Kyra Cooney-Cross


Kyra Lillee Cooney-Cross is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Women's Super League club Arsenal and the Australia women's national team. She has previously played for Hammarby IF in the Damallsvenskan, as well as Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory in the W-League.
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Early life and education

Kyra Lillee Cooney-Cross was born on 15 February 2002 to Jessica Cooney and Jai Cross in Herston, Queensland, and grew up with three siblings. Their father, Cross, who works as a tiler, played soccer at semi-pro level in Queensland with Sunshine Coast and encouraged Cooney-Cross in that sport. After her parents separated, Cooney-Cross, at eight-years-old, relocated to Alice Springs with her mother and siblings, for three years before moving to Ballarat.
Usually playing with older girls and boys, at the age of 13, she started at FFV NTC in Melbourne, and a year later trialled for the Junior Matildas.
In July 2016 Cooney-Cross was a member of Victoria's Under-15 girls soccer team at the National Youth Championships for Girls, which won the tournament contested by seven other state/regional teams.
She later enrolled in the Future Matildas programme based in Sydney, New South Wales. By age 17, Cooney-Cross had attended six different schools including Ballarat High School and then to Surf Coast Secondary College, Torquay, Victoria for two years. Her mother and siblings remained in Torquay and, while in Sydney, she attended Westfields Sports High School for her final years of secondary education, alongside fellow Junior Matilda, Courtney Nevin. After living with two foster families, she moved in with the Nevin family.

Club career

As a youth, Cooney-Cross spent three years with Ballarat City between 2013 and 2016, playing under their coach Tessa Curtain. She also played for an FFV NTC side, Senior NTC/FV Emerging, in the NPLW Victoria in 2016 and 2017. In the latter season she won NPLW Victoria Player's Player of the Year.

Melbourne Victory (2017–2019)

In 2017, Cooney-Cross was signed by Melbourne Victory for the 2017-18 W-League season. On 28 October 2017, she made her debut for the club in a 2–1 home win against Canberra United, playing the full 90 minutes in her first competitive league match. On 29 December 2017, she scored her maiden goal for the club in a 3–1 home loss against Newcastle Jets, heading in at the 28th minute mark behind Jets goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom. By the end of the season she played in Victory's all twelve games, scoring two goals. Primarily playing as a forward, she was nominated for Young Player of the Year. In the 2018–19 season, she was part of the W-League premier title-winning squad, although only playing in four of twelve matches. Despite this, Cooney-Cross was unhappy: unable to improve herself as a player due to reduced game time.

Western Sydney Wanderers (2019–2020)

Cooney-Cross moved to Western Sydney Wanderers as a midfielder for the 2019–20 season, where she scored in her debut, a free-kick at the 92nd minute mark of a 2–1 home win over Adelaide United.

Melbourne Victory (2020–2022)

In December 2020, following one season at Western Sydney Wanderers, Cooney-Cross returned to Melbourne Victory. On 11 April 2021, she scored directly from a corner kick in the 120th minute of extra time to win the 2021 W-League Grand Final, beating season premiers Sydney FC 0–1.
At that year's W-League Awards she won Young Footballer of the Year.

Hammarby (2022–2023)

On 15 March 2022, Cooney-Cross and Nevin both transferred to Hammarby IF in the Swedish Damallsvenskan, signing a two-year contract. While at Hammarby, she made 30 appearances and scored one goal.

Arsenal (2023–)

On 15 September 2023, Arsenal announced signing Cooney-Cross for a transfer of AU$272,000. Ian Wright had wanted Arsenal to recruit Cooney-Cross after her impressive performance in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, and asked fellow Matilda and Arsenal player, Steph Catley to convince Cooney-Cross to join her at the club. Before accepting Arsenal, Cooney-Croos considered bids from Chelsea and Tottenham. On 1 October 2023, the opening day of the 2023-24 season, Cooney-Cross made her first appearance for Arsenal in a 0–1 loss to Liverpool. During the 2024–2025 pre-season Cooney-Cross kicked her first goal for Arsenal in a friendly 0–3 win against Southampton. The mid-fielder scored a goal for her club in the quarter-finals of the 2024–25 Women's League Cup in their 0–4 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion in January 2025.

International career

In August 2016, Cooney-Cross was part of the Australia U-17s who participated in the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualifiers, scoring six goals, the first four of which came against Palestine. She was later named in the squad for the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship finals, where Australia was knocked out in the group stage, their only points coming from a 3–2 win against Bangladesh. Cooney-Cross scored in the 78th minute of the game to bring the scores level to 2–2, before Sofia Sakalis scored the winner in the 83rd minute, to help Australia finish third in the group.
In October 2018, Cooney-Cross, as a member of Australia women's national under-20 soccer team, scored the first three of her six goals of the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship qualifiers. On 4 June 2019, she was named as a standby player for the Australian senior squad participating in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. On 15 October 2019, she was named in the Australia U-20 squad participating in the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship. She scored Australia's first goal of the tournament in a 5–1 opening match loss against North Korea, heading in at the 16th minute mark from an Indiah-Paige Riley cross.
Cooney-Cross made her debut for the Australian women's national soccer team in a 3–2 friendly loss to Denmark on 10 June 2021. The midfielder was selected for the senior Matildas team, which qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The team advanced to the quarter-finals with one victory and a draw in the group play. In the quarter-finals they beat Great Britain 4–3 after extra time. However, they lost 1–0 to Sweden in a semi-final and were then beaten 4–3 in the bronze medal playoff by USA.
Cooney-Cross was a part of the Australian team at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. She featured in the starting lineup of all seven matches that Australia played, forming a midfield partnership with Katrina Gorry. On 4 June 2024, Cooney-Cross was named in the Matildas team which qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics, her second Olympic games selection. Later that year, she scored her debut goal for Australia during her 50th international game in a 1–2 win against Germany on 28 October in Duisburg, Germany. Cooney-Cross's strike won Football Australia's Goal of the Year. In November 2025 that goal was one of eleven nominees for FIFA Marta Award. The midfielder kicked a similar long-shot goal in a 5–0 friendly win against New Zealand in November 2025. Football Australia awarded it Goal of the Year.

Personal life

Cooney-Cross was given the affectionate title of an "annoying little sister" by national team and Arsenal teammates Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord because of her cheeky personality. She is close friends with two other Matildas teammates, Charli Grant and Katrina Gorry.
In early January 2026, she returned to Australia after learning of her mother's diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma – a rare, aggressive and incurable cancer of the bile duct. Cooney-Cross was unavailable for Arsenal's return to WSL duties after their mid-season break, but returned as an unused substitute in late January for their victory against AS FAR in their 2026 FIFA Women's Champions Cup semifinal.

Career statistics

International

No.CapDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetitionRef
1.5028 October 2024Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg, Germany1–12–1Friendly
2.6228 November 2025polytec Stadium, Gosford, Australia4–05–0Friendly

Honours

Melbourne Victory
Hammarby
Arsenal
Individual