Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) have released the nominees for the 2020 PFA Player Awards.
The PFA Awards celebrate the achievements and contribution of the game’s established and emerging players, with nominations based on peer recognition.
The awards recognise the standout players in Australia’s domestic competitions and Australians playing overseas each season.
The nominees for the PFA Women’s Football of the Year include Westfield Matildas trio Steph Catley, Emily Van Egmond and four-time winner Sam Kerr.
Catley and Van Egmond spearheaded Melbourne City to the 2019/20 Westfield W-League title and are both currently based in England, featuring in the FA Women’s Super League for Arsenal and West Ham, respectively.
Kerr will be in the running to secure her fourth consecutive and fifth overall award this year on the back of a stellar 2020 which has seen her become a mainstay for Chelsea in the Women’s Super League.
All three players featured prominently in the Westfield Matildas Tokyo Olympics campaign as well as for their club sides.
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Named after Westfield Matildas great, the Collette McCallum Medal for the PFA Women’s Young Footballer of the Year sees 2019 winner Karly Roestbakken nominated alongside Westfield W-League Young Player of the Year Ellie Carpenter and Western Sydney Wanderers’ Kyra Cooney-Cross.
Roestbakken has gone from strength to strength since making her debut for Canberra United in 2016, with the 19-year-old appointed co-captain of the Westfield W-League side ahead of the 2019/20 season.
She is now a part of the small Aussie contingent based in Norway, currently plying her trade with reigning champions, LSK Kvinner.
Another member of City’s championship-winning squad, Carpenter was snapped up by European powerhouse Olympique Lyon in June and soon became the first Aussie woman to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy.
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Parf of the Future Matildas' program, Cooney-Cross had a breakout campaign in the W-League with four goals and a handful of assists picked up from her 13 matches with the Wanderers.
