Alanna Kennedy


Alanna Stephanie Kennedy is an Australian professional soccer player who currently plays for the Australia women's national soccer team and Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League. Kennedy is recognized as being a versatile, technical player and is a right footed free kick specialist. Known on the international level as a centre back, Kennedy is also able to play as a midfielder.

Club career

Kennedy started her W-league career playing for Sydney FC in the 2010–11 season, where she featured in 3 games. The following year, Kennedy switched clubs and joined the Newcastle Jets in the 2011–12 W-League before returning to Sydney FC in the 2012–13 season. For the 2013–14 season, she joined city rivals Western Sydney Wanderers. and in the 2014 season she joined Perth Glory. In 2015, she returned to Sydney FC and would remain there the following 2 seasons. In 2016, Kennedy signed with the Western New York Flash in the National Women's Soccer League. She appeared in 17 games for the Flash in 2016. Kennedy played every minute of Western New York's two playoff games, as the Flash won the 2016 NWSL Championship.
On 19 January 2017 Kennedy was traded to the Orlando Pride in exchange for midfielder Sam Witteman. She appeared in every game for the Pride in 2017. In the final game of the regular season on 30 September, Kennedy scored the game-winning goal on a free kick in stoppage time. This win allowed Orlando to finish the regular season in 3rd place and qualify for the playoffs for the first time in club history. In the semi-final, Kennedy scored again but Orlando lost 4–1 to the Portland Thorns.
Kennedy joined Melbourne City on loan for the 2017–18 W-League season. During the 2017-2018 season, Kennedy was named to the Westfield W-League's "Team of the Decade", which was composed of the best XI players to ever play in the W-League, as voted for by the fans.
In the 2018 NWSL Season, Kennedy appeared in 20 games and scored 2 goals; however, Orlando could not duplicate their success in 2017 and finished in a disappointing seventh place.
After spending one season at Melbourne City, Kennedy signed with Sydney FC for the 2018–19 W-League season, returning to the club she had played at for four previous seasons. On 16 February 2019 Kennedy won her third W-league Championship title with a 4–2 win over Perth Glory in the grand final. She re-signed with Sydney FC for the 2019–20 season. The team returned to the grand final in 2020 but lost to Melbourne City 1–0.

International career

Kennedy debuted for the Matildas against New Zealand in 2012. In 2014, at age 19, she was named to the Matildas squad for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup. She appeared in three games, as Australia finished Runner-up to Japan.
In May 2015, Kennedy was named to Australia's 23-player roster for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and was the second youngest player on their roster. Kennedy appeared in all five matches for Australia. The Matildas finished second in their group and advanced to the knockout stage. They defeated Brazil in round 16 but lost to Japan in the quarter-finals.
Kennedy attended her first Olympic Games in 2016. She played every minute of Australia's four matches at Rio 2016. Their quarter-final match against Brazil was tied 0–0 after extra time and went to penalties. Kennedy was the final penalty taker for Australia; she did not score her penalty and Brazil won the match 7–6 on penalties.
Kennedy was part of the Matildas squad that won the 2017 Tournament of Nations and defeated the United States for the first time ever.
At the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup Kennedy scored two goals for Australia. The second goal she scored was a stoppage time equalizer against Thailand in the Semi-final. Australia went on to win the game in penalties. Australia lost to Japan 1–0 in the final.
In May 2019, Kennedy was named to the Matildas squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second time she was included in a World Cup squad. At the World Cup, Kennedy started all four of Australia's matches. In the Round of 16 tie against Norway, Kennedy received a straight red card in the 104th minute of extra-time for a DOGSO foul on Lisa-Marie Utland. Australia went on to lose on penalties and were eliminated.

Career statistics

International goals


Goal		DateLocationOpponentScoreResultCompetition
12 March 2016Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan2016 Olympics qualifying
29 August 2016Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil2016 Summer Olympics – Group F
37 March 2017VRS António Sports Complex, Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal2017 Algarve Cup
410 April 2018Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup
517 April 2018King Abdullah II Stadium, Amman, Jordan2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup
62 August 2018Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois, USA2018 Tournament of Nations
76 March 2019AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia2019 Cup of Nations

Honours

Club

Sydney FC
Perth Glory
Western New York Flash
Melbourne City
Australia