The AFL has its draft. The NFL runs a combine. Those events are marquee moments on those sports’ calendars where fans get a sneak peak of generation next and who might be the star whose journey they can follow from debut to superstardom.
Throughout April, football in Australia has its own version playing out in Melbourne and Sydney – a showcase of the best 15 and 16 year old talents on a pathway to becoming our next Matildas or Socceroos.
This Friday, the Emerging Matildas Championships (EMC) begin at the Home of the Matildas. Previously known as the National Youth Championships, this rebranded competition is the centrepiece of talent identification and a key part of Australian football’s development pathway.
“It’s huge,” said Australia’s under-17s coach Michael Cooper.
“It’s the biggest event that we have. It’s the biggest opportunity for the players to play against the best in the country. The States, the players, the parents even, I think they see it as a really big occasion.
“So it’s hugely exciting and that’s why we invest a lot to go there and talent ID the players in that environment…it’s a big, big event for us.
“But we also appreciate that not everyone will be (identified) from this event. Some players might be injured, some players might miss it for a certain reason and we have to look further and beyond.
“But over the last few years, the players of the tournament have gone on to A-League, progressed on to Under-20s. Even the Matildas now, they played in the old Nationals.
“So reality is next week we’re going to see some future Matildas, which is exciting.”
You only need to sample the cohort Cooper is taking to China for the Asian Cup, or the under-20s side now playing in Thailand, for proof of that. 20 of Cooper’s squad played in last year’s Emerging Championships. In the Young Matildas, Skye Halmarick has been making headlines for her hat-trick against India – she was at the 2024 under-16 EMC, alongside Amelia Bennett, Tiana Fuller and goalkeeper of the tournament, Ilona Melegh.
Michael Cooper. Photo: Ann Odong / The Women’s Game
Amelia Cassar and Sienna Dale, players of the tournament in 2024 and 2023, are both in Alex Epakis’ squad.
The highest profile example of the gems we might discover this week is Willa Pearson, the effervescent Sydney FC young gun who broke Sam Kerr’s record for being the youngest goal scorer in A-League Women’s history at 15 years and 51 days.
Willa Pearson, the 15 year-old wonderkid just re-signed with Sydney FC
Pearson, who recently inked a two-year contract extension with Sydney FC, was one of the breakthrough performers just last year.
“With A-League clubs investing more in youth development, there’s more A-League presence at these tournaments,” Cooper explained.
“There’s more interest around the players and getting to know them younger.
“Willa’s a great example.
“She had a great Nationals, but she also played up an age group. And then from there, she obviously went into A-League, coming to us and doing well.
“That’s a good example, but there’s many others. From the Nationals last year, we’ve given 41 players a Junior Matildas game that attended at Nationals, but also in the current squad that we’re taking to China, 20 out of the 23 were at Nationals.
“Realistically the pathway for a lot of the players involved Nationals.”
The tournament takes place from Friday to Wednesday, with pre-tournament testing taking place on Thursday, part of the elite environment being created. Last year, Western Australia’s Sakura Leong turned heads with her metrics and had already caught attention before the football even started.
Pre-tournament testing. Photo: Joseph Mayers / Football Australia
Thursday will see the participants put through their paces. Photo: Joseph Mayers / Football Australia
For many, this will be their first tournament experience away from home, mimicking some of the pressures they will face if they graduate onto national teams.
The week is a hive of activity; alongside football, there’s workshops for parents, coaches and players on topics like wellbeing, working with agents and nutrition.
The competition is split into three groups in each age group, with representatives from NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, Northern NSW, Football West, NSW Regional, Victoria, South Australia, Capital Football, as well as an indigenous XI named after Charles Perkins, as Football Australia looks to expand opportunities and exposure for First Nations talent, and a team from Vietnam.
Cooper added: “It’s a really good opportunity for us to talent ID and it’s obviously the highest level comp.
“So most of the girls nationally will play up an age group. This is an opportunity for them to perform against same age girls, which I think is really important because obviously that’s the tournament experience that we have when we go away. It replicates a little bit what we experience when we’re away. Obviously they have to be in hotel, be away from home, play games back to back.
Celebrations on the final day of 2025’s tournament. Photo: Ann Odong
“It’s a really good opportunity for us to see players in that environment.
“Some will flourish, some will show resilience, some will show physical capacity, and then others will show potential for the future.
“We come out of Nationals with a monitoring list of players and some will be short term selections, some will be medium.”
Celebrations in 2025. Photo: Ann Odong.
Being an under-17s national side coach isn’t just a big responsibility – it is a complicated one. Players are only in camp for short periods of time, and also in a developmental phase of their careers. Most of their time is spent across the country with their Member Federations, and increasingly, A-League clubs.
Importantly, Cooper said, communication and integration is high across the network, and becoming even more coordinated since Joe Montemurro’s arrival at Football Australia.
He continued: “It’s the perfect place to work or to continue to work and build relationships with all the staff and the member feds that work with these players because essentially they do a lot of the development for us because we don’t get much time when we’re on camp together.
“So the more we can work with the staff and each member fed, share what we look for, share what we do, share how we want to play football, not just Junior Matildas but also Joe, how he wants to play football and what the top level of the game needs.
“Then we can help the coaches and the staff be aware of that and hopefully they can focus on a few things development wise for the future.”
The extra attention A-League clubs are placing on the tournament has changed the dynamic as well, Cooper explained.
“It’s definitely got more complex over the last year or two where full-time programmes have gone to part-time. And now we’ve got elite clubs starting academies for young girls,” he explained.
“So we’re in a bit of a transition phase, there’s more stakeholders, there’s a lot more girls in school programs as well.
“All of it is providing good opportunities. The challenge is getting everyone on the same page.
“So we do as much communication as possible with the players that we identify to try and help monitor their loads, monitor their programs and just bring people together to communicate the best we can.
“We’re always speaking to clubs, member federations and schools staff to just try and get the best out of each program for the player.
“I think the way it’s going, more A-League clubs would have programs in the future.
“It will take time. Similar to when the boys happened…there’s obviously a little bit of a process of it getting where it needs to get. So I think girls-wise, we’re, hopefully, clubs will take this on board in a year or two.
“Western Sydney started last year.
“Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory have got NPL programs this year for the first time. So it’s just happening now.”
With 20 games a day across a packed week of fixtures, with 27 teams and close to 700 players, how does the scouting actually work?
“We have what’s called TDS – Talent Development Scheme, a FIFA funded initiative that allows us to travel around each state and conduct training games.
“That then allows us to be aware of the players and then we go to nationals to zoom in on those players and see how they cope in that environment.
“However, we always want to be surprised.
“We always want players to jump out that we’re not aware of because, development’s not one straight line. Last year a couple of players did that and they are still with us now in the Junior Matildas.
“But also, some players we’re already aware of and we (have) got high hopes for them. But, if they don’t perform well at Nationals, it’s not the be all and end all. We just keep monitoring the potential and continue to give them many, many opportunities.”
The Home of the Matildas will host the event. Photo: Ann Odong
Seven Junior Matildas staff along with Member Federation staff monitor the matches before regrouping nightly to round out their observations.
The scouting doesn’t end there, either.
Cooper says he rewatched last year’s knockout matches three or four times back to make sure nothing was missed.
The opportunity for these players is real.
Last year, Izabela Rako, Kiera Sarris, Dali Burchmore, Leila Hussein, Maive Nicholas, Elise Oppedisano, Freida Karaberis, Charlotte Bradshaw, Anabel Croll and Hayley Muir all tasted success at the ASEAN Under-16s Girls’ Championships in August, after participating in the EMCs.
Clare Corbett is another 2025 star who Sydney FC have blooded, while Kaya Jugovic celebrated her senior league debut with Melbourne City in January.
In total, 13 youngsters have picked up contracts from last year’s tournament.
Aeryn Tarrant, now with Melbourne Victory, was a star of the under-16s, player of the tournament and MVP of the final, won thanks to Alexis Pantazopoulos’ strike for Victoria.
Image: Ann Odong.
NSW was the under-15s victor, whose star Freida Karaberis has gone on to sign for Western Sydney.
Many of the 2025 Team of the Tournament from the under-15s will feature again over the next week as under-16s, including Zoe Reader, Tessa Young, Madison Gabilla, Charlotte Lowrie, Matildas Fleming, Mackenzie Preston-Poole, Holly Tweedale and Young Matildas call-up Harper Peel. 2025 stars Mary Dal Broi and Jada Taylor have been called up by the Junior Matildas while Zoe Dumont is recuperating from an ACL injury.
Who will be the 2026 breakout star? We’ll find out over the next week.
The Under-17s will field plenty of players we see over the next week. Photo: Ann Odong
2026 Tournament Details
CommBank Emerging Matildas Championships (Girls U15 & U16)
Dates: 9 – 15 April 2026
Location: Home of the Matildas, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria
CommBank Emerging Socceroos Championships (Boys U15 & U16)
Dates: 18 – 24 April 2026
Location: Valentine Sports Park, Sydney, New South Wales
How To Watch
Every game of both competitions is available live or on demand via KommunityTV: for more info on how to watch or subscribe, click here.
Fixtures and Results
The tournament hub has all the competitions and results while this Tournament Guide features all the groups, fixtures and key information.