Matildas star Sam Kerr has been snapped celebrating Australia’s incredible win against France with her footballer girlfriend, Kristie Mewis.
Kerr, 29, embraced Mewis, who plays for the US women’s team, after the Matildas’ quarter-final victory at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
The football power couple kissed and hugged as millions of Australians celebrated a happy ending to the nail-biting semi-final.
Mewis was also seen supporting her girlfriend of over two years from the stands during Australia’s win over Denmark on Monday.
The Matildas won the gruelling game against France 7-6 on penalties in the longest shootout in the history of the tournament.
Goalie Mackenzie Arnold made three saves before Cortnee Vine converted the winning spot-kick to seal the quarter-final victory in front of 49,461 screaming fans.
The Matildas will play England in next Wednesday’s semi-final in Sydney.
Kerr has been battling a calf issue and skipped the first three games to recover from the injury picked up on the eve of the opening game against Ireland.
The 28-year-old was not fit enough to start Saturday’s match but came on in the 55th minute in place of Van Egmond.
Just one minute later, she burst forward and worked the ball to Hayley Raso, whose long-range effort was brilliantly denied by Peyraud-Magnin.
However, neither team could find an opening from there and the game went into extra-time.
Despite the difficult game, Kerr was all-smiles as she later embraced Mewis.
The pair have been dating since 2020, after being first introduced while playing for competing clubs in the US National Women’s Soccer League in 2019.
They spoke online for almost four months during the 2020 Covid lockdown before spending two weeks in quarantine together, where they quickly fell in love.
The pair continued their romance in the lead-up to the 2021 Olympics where – following America’s defeat of Australia in the semi-finals – they were photographed together.
Their on-pitch embrace made headlines as Kerr’s break-up from her former longtime partner – another US club player Nikki Stanton – had not yet become public.
Now almost two years into their high-profile love story, Kerr and Mewis have emerged as one of football’s power couples and have consciously made the decision to be ‘out and proud’ in both the queer and straight communities.
Their cross-global romance has also been heavily documented on social media with both women amassing hundreds of thousands of followers.
Following the historic win on Saturday, Kerr laid the Matildas wanted to ‘change football in this country forever’ by excelling at the World Cup.
Arnold explained how much it means for the team to be heading to the World Cup semi-finals, while admitting she was ‘speechless’ at the result.
Kerr was seen embracing Mewis (above) after the Matildas’ incredible quarter-final victory
‘I am still processing this. I think it might take me a couple of days but we have a quick turnaround so I have to figure it out quite soon. Unreal. I am speechless right now,’ she said.
‘I could have won the game for the girls but they rallied around me and kept me in it.
‘At the end of the day it is my job to keep the ball out of the net and thankfully I could do that.
‘Honestly we all do it for each other. They had my back 100 per cent.’
