Matildas star Sam Kerr has ended her long-term relationship with Nikki Stanton

Australia’s greatest ever Matildas goal-scorer is back on the singles market after ending her seven-year relationship with US football pin-up Nikki Stanton.

One is Australia’s greatest ever striker and the other is America’s football sweetheart, but the high-profile romance between Aussie Olympic star Sam Kerr and her glamorous American girlfriend Nikki Stanton is over after almost seven years as one of football’s megastar power couples.

Sam Kerr and Nikki Stanton have split up. Picture: Instagram

Confidential can reveal that Kerr quietly called time on the long-running relationship in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics but decided to keep the break-up on the down-low as she and her Matildas teammates prepared for their Games assault.

But privately the 27-year-old Aussie superstar, who is largely based in the UK where she leads Chelsea in the Women’s Super League, had told friends she had “fallen out of love” with Stanton, who she met in 2014 when both were teammates in the US.

It’s understood long periods of separation — Stanton is based in the US where she plays for the Chicago Red Stars — had also been a factor in the split.

Nikki Stanton posted this picture after the split. Picture: Instagram

Sources close to the pair confirmed the break-up this week, although neither Kerr nor Stanton — who have signalled the ultimate nail in the relationship coffin by unfollowing each other on social media — has commented publicly.

“Sam was the one who ended things and Nikki was obviously upset but she is healing,” said a friend close to the pair.

The pair had a low-key “coming out” of sorts in 2019 when Kerr — who is notoriously guarded about her personal life — began talking about Stanton in interviews and as part of a campaign with her sponsor Nike.

The first rumours of Kerr’s new single status began swirling back in June during the Matildas’ pre-Olympic team camp in Sweden, where she and her teammates prepped and bonded before their Games tilt.

The Matildas partying in Sweden in June’s lead-up to the Olympics. Picture: Instagram

According to one athlete from a different Aussie squad, Kerr — who led Australia to their best-ever Olympic result of fourth — seemed “oblivious” to the attention of her many admirers in the Tokyo athletes’ village.

“She very much just kept to herself and kept a low profile but she was definitely the talk of the village,” they said.

“If there is any sadness around the break up it certainly wasn’t evident.”

Stanton, meanwhile, has taken to Instagram to show Kerr what she’s missing, last week showing off her rock-hard abs and ripped physique while posing in a hot-pink bikini.

The raunchy snap garnered more than 6000 likes.