Brisbane's New Statue Celebrating the Matildas' Women's World Cup Efforts Will Be Unveiled by the End of 2024
The permanent ode will be made out of bronze, measure six-metres wide and sit outside Suncorp Stadium.
By the time that 2024 is out, hopefully the Matildas will have Olympic gold medals from the Paris games. Sports fans, cross your fingers and toes now. But no matter how Australia's national women's soccer team fares midyear, the Tillies are set to score a bronze tribute to the squad before 2025 rolls in, with plans for Brisbane's ode to their 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup efforts progressing.
Last year, after a whirlwind month of football that included the Matildas beating France in a stunning penalty shootout, and Sam Kerr kicking the goal of a lifetime in the semi-final loss to England, the Queensland Government announced that it would build a Matildas statue. The team will be immortalised in a bas-relief piece at the River City's Suncorp Stadium, where the epic match against France was played — was the Matildas' 3–2 loss to Nigeria in the group stage and 2–0 third-place playoff defeat by Sweden.
The artwork will measure around six metres in width and two metres in height, with the Brisbane-based Urban Art Projects newly commissioned to deliver the sculpture. There's no exact date yet that the public piece will be unveiled, other than the end of 2024 — but you can factor seeing the celebration of Kerr, Ellie Carpenter, Mackenzie Arnold, Hayley Raso, Steph Catley, Katrina Gorry, Mary Fowler, Caitlin Foord and their teammates, and their history-making World Cup campaign, into your trips to the Milton stadium.
Fans can expect "a high-quality, large-scale cast bronze bas-relief capturing an iconic moment of celebration from the tournament," says UAP Associate Paul Gurney, with the company employing "both robotic and hand-crafted techniques to achieve the players' likenesses in bronze".
No Australian soccer team has made it as far into World Cup as the Matildas did in 2023 — not the Matildas themselves in the past, and not the Socceroos, either. Indeed, it's no wonder that their games kept smashing ratings records, with the England match becoming the country's most-watched TV program since 2001, and also likely ever.
When the statue celebrating the Matildas is installed, it'll add both female and football representation to a site that currently features statues of rugby league stars Wally Lewis, Arthur Beetson, Darren Lockyer, Mal Meninga and Allan Langer, plus rugby union's John Eales.
"In a nation that loves its sport, the Matildas were not only the most watched team on Australian television in 2023, their semi-final against England was the most watched event in Australian television history," said Queensland Minister for Women Shannon Fentiman.
"They are inspiring women and girls to become more active and get involved in organised sport, and it is fantastic that their efforts will be recognised with a permanent tribute."
Brisbane's new tribute at Suncorp Stadium celebrating the Matildas' 2023 Women's World Cup efforts is set to be installed by the end of 2024 — we'll update you when further details are announced.
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