Contract: Caitlin Foord
WORLD Cup award winner and W-League title winner Caitlin Foord has taken the next step to international stardom by securing a lucrative US contract.
Foord, from Lake Illawarra, will leave for New Jersey on March 11, where she will swap one sky blue club for another.
She will join Sky Blue FC in the US National Women’s Soccer League, just weeks after capturing the W-League trophy with their grand final win over Melbourne Victory.
The 18-year-old knocked back offers from far and wide, including prestigious English powerhouse Liverpool, to sign the one-year deal with an option for a second season with the American club.
Swedish club Linkopings FC also made an offer to Foord.
The contract continues Foord’s meteoric rise, after she won the 2011 World Cup young player of the year award.
Before departing, Foord will join the Matildas squad in Canberra for a training camp on Thursday.
New coach Hesterine de Reus, who took over from Tom Sermanni, named a 31-player squad for the camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.
Full Matildas squad: Teigen Allen, Laura Alleway, Mackenzie Arnold (GK), Danielle Brogan, Ashley Brown, Ellie Brush, Kim Carroll, Stephanie Catley, Amy Chapman, Brianna Davey (GK), Lisa De Vanna, Caitlin Foord, Heather Garriock, Emily Gielnik, Kathryn Gill, Katrina Gorry, Michelle Heyman, Elise Kellond-Knight, Alanna Kennedy, Samantha Kerr, Shamiran Khamis (GK), Leena Khamis, Aivi Luik, Collette Mccallum, Ellyse Perry, Teresa Polias, Clare Polkinghorne, Renee Rollason, Kyah Simon, Servet Uzunlar, Emily van Egmond.