ParaMatildas hunt more Australian football history at World Cup

The ParaMatildas begin the 2026 IFCPF World Cup in uncharted territory for an Australian football team.

At the 2024 tournament in Spain, the side broke through as the nation's first-ever winner of a round ball World Cup. 

Now, the players are aiming to become the first Australian team to successfully defend a world title.

It has been a rapid ascent for the side, only officially launched in 2022, but coach Charlotte Ercil said her players were comfortable with added expectation.

"I think it adds a little bit of pressure, but it's exciting at the same time," Ercil told ABC Sport.

"But we always prepare like every game, including our first group game, is the World Cup final."

The ParaMatildas, and their male counterparts, the Pararoos, play football designed for athletes with cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury and symptoms of stroke.

The sport features smaller fields and goals as well as shorter halves than in the mainstream game and does not include the offside rule.

This month's tournament in the US city of Atlanta will be just the third instalment of the Women's World Cup and the first edition to be held outside Spain, while the Pararoos are hopeful of a best-ever finish in the concurrently running men's competition.

In the brief international history of the women's game, Australia and the US have emerged as its two great powers, with the ParaMatildas going down to the stars and stripes in the final of the 2022 tournament before exacting revenge in the 2024 decider.

Getting one over the Americans in their own backyard looms as the ultimate test for the ParaMatildas, and Australia central defender Eloise Northam does not doubt the hosts' motivation to reclaim their crown.

"I feel like they definitely are plotting against us," Northam told ABC Sport.

"I think that's what we were doing back in like the second World Cup — we were ready to take on the US and take their championship away from them."

The ParaMatildas are also wary of the sport's expanding talent pool. The growth of the global game means that teams and tactics are evolving rapidly, while players with newly acquired brain injuries are constantly welcomed into the fold.

Australia will face Ireland, the Netherlands and newcomers Colombia during the group stage.

"Every year or every time we interact with or play against any country, there are always changes and improvements, which is good for the game; it means it's growing," coach Ercil said.

Throw in lingering summer temperatures as well as the possibility of severe thunderstorms, and the ParaMatildas are taking nothing for granted in the American south.

The Pararoos, meanwhile, are bullish on progressing from a difficult group featuring Brazil, Spain and Chile.

The Australian squad for the tournament comes with bucketloads of experience, with 11 of the 14 players selected having previous World Cup experience.

One of those returning athletes is Taj Lynch, who believed his side was now well placed for a breakthrough top-10 finish.

"I feel confident in the players we're taking across; a lot of us have been there before," Lynch told ABC Sport.

"We've learned a lot, we've got a lot of things wrong, but we've grown, and we've improved.

"We're not a team of boys playing against men anymore. I think we're finally starting to be a team of men who can take on the best teams in the world."

Captaining the Pararoos in Atlanta is Australian football legend David Barber. 

The veteran debuted for Australia in 1999, and will overtake Andorra's Ildefons Lima as the male player with the longest international football career when he steps out for the Pararoos' tournament opener against Brazil.