Samantha (Sam) May Kerr OAM is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a striker. She plays for Chelsea in the FA Women Super League and the Australia women’s national team (the Matildas) where she has been the captain since 2019. Kerr is regarded as one of Australia’s greatest athletes.
Sam is widely considered as one of the best female footballers in the world. She is the only female footballer to have won the Golden boot in three different leagues across three continents; Australia/ New Zealand (W-League) in 2017-18 and 2018-19, North America (NWSL) in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and Europe (FA WSL) 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Kerr is renowned for her speed, skillful dribbling and goal-scoring ability. Her workaholic, tenacious and fast-thinking attributes makes her the most difficult opponent to play against.
She is famous for her back-flip goal celebrations.
Age and Birthday
Born in East Fremantle, Western Australia on 10 September 1993, Sam in 30 years old as at June 2024. Her Zodiac sign is a Virgo.
Height
Sam Kerr stands approximately at 1.68 meters (5 feet 6 inches).
Preferred foot
She prefers playing with the right foot.
Sam Kerr Family
Sam is the last born in a four siblings family which has a long athletic history. The family also boasts of its combination of various cultures and sports traditions.
Her parents are Roger Kerr (an Anglo-Indian descent) and Roxanne Kerr (a Filipino descent).
Roger Alan Kerr (Sam’s dad) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. He played senior football for East Fremantle and Perth in the West Australian Football League. Roger was born in Calcutta to an English father who was a featherweight boxer and an Indian mother who was a basketball player.
Sam’s siblings are; brothers (Daniel and Levi) and a sister (Maddi). Levi and Maddi were not much interested in sports since they were kids. But Daniel and Sam would always play football and other ball games together while growing up.
Daniel played Australian rules football to professional level for the West Coast Eagles.
Sam’s maternal grandfather and granduncle were Australian rules professional footballers. Another of her granduncles (J. J. Miller) was a champion jockey and a horse trainer.
Sam Kerr Club Career
Early life
Born in a sportive family, Sam Kerr was introduced to football at a early age by her father and oldest brother Daniel. The two men played Australian rules football at professional level.
Sam never liked playing football in the beginning. However, due to the closeness with her brother Daniel who loved to play she developed interest. Soon after, she fell in love with the game and started playing Australian rules football. Her father who coached at South Fremantle Colts would take Sam and her siblings to training.
At the age of 6, Sam started playing in one of the boy’s teams. She played for about four years with the team. Nevertheless the physical differences between the boys and Sam finally became evident.
It was at the age 12, when she switched to association football due to the gender restrictions. Regardless of some struggles while adapting to new rules, she transitioned to association football. In no time had settled in and her exceptional talent was clearly evident.
Western Knights: 2006-2008
Samantha started her football career in 2006 as a junior at Western Knights. She spend to years at the Mosman Park side.
Perth Glory: 2008-2011
In 2008, she made trials with the Western Australian State Team. She debuted in 2009 W-League season at the aged 15 years. At the end of the season, she was voted the Players’ Player of the Year. her long-range goal against Sydney FC was awarded Goal of the Year.
Kerr started all the W-League 10 matches for the 2010-11 season and scored three goals. On 14 January 2011, she scored a brace in a 2-1 win against Adelaide United.
Sam Kerr made 22 appearances and scored 5 goals for Perth Glory.
Sydney FC: 2012-2013
She then moved to Sydney FC where she played 24 games scoring 13 times for the Australian side.
Western New York Flash: 2013-2014
Sam signed for United States club Western New York Flash in 2013. She played 21 games (19 starts) and scored six goals in her first season. In 2014, Kerr started in all 20 matches and scored 9 goals becoming the teams top-scorer.
She played a total of 41 games and scored 15 goals for the American club.
Perth Glory: 2014-2015
Kerr returned to her former W-League club in August 2014 on a one-year deal. She scored her first goal in a victory against Adelaide United. Sam scored a brace in the following match, a 10-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers. She would continue with her excellent form after returning for injury to score eight goals in four matches. this included a hat-trick against Sydney FC.
She would carry her excellent form to the following season where she scored in an opening round in a 2-1 win against Melbourne Victory. This turned out to may her only goal of the season since she suffered an injury that ruled her out for the rest of the season. Nonetheless, Perth extended her contract for another year.
In the 2016-17 W-League season, Sam led her team to the Grand Final by scoring 10 goals. Consequently, she was awarded the Julie Dolan Medal and the Penny Tanner MVP Award. In October 2018, she was given a huge contract as a counter-offer in order prevent going overseas. This was reciprocated by her performance in the 2018-19 season when she finished a top-scorer with 17 goals at above a goal per game. She also scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against Melbourne Victory.
Sky Blue FC: 2015-2017
After the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Kerr moved to the United States NWSL side where a fellow Matilda, Caitin Foord played.
In 2017, Sam Kerr set a new record in the NWSL when she scored four goal in a single match. this was in a 5-4 win against Seattle Reign, after being down 3-0 at half-time. She finished the season with a record-breaking 17 goals. Kerr consequently won the NWSL Golden Boot and the MVP award.
Chicago Red Stars: 2018-2019
On 18 January 2018, Sam moved to Chicago Red Stars. It took sometimes for her to settle in and was not her eighth match, a 1-1 draw against North Carolina Courage when she scored her debut goal. In August 2018 she was named the NWLS Player of the month after netting five goals inside the month. She won the Golden Boot for a second consecutive season with a total of 16 goals. this made her the first player to win the NWSL Golden Boot more than once. Kerr was also elected into the NWSL Best XI.
In 2019, Chicago Red Stars made their maiden appearance in the NWSL Championship, though they lost 4-0 to North Carolina Courage. Kerr became the first player to named NWSL MVP twice. She also received the Golden Boot for the third year consecutively after finishing the season with 18 goals and 5 assists. Sam also bagged the NWSL Players Association.
Sam Kerr made 43 appearances and scored a total of 35 goals.
Chelsea: 2020- Present
Despite several offers from European clubs, Kerr signed a two and a half year contract with Chelsea on 13 November 2019. She joined the English giants for the second half of the 2019-20 FA WSL season. Sam made her debut on 5 January against Reading and scored her first Chelsea goal against Arsenal two weeks later. Her first trophy with Chelsea was a League Cup after a 2-1 win over Arsenal in the finals. Chelsea would later win the 2019-20 WSL title that season.
2020-2021
On August 2020, she won together trophy with Chelsea after beating Manchester City 2-0 in the 2020 Women’s FA Community Shield. Her first in Blue was in 6-0 win against Bristol City in the League Cup. She won the 2020-21 season Golden Boot after scoring 21 goals in 22 games. This made her the first to win the Golden Boot in three different leagues across three continents. Chelsea won the FA WSL again that season and reached the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time. They were however defeated to the trophy by Barcelona.
2021-present
Kerr continued with her excellent form into the 2021-22 season. She nominated for the Barclays Player of the Month for September. On 16 November, she signed a contract extension to stay at Chelsea until end of 2023-24 season. Kerr scored a brace in the FA Cup final against Arsenal and was awarded the Player of the Match. Chelsea won a quadruple after lifting all the domestic trophies in 2021-22 season. They became the first English women’s club to achieve the milestone. Sam ended the season the WSL top scorer with 23 and second in total assists with 10.
In April 2022, she was awarded the FWA Women ‘s Footballer of the Year and won the FA WSL Player of the Month. She concluded the season with 32 goals and 9 assists. That season Chelsea won the WSL for the third time in a row and the FA Women’s Cup for the second consecutive time.
Kerr was voted by Chelsea supporters the Chelsea Women’s Player of the Year. She was also voted the WSL Player of the Season and retained the Golden Boot at finishing with a tally of 32 goals. Sam received the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and was named in the PFA WSL Team of the Year for two years consecutively.
By the end of 2022-23 season with Kerr had scored 29 goals for the Blues. Chelsea won the WSL for the fourth time consecutively and the FA Women’s Cup the third time in a row.
She again won the League in 2023-24 a fifth time in five seasons.
Sam Kerr International Career
Kerr’s first senior cap with the Matildas came in February 2009 at the age of 15 in a 5-1 lost against Italy. She scored her debut international goal at the age of 16 in a 1-1 draw against North Korea in the 2010 AFC Women’s Asian Cup final. Australia eventually the game on penalties prompting to Kerr lifting her first international trophy. She also represented Australia at the 2010 Peace Queen Cup.
Sam was named in the Australia squad for 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She was one of the seven players under the age twenty in the squad. Kerr made her World Cup debut coming on from the bench in their first group stage match against Brazil. She made her first start in the second match against Equatorial Guinea. The Matildas advanced to the knock-out stage after finishing second in their group but lost 3-1 to Sweden.
In the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Kerr was instrumental for the Matildas. They won their first two group matches and drew in the third as they advanced to the round of 16 as their group’s second best. Australia reached the quarter finals for the first time but lost 1-0 to Japan.
Kerr’s fine form in the international stage continued as she scored 8 goals in her first 49 caps.
In July 2017, in the first Tournament of the Nations, she scored a hat-trick in their 4-2 win over Japan and a goal against Brazil. She ended the Tournament as the top goal scorer. This would mark the start of a string of 11 goals in six matches. She was consequently named the AFC Women’s Footballer of the Year.
National team captain
She was made the Matildas captain in February 2019 and in April of the same year nominated for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year award.
In the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, she scored her first World Cup goal against Italy in Australia’s opening match. Sam scored four goals in their third group match against Jamaica and named the Player of the Match. She became the first Australian to score a World Cup hat-trick and the tenth football player to score four goals. The Matildas advanced to the round of 16 but lost to Norway in penalties. Kerr immerged the tournament’s fourth highest scorer with a tally of five.
In the 2020 Olympics held in 2021, the Matildas finished fourth with Kerr scoring important goals and becoming the all-time top scorer for her national side with a total tally of 48goals.
On 21 September, Kerr became the 10th Matilda to be capped 100 times when she played in Australia’s first ever match against the Republic of Ireland.
During the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia’s first match against Indonesia, Sam scored 5 goals. This took her goal tally beyond the Australian international goal-scoring record of 50 goals set by Tim Cahill. She achieved this in 105 matches compared to Cahill’s 108. Kerr also won the Golden Boot with 7 goals in 4 matches despite Australia’s elimination at the quarter finals.
On 3 July 2023, Kerr was assigned to captain the Matildas in the 2023 World Cup tournament in their home soil. This would be their fourth World Cup appearance. She however missed all the three group stage matches due to an injury sustained on the build-up to the tournament. Sam made her return to the Matilda as a substitute in the round of 16 2-0 victory against Norway
Sam Kerr Awards
Sydney FC
- W-League Championship: 2012-13
Western New York Flash
- NWSL Shield: 2013
- NWSL Championship runner-up: 2013
Perth Glory
- W-League Premiership: 2014
- W-League Championship runner-up (3): 2014, 2016-17, 2018-19
Chicago Red Stars
- NWSL Championship runner-up: 2019
Chelsea
- UEFA Women’s Champions League runner-up: 2020-21
- FA Women’s Super League (4): 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23
- Women’s FA Cup (3): 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23
- FA Women’s League Cup (2): 2019-20, 2020-21, runner-up; 2021-22
- FA Women’s Community Shield: 2020
Australia
- AFF U16 Women’s Championship: 2009
- AFC Women’s Asian Cup: 2010 runner-up; 2014, 2018
- Centenary Cup: 2013
Individual Awards
Australia and International
- Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM): 2022
- PFA Australian Women’s Footballer of the Year (5): 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022
- The 100 Best Female Footballers in the World Winner: 2019
- Key to the City of Perth: 2022
- IFFHS World’s Best International Goal Scorer: 2022
- IFFHS AFC Women’s Team of the Decade: 2011-2020
- Asian Women’s Footballer of the Year: 2017
- Young Australian of the Year: 2018
- FFA Female U20 Footballer of the Year (2): 2010, 2014
- ESPY Awards Best International Women’s Soccer Award (3): 2018, 2019, 2022
- AFC Women’s Asian Cup Golden Boot: 2022
- W-League Player’s Player of the Year (2): 2009, 2014
- W-League Goal of the Year (2): 2009, 2016-17
- Julie Dolan Medal (2): 2016-17, 2017-18
- PFA W-League Team of the Season (3): 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19
- Football Media Association International Player of the Year (2): 2013, 2014
- W-League Golden Boot (2): 2017-18, 2018-19
- ABC Sport Personality of the Year: 2017
America
- NWSL Golden Boot (3): 2017, 2018, 2019
- NWSL Most Valuable Player Award (2): 2017, 2019
- IFFHS Women’s World Team of the Year (2): 2017, 2021
- NWSL Best XI (3): 2017, 2018, 2019
- ESPY Awards Best NWSL Player Award: 2019
Europe
- UEFA Women’s Champions League Squad of the Season: 2020-21
- FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World II: 2022
- UK Young Achiever Award: 2021
- FA Women’s Super League Golden Boot (2): 2020-21, 2021-22
- PFA WSL Team of the Year (2): 2020-21, 2021-22
- IFFHS AFC Women’s Player of the Year: 2021
- IFFHS AFC Women’s All-time Women’s Dream Team: 2021
- London Football Awards FA Women’s Super League Player of the Year: 2022
- FWA Women’s Footballer of the Year (2): 2021-22, 2022-23
- WSL Player of the Season: 2021-22
- WSL Goal of the Season: 2021-22
- PFA Players’ Player of the Year: 2022
- PFA WSL Fans’ Player of the Year (2): 2020-21, 2021-22
- Chelsea Women’s Player of the Year (2): 2021-22, 2022-23
- The Athletic WSL Player of the Year: 2021-22
- The Athletic WSL Team of the Year (2): 2020-21, 2021-22
- GiveMeSportW (GMS) Fans’ WSL Player of the Season: 2021-22
Sam Kerr Net Worth
Samantha has an estimated net worth of $5.5 million as of 2023.