2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: Relationships, breakups and dating drama
From international superstars who have found their perfect match to spicy breakups and saucy drama. Here is all you need to know about the current and former couples at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is not only the ninth edition of the global event, but now also dubbed the tournament of love, breakups and makeups.
As the FIFA Women’s World Cup competition enters the final group stage, partners and ex-partners across nations have played or are set to play against each other in finals, with at least 95 LGBTQ athletes competing in at least 22 teams.
These women make up 13 per cent of all those taking part in the major event, according to Outsports, with the Matildas regarded as the most publicly LGBTQ team in the tournament, with at least 10 queer players.
One pair in particular is at the centre of a soccer scandal – the Republic of Ireland’s Katie McCabe and Ruesha Littlejohn, but the duo are not the only players hitting the pitch involved in romantic relationships and break-up controversies.
Here is all you need to know about the current and former cross-team couples.
Katie McCabe (Republic of Ireland) and Ruesha Littlejohn (Republic of Ireland)
Matildas star Caitlin Foord, Ireland captain Katie McCabe and Ireland midfielder Ruesha Littlejohn were last week at the centre of one of the biggest controversies to rock the major sporting event so far.
McCabe and former girlfriend of seven-years Littlejohn, took to the field for Ireland in their clash against the Matildas on the opening night of the World Cup.
In what is being interpreted as an epic on-pitch spat, social media footage from the night showed Littlejohn and Foord lining up to shake hands, but Littlejohn seems to pull her hand away as Foord was going in for a handshake.
The Irish midfielder then shook the next Matilda player’s hand with Littlejohn and Foord seeming to enter into a confrontation post match.
While neither Foord, McCabe or Littlejohn have commented on the handshake snub, fans and sources close to the Matildas have speculated on the close relationship between the Australian and Irish skipper, after the pair recently holidayed together in Ibiza.
Caitlin Foord (Australia) and Lia Walti (Switzerland)
The Australian key-forward recently became single after splitting from Swiss midfielder and Arsenal FC teammate Lia Walti, who is also competing in the World Cup.
The news of the couple’s relationship broke as they quarantined together during the peak of the Covid pandemic.
Switzerland beat The Philippines 2-0 in their first game, before 0-0 result with New Zealand and Norway was enough to seal their passage to the Round of 16.
Sam Kerr (Australia) and Kristie Mewis (USA)
Rumours of a romance between the two Olympic footballers sparked at Tokyo in 2021 when the pair embraced on the field post match.
Less than a week after, Aussie star Kerr confirmed the relationship between the pair on social media, with a picture posted of the two kissing, with the romance reported to have kicked off in March 2021.
The loved up couple have worked through long-distance for over two and a half years and have been dubbed the power couple of women’s football.
The Matildas could potentially face reining champions USA in the final, with Kerr and Mewis likely to take the field against one another.
Kristie Mewis (USA) and Rachel Daly (England)
Now the girlfriend of Aussie star Sam Kerr, USA midfielder Kristie Mewis dated Houston Dash teammate and England forward Rachel Daly. The pair reportedly began dating in 2019 with their relationship described as “on-and-off again”.
The duo still appear to be friends, and follow each other on social media.
Daly’s England team are set to face China on Tuesday, with the chance to take out three straight wins in the group stage.
Ellie Carpenter (Australia) and Danielle van de Donk (Netherlands)
Whispers of the union between the Lyon teammates emerged around February 2022, as a video of the pair having dinner together on Valentines Day circulated on social media.
Months later Lyon won the Champions League, with the pair sharing a photo together on social media despite not officially confirming their relationship.
The first official indication of the coupling was an Instagram picture posted in December of the two celebrating Christmas together, with the pair since regarded as another power couple in the women’s football world.
Pernille Harder (Denmark) and Magdelena Eriksson (Sweden)
The Bayern Munich and Chelsea teammates have been dating since 2014, with the power couple’s 2019 France World Cup kiss going viral and becoming a symbolic moment for the LGBT football community.
Eriksson’s Sweden side have won two from two games in the World Cup so far, with the squad set to take on Argentina on Wednesday while Denmark won their first match of the group stage and lost their second.
Ann- Katrin Berger (Germany) and Jess Carter(England)
Having met in 2016 when they played for Birmingham and became flatmates, the pair – who were originally good friends – moved to London to play for Chelsea, where they continue to live now.
The FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup is not the only opportunity the pair had to play against one another, with the couple facing off in the 2022 Euro final.
With the FIFA Women’s World Cup entering crunch time, the Matildas are taking on Canada in a must-win match tonight at 8pm in Melbourne.
A loss would mean Australia miss out on the knockout stages, which would be a massive flop for the tournament hosts.
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