Football Australia launches ParaMatildas ahead of IFCPF Women's World Cup

Football Australia has unveiled the ParaMatildas, the first national team for women and girls with cerebral palsy (CP), acquired brain injury and symptoms of stroke.

The announcement was made on the eve of International Women's Day and coincides with the 500-day countdown to Australia's co-hosting of the FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup.

Georgia Beikoff has been playing football since she was in kindergarten, but she turned to track and field — in which she won bronze in the F37/38 javelin at the 2012 Paralympics — because there was no national team to strive for in the round-ball game.

Beikoff said representing Australia in football was an ambition she thought she would never realise.

«It's indescribable,» she told The Ticket.

«I've been playing football since I was six and it was unheard of to see a woman with CP representing her country and it's truly a dream come true.»

CP football is a seven-a-side sport, which uses smaller goals and has no offside rule. It is played across 30-minute halves.

The ParaMatildas will head into camp for the first time in April to prepare for the inaugural International Federation of CP Football Women's World Cup, which will be contested in Spain in May.

«I competed in javelin in athletics when I was 19 and came back [from the Paralympics] with a bronze medal, which was a massive surprise but football's always been my first love,» Beikoff said.

«There's something about the beautiful game [football] that just makes my heart pump … it's very exciting.»

Former Matilda Sarah Walsh is now the head of legacy programs built around Australia and New Zealand's co-hosting of next year's FIFA Women's World Cup.

Walsh said it was important to offer the ParaMatildas the same level of visibility as other national