Women's World Cup 2027 MVPs: Australia icon Sam Kerr out to deliver the tournament her remarkable career deserves

Kerr had already been to two World Cup tournaments when 2019 rolled around, but her third one was different. In 2011, she was a baby-faced 17-year-old; in 2015, she had just managed to prove her fitness in time to be involved after injury; in 2019, she was one of the best players in the world.

Having broken through as a wild winger, Kerr spent the years after the 2015 World Cup transitioning into a deadly centre-forward, winning four successive Golden Boots as she split her time between the NWSL, the top-league in the United States, and the A-League, the Australian top-flight, becoming the all-time top goal-scorer in both divisions.

In 2018, she scored 27 goals and provided eight assists in 32 appearances for the Chicago Red Stars and Perth Glory. She carried that form into 2019, heading to the World Cup having netted 16 times in 14 games since the turn of the year. Unsurprisingly, that momentum helped produce Kerr’s first World Cup goals, with five netted in the group stage to set up a last-16 clash with Norway.

But it all went awry for the Matildas that night in Nice. Flaws that had threatened to cost the team in the group stage came to the fore again, with injuries to key players and individual mistakes only making things worse. An incredible work ethic remained, though, allowing an Australia team reduced to 10 to take the game to extra-time and, eventually, penalties.

It was there that Kerr endured a fate that many greats of the game are unfortunately familiar with, on both the men’s and women’s side. In a World Cup penalty shootout, she stepped up to get her team on the board, only to balloon her effort high and wide.

“The girls have already gotten around me. I feel like I let the team down, but they’ve been quick to cut that out,” Kerr told reporters after a perfect Norway went on to win the shootout 4-1. “I’ll grow from this and become a stronger person mentally.”

One of the best players on the planet was heading home far earlier than anyone expected.

Remarkably, it was only a few hours earlier that reports first emerged regarding Kerr’s eventual move to Chelsea. At that moment, while absorbing that heart-breaking defeat, the forward dismissed it as speculation, but the transfer would come to fruition before 2019 was over.

In November, after Kerr had scored another 13 goals to fire the Red Stars to the NWSL Championship game, and bag herself another Golden Boot, the Australia star was announced as a Chelsea player. “I want team success and I don’t want it to come easy,” she said upon her unveiling. “I feel Chelsea have been building something special over the years and I want to be a part of that. I want to lift some trophies.”

Kerr would certainly do that. The next six-and-a-half years saw her help the club win six successive Women's Super League titles, four FA Cups, four League Cups and reach a first Champions League final.

On a personal level, the exposure to a new environment and different challenges also allowed Kerr to ascend to new heights, meaning when the 2023 World Cup came around, with Australia co-hosting alongside neighbours New Zealand, the stage was set for her to exorcise the demons of 2019 and really have her moment on the biggest stage.

On July 19, 2023, the day before the World Cup began, Kerr sat alongside Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson, fielding questions from the media as part of the Matildas' pre-match press conference. “I'm really excited,” she said. “We've been waiting for this moment a long time so it's nice it's finally here. Coming to the stadium and realising we've really brought the World Cup to Australia is a proud moment.”

But when the team news came through 24 hours later, Kerr was not even in the squad to take on Ireland. A 39-word statement pointed to a calf injury sustained just one day earlier, ruling the Matildas’ captain out of the first two games.

Kerr would get on the pitch, playing as a substitute in the last 16 and the quarter-finals before starting the defeats to England and, in the third-place play-off, Sweden. It was a tournament that saw Australia go beyond where they had ever been, reaching the last four and creating a buzz across the country that was infectious.

But despite that remarkable goal against the Lionesses, and the incredible hope it inspired for a brief period, Kerr could not make her mark in the manner she expected, desired or deserved.

In 2027, she will get another shot, though the heartbreak of 2019 and 2023 pale in comparison to what Kerr has endured since the last World Cup. An ACL tear in January 2024 came with complications that would sideline her for 20 long months, ruling her out of the entire 2024-25 season and forcing her to spend the early months of the following campaign as a rather limited substitute.

But when Australia hosted the Asian Cup in March 2026, Kerr provided moments of magic that fans, and neutrals, had hoped to see three years prior. Goals against the Philippines, South Korea, North Korea and China propelled the Matildas to the final, where a very impressive Japan side prevailed by a narrow 1-0 scoreline.

Now back in the U.S. with Gotham, the 33-year-old might only have one more shot at making a World Cup her own. Light up the 2027 tournament in Brazil and it will be the least a player of her calibre, with her career, deserves.