With Australia announcing its intention to stage football’s biggest event in 2023, the next generation of female footballers are potentially only six years away from representing their country at a home World Cup.

Matildas' Indigenous stars Simon and Lydia Williams have represented Australia in world football’s blue-ribbon event on two occasions and two more Aboriginal footballers could be following in their footsteps.

Shaydene, 15, and Jada, 17, are both part of the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) U17 elite football program and last season Whyman played a full season with Western Sydney Wanders W-League team.

With 74 caps for Australia, Simon is a stalwart of the Matildas squad and she takes great delight in being a role model for young Aboriginal footballers.

“It’s fabulous for me to see two young Indigenous girls like Shaydene and Jada both playing and both pursuing the dream of playing for our country,” she said.

“Jada has come to a couple of Matildas' camps now and she has definitely got that raw talent. That is the beauty of Indigenous athletes, is that raw talent and ability.

“It’s just a matter of tweaking it and ensuring that there is a positive determined mindset behind the talent as well, to ensure they go the whole way.

“Being a current Indigenous athlete in Australia I am hoping I can pave the way for more Indigenous girls to aspire to play the beautiful game and represent Australia at the elite level.

“They shouldn’t to settle for mediocrity, they should set their goals high, then anything is really possible.”

Like Williams, Whyman is a goalkeeper and she said being called into the Australian national team camp to train with her idol was a thrilling experience.

“She is a massive inspiration to me,” she said. “I’ve watched her since I first started taking up soccer.

Western Sydney Wanderers goalkeeper Jada Whyman

“She’s done amazing things around the world and when I went into camp with the Matildas it was just amazing to train with her.

“It was amazing just to be brought into camp and to train with some of the best players in Australia, it was great.

“It’s a dream to be in the Matildas in general and I just have to keep working towards my goals and keep working harder and become a better goalkeeper and footballer.

“Hopefully one day I can go to a World Cup or Olympics it would be amazing to do that.

Whyman's coach at the NSWIS is former Socceroo Craig Foster and he believes the 17-year-old has all the attributes to make it to the top.

“She has exceptional talent,” Foster said.

“She has exceptional reflexes, perhaps the best that I’ve seen in the female game. She has agility and dynamic movement and her ability that to get to shots that look un-saveable are at times amazing.

“Technically Jada is amazing. Her distribution is as good if not better than most of the central defenders of mid teenage male or female in the country.

“She can also strike a pass of higher quality than the vast majority of players that you’ll probably ever see.”

Shaydene Evans is part of the John Moriarty Football program. Here is a video that FourFourTwo made of her during Indigenous Football Week.