Wombarra's teen sensation Sofia Fante selected for Junior Matildas camp

Fante clearly impressed Junior Matildas' coach Rae Dower at the recent National Youth Championships held in Wollongong, with the goalkeeper selected in a 28-player squad for the first training camp in preparation for the tournament, held in May.

The teen prodigy was named alongside two of her Sydney FC development squad teammates Mikayla Doung and Allyssa Ng Saad for the camp which will run between 21-25 January.

Fante, who plays with Football NSW Institute, will get the chance to prove her worth for the upcoming continental tournament to coach Dower.

The Junior Matildas coach said the side would be looking to build on a successful recent period.

"We're excited to get back into camp and continue to build on a really successful 2023 both for us as a group and for women's football in Australia," she said.

"The entire group of players and staff have had a well-earned rest after a busy 2023 and we're eager to get back together and cement our goals and aspirations for the year ahead.

"We want to ensure that players that we haven't had in camp yet, or ones that we haven't seen for several months, are given an opportunity to showcase their ongoing development and improvement," Dower continued.

"With so much depth across this age group, it's important that we continue to look for ways to ensure that the players have every prospect to be successful and to mature into high potential players.

"By hosting this camp at the Australian Institute of Sport, it provides a great reminder of Australian sporting success and additional inspiration for the players to be surrounded by such history."