Junior Matildas Captain Willa Pearson: Breaking Records with Sydney FC and Leading at 14

Junior Matildas Captain Willa Pearson: Breaking Records with Sydney FC and Leading at 14

From The Women's Soccer Podcast by Liam Greco

May 21, 2026 · 23 min · Season 5 · Episode 187

About this episode

Willa Pearson, the youngest debutant in A-Leagues history, discusses her record-breaking journey in soccer.

In today’s episode, LDG sits down with a true history-maker: Sydney FC defender and Junior Matildas captain, Willa Pearson! Besides becoming the first guest in the history of our podcast who is younger than LDG himself, despite her youth, her pedigree on the pitch and list of records broken off it is immense. Willa made global headlines after playing the full 90 minutes in Sydney FC’s opening match at just 14 years and 312 days old, officially becoming the youngest debutant in A-Leagues history. She followed that up by shattering Sam Kerr’s long-standing record to become the league's youngest-ever goalscorer at 15! Willa has quickly gained attention for her composure, defensive awareness, and maturity playing against experienced professional competition. In this conversation, we talk about her journey into the professional game, balancing soccer at such a young age, her development with Sydney FC and Australia’s youth national team setup, and what she’s learned from her rapid rise in the sport so far. Fresh off her second match at the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup, Willa joins the pod to take listeners behind the scenes of her historic rise. We chat about her earliest soccer…

People in this episode

Host: Liam Greco

Guest: Willa Pearson

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sydney FC, AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup

Places: Australia

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