Matildas legend Heather Garriock will add another chapter to her amazing story when she becomes the first woman in Australia to take on a TV analyst role in an UEFA Champions League game.
Garriock will join John Aloisi, Scott McDonald, Craig Moore, Michael Bridges and Luke Wilkshire for Optus Sports in tomorrow morning's Round of 16 game between Barcelona and Napoli.
The 37-year-old, who hails from Campbelltown in western Sydney, played 130 games for Australia and has the third highest number of international caps for any Australian footballer. She famously scored the winning goal for the Matildas agains Greece in the 2004 Athens Olympics, a result that saw Australia make the knockout stages for the first time ever.
The left footer also featured at Sydney 2000 and appeared at two World Cups netting three times. The highlight of her career was being a member of the Matildas team that won the 2010 Asian Cup.
Known for her excellent football brain, Garriock - who recently finished up coaching for Canberra United in the W-League - admitted it was an exciting prospect to be part of the coverage for one of the prestigious football events on the calendar.
“If I’m honest, I never thought I’d see the day, when any female gets called into a male dominated sport – or a Champions League game,” Garriock told Optus Sports.
“It is an honour, but it is football in the end and that’s the knowledge I have - but I think plenty of women are smashing glass ceilings at the moment and it is great that I can be one of those.
“Plenty will follow and see possible career paths within the media industry.”
The 2003 Julie Dolan Medallist has experience playing in Europe after featuring for Fortuna Horring in Denmark from 2007-2008 and LdB FC Malmo in Sweden in 2011. She won the Danish Cup with Fortuna before doing the League and Cup double with FC Malmo.
After starting out for local Macarthur District club Leppington Lions as a junior, Garriock went on to the prestigious Westfield Sports High School. She played for Marconi and then NSW Sapphires and Queensland Sting in the now defunct Women’s National Soccer League. She followed up a League title with the Sapphires in 2000, with a W-League championship with Sydney FC in 2009.
Tomorrow morning will be the next step for a woman many are touting as a future Matildas coach.
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