for an equaliser and it almost arrived late on but Heyman’s instinct close-range strike flashed over the crossbar.
Australia required a stoppage time winner to claim a 3-2 win over Panama three days later at Perth Oval. Ericka Aruaz had the Central American’s ahead at the break but two goals from veteran Heyman, both assisted by the Raso, had the hosts in the ascendency midway through the second period.
When Lineth Cedeno found the net with six minutes remaining it appeared Panama had done enough to steal a draw. But Grant ensured Australia finished the international window on a high, bundling the ball in at close-range from Courtney Nevin’s cutback.