July 24 (Reuters) - A-League Women needs greater investment to entice more Matildas to return home, Australia striker Sam Kerr said, adding that many of the country's leading players would consider returning if the competition offered the right professional environment.
The 32-year-old, who moved to the U.S. when she joined National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) side Gotham FC in June after six-and-a-half years with Chelsea, said Australia's top women's league required further development despite the progress it had made in recent years.
Kerr said the competition had previously benefited from the presence of national team players and Australians returning from stints overseas.
"We need to find a way to get all the best players back," Kerr told ABC Sport on Friday.
"If it paid enough and it was a top league, a lot of us Matildas would go back, but to better ourselves for the national team, we have to go overseas."
Player pay has been a key concern in the A-League Women, which offers lower salaries than Australia's other major women's domestic competitions and less than overseas soccer leagues.
A-League Women players earned minimum salaries of A$26,500 ($18,486) last year, lower than their counterparts at the NWSL whose minimum earnings in 2025 were $48,500.
A new collective bargaining agreement bumped NWSL players' annual earnings to $50,500 in 2026. Trinity Rodman, the highest paid player in NWSL history, earns more than $2 million a year.
"The A-League was thriving, or the W-League back then was thriving when the national team players and players from the NWSL, players from England were coming over," Kerr said.
Several of Australia's leading internationals, including Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, Katrina Gorry, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Mary Fowler, now play in Europe.
Kerr said the A-League Women compared favourably with the NWSL in some respects, but still required greater backing to continue its growth.
"The A-League's probably more similar to the NWSL. It's more transitional, probably on the same level as the NWSL off the pitch with things like that," she added.
"But I think the A-League probably needs a little bit more investment, a little bit more time."
The A-League Women and the NWSL were once among the world's premier women's leagues, but most of Australia's top players now play in Europe, with a few Matildas based in the United States.
($1 = 1.4335 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
