Talia Younis

Younis grew up in Western Sydney playing football in the backyard with her two older brothers, Anthony and Marcus.

Football runs through her family: her father, Ray, played in Australia’s former National Soccer League and later became a strength and conditioning coach with the Wanderers’ men’s team.

She trialled three times before earning a place in the Wanderers Academy’s boys’ NPL program.

Her football idols are Lionel Messi, Mary Fowler and former Wanderers playmaker Miloš Ninković.

At 14 years and 361 days, she became the youngest player in A-League history when she debuted for Western Sydney Wanderers, breaking the record previously held by Sam Kerr.

She is of Lebanese descent.

As a child, she was already kicking a ball against the family couch at six in the morning while the rest of the house was waking up.