Matildas Collect AFC Awards

The Matildas received much deserved acclaim following their successful appearance at September's Women's World Cup in China which culminated this week in coach Tom Sermanni being crowned Asia's top coach at the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Women’s Awards held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Matildas received much deserved acclaim following their successful appearance at September's Women's World Cup in China which culminated this week in coach Tom Sermanni being crowned Asia's top coach at the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Women-s Awards held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The kudos didn't end there with Australian referee Tammy Ogston winning the AFC Women's Referee of the Year award after the Queenslander had refereed the 2007 FIFA Women-s World Cup final between Germany and Brazil. Meanwhile Matildas midfielder Collette McCallum was named 2nd runner-up in the major award of the evening - the AFC Women-s Player of the Year. Australia were also unsuccessful nominees in the categories of Women's National Team of the Year and the Fair Play Award.

As if that wasn't enough Matildas captain Cheryl Salisbury and midfielder Heather Garriock had earlier been short-listed in the top ten players nominated for the award prior to the list of nominees being reduced to three. Matildas striking duo of Sarah Walsh and Kate Gill had also been short-listed in a preliminary list some months ago thanks to their extraordinary goalscoring feats in the Olympic qualifying campaign.

The recognition follows the Matildas most successful appearance in a major tournament where they finished sixth in reaching the quarter finals at September-s FIFA Women-s World Cup in China after being knocked out by eventual runners-up Brazil. Following the tournament Australia moved to an all-time high of 12 in the FIFA Women's World Rankings.

DPR Korea-s Ri Kum Suk won the prestigious Women-s Player of the Year award followed by Japan-s Homare Sawa and the Perth-based McCallum. The 21-year-old midfielder with the cultured left foot featured in every minute of Australia-s four World Cup matches scoring with a curling Beckham-esque free-kick in the decisive group match against Canada which helped ensure Australia-s historic qualification for the quarter finals. Matildas striker Lisa De Vanna was recognised for her four World Cup goals and dynamic attacking play after being named as a nominee for FIFA World Player of the Year. The 22-year-old was also one of 16 players named in the FIFA all-star team based on performances throughout the World Cup. De Vanna joined an elite list of four forwards alongside such as head company as Brazilian duo Marta and Cristiane, plus German World Cup winning captain Birgit Prinz.

The Matildas were also voted into fifth place on fifa.com as the tournament's 'Most Entertaining Team', behind only finalists Brazil and Germany, traditional powerhouse USA and host nation China. Two Aussie goals also were considered by the website amongst the tournaments top ten with De Vanna's spectacular strike against Norway and Garriock's expert headed goal against Ghana voted by fans from all over the world.

By any measure the 2007 edition of the Women's World Cup was a breakthrough moment for Aussie women's football with the on-field success matched off it, exemplified by a peak TV audience of 533,000 for the dramatic final group match against Canada.

The Matildas next major outing will be the 2008 AFC Asian Cup which commences in May.