Olympic heartache for Sam Kerr! Chelsea & Australia superstar to miss Paris 2024 in recovery from ACL injury

The 30-year-old forward suffered knee ligament damage during a training session with her WSL employers in January. A long road to recovery is being taken in, and that will extend beyond the start of a gold medal bid in July.

Announcing their squad for a trip to France, the Matildas said: "Attacker Amy Sayer (ACL) and forward Sam Kerr (ACL) remain on the sidelines with long-term injuries. Kerr and Sayer will continue their rehabilitation programs in their home club environments and subsequently will not be available for selection for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Head coach Tony Gustavsson added on having to get creative with some of his selections: “This window will be a tough one for me and my staff in terms of evaluating players, where they are, and then the final selection process for Paris.”

Kerr is her country’s all-time leading goalscorer, with 64 efforts to her name. She has plundered 99 goals for Chelsea, while helping them to five WSL titles, and been nominated for the Ballon d’Or Feminin on an annual basis since that prize was first awarded in 2018.

Kerr has narrowly missed out on medals with Australia and the last Olympic Games in Tokyo and the 2023 World Cup, which took place Down Under, but is one of several leading figures in the women’s game - including the likes of Leah Williamson and Vivianne Miedema - to have suffered an ACL injury in recent times.