Willa Pearson
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 24 December 2010 | |||||||||||||||
| Position | Defender | |||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||
Current team | Sydney FC | |||||||||||||||
| Number | 16 | |||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
| Belrose-Terrey Hills Raiders | ||||||||||||||||
| Sydney FC | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
| 2025– | Sydney FC | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||||
| Australia U17 | 5 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 13 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 13 November 2025 | ||||||||||||||||
Willa Pearson (born 24 December 2010)[1] is an Australian dual-sport athlete who plays soccer as a defender for A-League Women club Sydney FC and the Australia under-17 national team, and cricket as a wicketkeeper for the Manly Warringah Waratahs. She is known for being the youngest player to ever debut in the A-League Women, having debuted aged 14 years and 312 days.[2][3][4]
Pearson was born on Christmas Eve (24 December) in 2010.[1] Growing up, she played local soccer for Belrose-Terrey Hills Raiders[1] and local cricket for Manly Warringah District.[5]
Club career
Sydney FC
In July 2025, Pearson signed her first senior contract with Sydney FC.[6]
In the opening match of the 2025–26 season on 1 November 2025, Pearson made her debut for Sydney FC, playing the full 90 minutes in the club's 2–2 draw at home with reigning premiers Melbourne City.[7][8] Aged 14 years and 312 days old, she made history and became the youngest player, male or female, to ever debut in the A-Leagues, a debut that made worldwide headlines though sparked an online debate on whether she was too young to be playing in a senior sports league.[9][10][11][12] The previous record was set by Ischia Brooking, who was 14 years and 347 days old when she debuted as a substitute in second half stoppage time for Sydney FC's arch-rivals Western Sydney Wanderers in a 2–2 draw away to Newcastle Jets.[2][13]