With the Westfield Matildas riding a huge wave of support across Australia and the world, this week we look at another three women who were integral in building the team's culture and popularity in the early days.
HEATHER GARRIOCK
Garriock's outstanding 18-year football career started as a 14-year-old with the NSW Sapphires.
She debuted for Australia two years later and famously scored against China PR at Allianz Stadium. She went on to amass 130 caps for her country, scoring 20 goals.
Along the way she represented Australia 11 times at three FIFA Women's World Cups (2003, 2007, 2011) scoring three goals, as well as playing at two Olympic Games (2000, 2004) and three Asian Cups (2006, 2008, 2010).
Quick and extremely fit, Garriock's ability to get up and down the left wing for entire matches saw her play overseas for the Chicago Red Stars, Swedish side LdB FC Malmö and Denmark's Fortuna Hjørring.
She was awarded the Julie Dolan Medal for the 2002–03 season, while in the W-League, she led hometown club Sydney FC to the Sky Blues first W-League championship in 2009 and the premiership in 2010/11.
Upon the birth of her first daughter Kaizen, she returned for what was to be her final season of competitive football, captaining the Western Sydney Wanderers in the 2013/14 W-League season.
DI ALAGICH
Alagich is from a real football family with her brother Richie a pro player and her late father a well-respected coach (he wrote Winning Through Technique and Tactics).
She was another early starter, making her international debut when she was just 16 against the then newly-crowned World Cup champions, Norway.
She was part of three World Cup campaigns and two Olympic Games, starting every single one of Australia's matches at those five tournaments.
Di also featured in two Asian Cups, eventually playing 86 times for her country.
Serious knee injuries saw her out of the game for two years but she came back to play in the W-League and for the Westfield Matildas.
In her club career, Alagich represented Port Adelaide, West Adelaide, Adelaide Sensation, the South Australian Institute of Sport and the San Jose CyberRays in the US Women's League.
As well as being an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder in football, Alagich was also a champion kayaker and was a South Australian Sports Institute scholarship-holder and former junior Australian representative in that sport too.
Her brother Richie played more than 250 games in total for West Adelaide, South Melbourne and Brisbane Strikers in the National Soccer League and Adelaide United in the Hyundai A-League.
COLLETTE MCCALLUM
Born in Scotland, McCallum moved to Australia at the age of four and became a legend of the Matildas.
She was named in the FIFA All-Star squad at the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in 2006 and went to her first Asian Cup that same year.
When Australia won the Asian Cup four years later, McCallum was a key cog in the side's engine room.
She was part of two FIFA Women's World Cup campaigns in 2007 and again in 2011 where she played every game as the Westfield Matildas reached the quarter finals.
Persistent knee injuries cruelly robbed her of the chance to play in a third World Cup in 2015.
McCallum made 81 appearances for Australia and scored 11 goals in an international career spanning a decade.
She also played in the USA for Californian sides Sky Blue and Pali Blues and in England for Women's Super League side Lincoln Ladies.
