While many Matildas are flocking to England’s Women’s Super League to ply their trade, fan favourite Alex Chidiac has joined the ranks of those who’ve returned to the A-Leagues.
Emily Van Egmond had a stint with the Newcastle Jets, Lydia Williams is at Melbourne Victory, and then there’s Cortnee Vine, who never left Sydney FC despite her World Cup heroics garnering global attention.
Their impact, along with the momentum of the Women’s World Cup last year, has – according to official figures – helped spark a 345 per cent year-on-year rise in A-League Women’s memberships and a more than doubling of cumulative crowd attendance (after nine rounds at 122,538, compared to 56,541 same time last season).
Alex Chidiac speaking with the media during the week.Credit: Chris Hopkins
While overseas clubs, including in England and the United States, showed interest in Chidiac after her latest contract was up, the midfielder knew she had to return home to be the best version of herself, on and off the field.
Chidiac, 24, has played for seven different senior clubs, including in Japan, Spain, America and Mexico. While they have all been rewarding in different ways, being away from home, and, at times, seeing limited minutes on the pitch, took its toll.
Alex Chidiac.Credit: The Canadian Press
“Especially these last three months when I was in Mexico [at Tigres UANL], there were glimpses where I was like, ‘Oh, this is like everything that I’ve wanted’ but it just wasn’t sustained because I wasn’t playing,” she said.
“So I’d play, I’d get that high and then, as soon as I wasn’t playing again, it was like, ‘this is the only thing that I have here.’ ”
Chidiac plays well on home soil, too. Last season she took out the Julie Dolan Medal, the A-League Women’s highest individual honour, despite playing just 13 regular-season matches on loan to Melbourne Victory from her National Women’s Soccer League club in the United States.
Part of this is that she feels she can play with more creativity at the Victory, encouraged by coach Jeff Hopkins, and simply, it’s more fun.
“I don’t really fit any sort of mould, which kind of works with Jeff,” she said, acknowledging hard times while overseas. “And it makes me want to play even harder for, you know, a coach like that.”
Sam Kerr celebrates a goal with Alex Chidiac during Australia’s 4-0 thumping of Czechia during last year’s Cup of Nations.Credit: Getty Images
Despite Paris 2024 looming on the horizon, her focus will be at clubland.
Although hugely popular among fans, Chidiac had limited minutes during the World Cup and was dropped from the last Matildas camp in Canada in November, with coach Tony Gustavsson citing performance and limited club minutes, before she was picked up again following injuries to teammates.
“It’s probably healthier to put all your energy into club football and if national team comes as a reward for your performances, then great. And if not, that’s not only who I am,” she said.
“I’m definitely more than just a Matilda. I know, Matilda is like the biggest buzzword at the moment, but I just see myself as like this little kid that runs around in baggy shorts and plays football.”
She added that coming back to Victory felt like “a little present” to herself after all the hours she spent warming up on the sidelines at games without running out on to the pitch. Her contract with Victory runs until the end of the 2025-26 season, and she’s keen to get some confidence back in her game.
“I think people forget about that as well. Even, you know, getting swept into a national team, if you’re not playing at your club, you’re like, ‘why am I here?’ So it kind of becomes difficult,” she said.
“And then if you don’t play with the national team as well, you’re just like on the bench for everything, so you don’t even know, yourself, if you can play.”
However, she knows she’ll get to play “a hell of lot more” in the domestic competition, including on Saturday evening against Western United in an important Melbourne derby, as the teams sit fifth and sixth on the ladder respectively.
“For everyone’s benefit, including my family and those close to me ... they don’t want to see me sad any more, and I’m happiest when I’m playing,” she said.
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