Sam Kerr is a once-in-a-generation talent, reaching the heights of soccer in Australia and abroad. At 28 years old, Kerr is already considered to be one of the best strikers to play the sport, shattering records for both club and country.

Here’s everything you need to know about one of the game’s greatest players.

Early life in Perth

It all started for Kerr in Fremantle, Australia, a port city in the Perth metropolitan area. She was born to a family of athletes on September 10, 1993: Kerr’s brother and father both were Australia rules footballers, and her uncle was a horse jokey. Introduced to AFL at an early age, Kerr immediately fell in love with the sport. There were no girls league when she was growing up in Australia, so Kerr played with the boys. Kerr considered footy her first love, with soccer taking a backseat.

Eventually, playing Australian football with boys got too rough, and Kerr was forced into soccer by her family at 12 years old. Despite her limited interest in the sport, the Kerr would debut for the Australian women’s national soccer team only three years later.

“I am very fortunate to have a lot of athleticism,” Kerr old Kelly O’Hara on the Just Women’s Sports podcast, explaining her prodigious rise in the sport.

Her first cap with the Matildas came when Kerr was just 15 years old, and was a bit of a surprise for the Australian star. Thinking she would be on the bench for the game, Kerr told her family not to come to the match, something she says she now regrets.

“I never realized how big the moment was and I always say if I could redo one part of my career, it would be my first cap,” Kerr told Sandra Sully in a 2021 10 News First interview.

Luckily for Kerr, she would have plenty more opportunities to take the pitch for her country, celebrating 100 caps and 48 goals with the Matildas in 2021.

Australian National Team Career

Kerr’s international career got off to a dream start, participating in her first major tournament at 16, a year after her debut. The 2010 Asian Cup served as the young star’s introduction to the world stage, and she scored in the team’s final match to help Australia clinch the Cup.

At 17-years old, Kerr went to her first World Cup, joining seven other players under 20-years-old on the 2011 Australian roster. The Matildas advanced out of the competition’s group stage but fell to Sweden in the knockout round, ending the team’s World Cup run.

Kerr’s career hit a snag leading up to the 2015 World Cup, suffering a knee injury that required surgery just before the tournament. On top of coming off an injury, Kerr was also transitioning from the wing to the No. 9 position, a role she has since mastered. The Matildas managed to survive what was deemed the “group of death,” which included the United States, Sweden, and Nigeria, and they even downed Brazil in their first knockout game. Kerr and the Matildas, however, were sent packing by Japan in the quarterfinals.

The Australian striker’s first World Cup goal wouldn’t come until the 2019 World Cup, in the team’s group-stage match against Italy. The trend continued when Kerr scored four goals against Jamaica, becoming the first Australian player, male or female, to record a hat trick at the World Cup. Norway ultimately knocked the Matildas out in the first round of elimination. Still, Kerr came in second among goals scored during the tournament with five, behind Ellen White, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, who all notched six.

Kerr’s 2020 Olympics marked another prolific international tournament, leading Australia to the bronze-medal match against the United States. With six goals, the Australian striker tied Great Britain’s Ellen White and Zambia’s Barbra Banda for second on the scorers’ list. Kerr’s most-exciting finish came in the Matildas’ quarterfinal against Great Britain when the 28-year-scored a late-game brace to send her team to the semifinals.

Notching her 48^th international goal in the bronze-medal loss against the USWNT, Kerr dethroned Lisa De Vanna as Australia’s all-time top scorer.

SAM KERR! ⚽️🇦🇺

Australia's superstar has her penalty saved but she puts in the rebound for her first career #FIFAWWC goal. pic.twitter.com/0JjrTqlR33

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 9, 2019

Club Career

Kerr’s club career is just as, if arguably not more, successful than her international career with the Australian national team. One of the most cited and impressive Kerr-stats is that she has won the Golden Boot award in three different leagues. The star striker first captured the top honor in the W-League (which has since re-branded as the A-League) in 2017. She repeated the feat in 2018. In the NWSL, she was the league’s stop scorer three years running: 2017, 2018 and 2019, and last season she led the FA WSL in goals scored while playing for Chelsea.

Kerr first entered the NWSL at just 18 years old in 2013, joining the Western New York Flash alongside American superstars Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach. The Australian’s breakout season, however, came in 2017 with Sky Blue FC after two years with the club. During the 2017 campaign, Kerr scored a record-breaking 17 goals, earning her the Golden Boot and MVP awards. The year also included an instant-classic match, with Kerr notching four goals in one half to overcome a 3-0 deficit to defeat Seattle Reign 5-4. Kerr attributes her success that year to being moved to the No. 9 role on the pitch.

“I felt like I found my position,” Kerr told O’Hara. “I found where I was playing.”

Her success continued when she moved to the Chicago Red Stars in 2018, topping her previous mark when she scored a NWSL-record 18 goals on the season to clinch her second MVP award.

At 26 years old, Kerr left the NWSL, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with Chelsea in 2019, reportedly totaling over $1 million. Critics were quick to question whether Kerr’s talent would translate to the Women’s Super League, but she quickly shut those questions down. After a shortened season due to COVID, Kerr led the Blues with 21 goals in 22 games during the 2020-2021 campaign. Her productive year earned her another Golden Boot award and helped Chelsea to the league title. The team also appeared in the Champions League final, falling to Barcelona in the title match.

In the 2021-2022 season, Kerr signed a two-year contract extension, keeping her with the Blues until 2024. Adding to her growing trophy case, Kerr also captured an FA Cup title with Chelsea in December, scoring a brace against Arsenal for the 3-0 victory.

Sam Kerr with an outrageous chip to seal the FA Cup for Chelsea 🥶

(via @VitalityWFACup)pic.twitter.com/Nmrpbjsn0n

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 5, 2021

What’s Next

Kerr is on pace to capture yet another Golden Boot award with Chelsea in the hunt for the WSL title. Internationally, Kerr is expected to captain the Australian National Team as they gear up to host the 2023 World Cup being jointly hosted by Australia and England.

The 2025 NCAA volleyball season is heating up, with a pair of Top 10 matchups headlining the first annual ACC-SEC "Showdown at the Net" event on Wednesday.

Recent conference realignment has seen the SEC and ACC emerge as volleyball strongholds alongside the Big Ten, with the two Power Four rivals laying claim to seven of the current Top 10 teams.

Putting their reputations to the test, the conferences launched the two-day "Showdown at the Net" series this season, with 14 SEC vs. ACC games taking place at campuses nationwide while the four top contenders face off in the event's two-game spotlight showcase in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Wednesday doubleheader will first pair the SEC's No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats against the ACC's No. 7 Pitt Panthers before their respective conference standouts take the court as the No. 2 Texas Longhorns face the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals.

The battle between the Longhorns and Cardinals — a rematch of the 2022 national championship game — will be particularly tense, as both squads enter the match without a single loss on the young 2025 season.

How to watch "Showdown at the Net" NCAA volleyball tournament

No. 3 Kentucky and No. 7 Pitt will kick off Wednesday's top-tier college volleyball clashes at 6:30 PM ET before No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Louisville square off at 9 PM ET.

Both games will air live on ESPN.

Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko made WNBA history on Monday, becoming the winningest first-year manager on record after the No. 3 Dream earned their 29th victory of the season by defeating the No. 11 Connecticut Sun 87-62.

With Monday's result, Smesko surpassed the previous 28-win record set by former LA Sparks head coach Michael Cooper in 2000 — and boosted his position in the 2025 WNBA Coach of the Year race in the process.

Notably, while coaches like Cooper spent years as an assistant in the pros before leading a team, Smesko entered the 2025 WNBA season without any experience on the professional sidelines, with the Atlanta Dream hiring the 54-year-old following Smesko's 22 years helming the college team at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Smesko is now one of several new coaches seeing quick success at the sport's top level — with even more WNBA milestones looming on the horizon.

"It's nice that we're winning and that we're in a good position for the playoffs," Smesko said following Monday's victory. "Those types of [records] don't have a lot of meaning for me. The meaningful part is coming up: Are we going to be the best prepared for the playoffs?"

How to watch the Atlanta Dream on Wednesday

While it might not matter too much to Smesko, with one game left in the Atlanta Dream's 2025 regular season, he has the opportunity to pad his new record even more and finish the year with an even 30 wins on Wednesday.

The Dream will close out their 2025 regular season with a rematch against the Sun at 7 PM ET, with live coverage of the game airing on WNBA League Pass.

Sky star Angel Reese watched from the sidelines as No. 12 Chicago fell 92-61 to the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night, ruled out with a back injury after serving a half-game suspension on Sunday for making "statements detrimental to the team" last week.

Back pain that has troubled the forward throughout the second half of the 2025 WNBA season, with Reese opting to sit out Tuesday's clash despite earlier expectations that she would take the court.

"After warm-ups, she communicated that she just wasn't feeling it physically," Chicago Sky head coach Tyler Marsh said, after previously telling reporters he expected Reese to play. "She reported that pain, and so we wanted to hold her back."

Reese's relationship with the organization has been under a microscope since the 23-year-old criticized team leadership in last week's Chicago Tribune interview, prompting high-profile reactions from both within the league and beyond.

"Chicago is probably the worst-run organization in the league. You're gonna suspend your best player just because she's putting pressure on you to get better? That was embarrassing to see," an anonymous WNBA exec told the Dallas Hoops Journal in response.

"She got in trouble for telling the truth. And I feel like women, especially Black women, are over-policed in this league," Sports Are Fun guest co-host Greydy Diaz said on this week's episode. "If you really look at Chicago and its history, ownership, front office — it's been a disaster for years. You've had star players leave over and over…. I think they need to clean house in Chicago."

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How to watch the final 2025 game for the Chicago Sky

Should her pain subside, Reese will suit up for the Chicago Sky's season finale on Thursday — though the league sophomore has already hit the requisite minimum number of game appearances to officially qualify as the WNBA's rebounds-per-game leader this year.

The No. 12 Sky will close out their 2025 campaign against the No. 5 New York Liberty at 8 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage airing on WNBA League Pass.

Gotham FC is cleaning house, following up Monday's splashy Jaedyn Shaw trade with even more roster moves as the No. 6 NWSL club prepares for a major playoff push.

The Bats officially fulfilled defensive midfielder and 2023 NWSL champion Nealy Martin's trade request on Tuesday, sending her to Angel City in exchange for $85,000 in intra-league funds.

"More than anything I want to thank the Gotham community for taking a chance and believing in me," Martin said in a club statement. "I gave my heart and soul to this club, and a piece of me will always remain in NJ/NY."

Martin's departure is just one recent roster shift, with Gotham also loaning out recently acquired forward Princess Ademiluyi as they look to incorporate Shaw — and her league-record $1.25 million transfer fee — into their system.

Gotham is banking on long-term success from the 19-year-old, signing Ademiluyi from WSL mainstay West Ham United through the 2029 season before sending the England youth national team attacker for further development with USL Super League side Fort Lauderdale United FC on Tuesday.

Big-name NWSL signings tend to create a domino effect, and as long as they have the money, now is the time for mid-table teams like Gotham to trade as the 2025 season inches closer to crunch-time.