Mary Fowler

Mary Boio Fowler ( ; born 14 February 2003) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays for English Women's Super League club Manchester City and the Australia national team. Mainly a forward, she is also able to play as a midfielder.

Early life and education Mary Boio Fowler the third of five children. Fowler's father, Kevin, Her mother, Nido, is from Kira Kira, a village within greater Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where the couple met. Her favourite school subject was maths. Her parents chose not to have a television set at home, and so she and her siblings engaged in other forms of entertainment, such as kicking a football around at Trinity Beach near Cairns after school. As a child, Fowler was interested in drawing, writing poetry, While still at school, she was a member of boys teams for Saints FC as well as Leichhardt FC in the local Cairns league.

At age 14, Fowler returned to Australia with her family and began attending Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts. Later, she played for Bankstown City in the NSW Women's National Premier League.

Club career Adelaide United Fowler made her W-League debut for Adelaide United in the first game of the 2019–20 season. She scored her first goal in that game in a 2–1 loss against Western Sydney Wanderers.

Montpellier In February 2020, on the day of her 17th birthday, Fowler signed for French Ligue 1 club Montpellier HSC on a three-year contract, arranged by her father, after an undisclosed transfer fee was paid. She moved to Montpelier had suicidal thoughts, and had also seriously contemplated quitting football, during her time with Montpellier. "I wasn't even 20 years old, so if I wanted to jump into a whole new career, time was on my side. There were options aplenty," she later wrote in her book. Montpellier denied the accusation of racism and said the club had found no evidence to back up Fowler's assertions.

Shortly after leaving Montpellier, Fowler asked to be exempted from attending a national training camp. "After a challenging season, I was exhausted," she later wrote. National team officials told her that she needed a psychologist to declare her medically unfit to attend the camp, and she obtained such a ruling within five minutes of a session she felt was beneficial to her. On 26 October 2022, she scored her first goal for the club, a penalty, in a 6-0 win over Blackburn Rovers before scoring her second of the match 29 minutes later.

During her first season at Manchester City, Fowler spent much time on the substitutes' bench, Her second year with Manchester City resulted in more game time with her regularly joining the starting line-up. She scored the first two goals in her team's 4-0 victory over Bristol City in April 2024. She signed a new contract with Manchester City on 1 October 2025, until mid-2027. On 1 February 2026, Fowler made her return to the pitch following her recovery from the ACL injury, in their 5-1 victory over Chelsea, coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute.

International career Young Matildas Fowler, aged 15, was named by Australia under-20s (Young Matildas) head coach Leah Blayney to the 23-player squad on 20 June 2018 for the AFF Women's Championship, which was held in Indonesia. The Young Matildas competed against senior teams from the ASEAN region. Fowler was the tournament's highest goal scorer (Golden Boot) with ten goals, which included five against Cambodia in a group stage game and two goals in their 3–2 loss in the final against Thailand, to become runners-up.

2018 Tournament of Nations

As a teenager, Fowler resisted attempts by the Football Association of Ireland to poach her from Football Australia's youth system. She made her debut late in the game against Brazil, thus becoming the fifth youngest player for the Matildas at 15 years and 162 days.

At that early stage in her international career, Fowler received wide praise for her abilities as a player, with coach Alen Stajcic saying that she has "probably got the most weapons I've seen from a young player her age in women's football". but was unavailable for the matches against Chile to attend trials with the first teams of Chelsea, West Ham and Manchester City, who all wanted to sign her. She also attended sprint and power training sessions in Manchester with coach Mick Clegg.

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Fowler was called up to the Australian squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. At the age of 16, she was the squad's youngest player, and the event was an important learning experience for her. However, a hamstring injury prevented her from making a World Cup debut before her team was eliminated from the tournament in its first knockout match. She made her Olympic debut as a substitute in a Group G match against New Zealand. The Matildas advanced to the quarter-finals with one victory and a draw in the group stage. In the quarter-finals against Great Britain, which ended in a 4–3 win for Australia after extra time, Fowler scored a goal in the 104th minute. However, they lost 1–0 to Sweden in the semi-finals and lost 4–3 in the bronze medal match to the United States.

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Fowler was selected as part of the Matildas squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, and became instrumental in the team after squad captain Sam Kerr was ruled out for at least the first two games due to injury. She had scored the winning goal in a friendly against France in the week preceding the beginning of the tournament, in front of a record crowd.

She was ruled out of Australia's second match against Nigeria on 27 July due to concussion.

On 31 July, Fowler scored her first World Cup goal for Australia, against Canada in Melbourne in what was a 4–0 win.

On 7 August in the Round of 16 game against Denmark, Fowler's pin-point assist pass to Caitlin Foord set up the first goal for Australia to take the score to 1–0. Australia later won the match 2–0. On 12 August, during Australia's quarter final defeat of France in what was Fowler's first ever competitive penalty shoot-out, she took, and succeeded with, her team's fourth penalty shot.

Media commentary Fowler is regarded by many commentors and journalists as one of the best young talents in women's soccer, and is known for her creativity on the ball.

Endorsements and recognition Ahead of the 2023 World Cup, Fowler was engaged as one of the Australian faces of Adidas, and as a brand ambassador for Rebel Sport, a sporting goods retailer. In December 2023, she became a brand ambassador for Rise & Shine, a childcare provider.

Personal life Fowler began her professional career together with her older sister Ciara when they were both signed by Adelaide United in the same year. They played together professionally for the first time in the first match of the 2019–20 season when Ciara came on as an 85th-minute substitute. This was the debut for both sisters. after meeting several months earlier at an Adidas event in Sydney.

Fowler enjoys travelling and learning languages. Although she enjoyed living in Montpellier, she became homesick during the COVID-19 pandemic.

International

Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Fowler goal.

Honours Manchester City

Women's Super League: 2025–26 Women's FA Cup: 2025–26

Australia AFF Women's Championship: Runners-up: 2018 (Australia U20) 2024 PFA WSL Team of the Year: 2024–25