Mary Fowler (soccer)

Mary Boio Fowler (born 14 February 2003) is an Australian professional football player who plays for English Women's Super League club Manchester City and the Australia national team.

[6] Her parents chose not to have a television set at home, and so she and her siblings engaged in other forms of entertainment, such as kicking a football around at Trinity Beach near Cairns after school.

[4][7] Fowler also followed interests in drawing and writing poetry[4] among other artistic pursuits, including dressing up and acting in little shows with her siblings.

[10] At age 14, Fowler returned to Australia with her family and began attending Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts.

[9] In 2019, aged 16 years, Fowler signed her first professional contract with Adelaide United and relocated to South Australia to begin her football career.

[12] In February 2020, on the day of her 17th birthday, Fowler signed for French Ligue 1 club Montpellier HSC on a three-year contract, arranged by her father, after an undisclosed transfer fee was paid.

[13] In June 2022, Fowler signed a four-year contract with English FA WSL club Manchester City.

She felt that joining the team had been "a step up", and that her football awareness had progressed under the influence of its players, staff and facilities.

[4] Later in the year, Fowler was nominated for The Best FIFA Women's Player and The European Golden Girl Award after a positive season for both Manchester City and Australia.

[19] Fowler was again used as a substitute in Australia's friendlies against England and France later in the year,[21] but was unavailable for the matches against Chile to attend trials with the first teams of Chelsea, West Ham and Manchester City, who all wanted to sign her.

[24] However, a hamstring injury prevented her from making a World Cup debut before her team was eliminated from the tournament in its first knockout match.

In the quarter-finals against Great Britain, which ended in a 4–3 win for Australia after extra time, Fowler scored a goal in the 104th minute.

[2][28] She had scored the winning goal in a friendly against France in the week preceding the beginning of the tournament,[29] in front of a record crowd.

[32] On 7 August in the Round of 16 game against Denmark, Fowler's pin-point assist pass to Caitlin Foord set up the first goal for Australia to take the score to 1–0.

[4] During the 2023 World Cup, her mother's home village hung up banners in Fowler's honour and held viewing parties for her matches.

Fowler playing for Australia in the 2019 friendly against England
Fowler playing for Australia in the 2018 friendly against England