Net Worth: C. $1-5 Million
Age: 20
DOB: 14 February 2003 (age 20 years),
Birthplace: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Mary Fowler is a professional football player who represents the Australian national team. At the domestic level, she also plays for Manchester City in the English Women’s Super League. While predominantly a forward, she can also play in midfield as well.
At just 20 years old, Mary Fowler has the footballing world at her feet. Her talents have already seen her accrue a net worth of between $1-5 million.
Early Life
Fowler was born in Cairns, in Tropical North Queensland. She is the third of five children and shares the name of her paternal grandmother. Her middle name, Boio, was her maternal grandmother’s.
Fowler’s dad, Kevin, comes from Dublin in Ireland, while her mother, Nido, hails from the Papua New Guinea village of Kira Kira in greater Port Moresby, where they actually met.
Mary went to Holy Cross Primary School as a child and claims her favourite subject to have been maths. Growing up, her parents made the decision not to buy a television, so Fowler and her siblings spent a lot of time playing football and other sports around the Trinity Beach area after school.
Fowler began playing football when she was about seven years old and ended up playing for a boy’s team called Saints FC and Leichhardt FC, who competed in the Cairns local league. It soon became apparent that she was highly talented as she was picked to represent the Queensland under-12s side when she was only 10 years old. Not long after, she, along with her family, moved to the Netherlands. During a three-year period there, she signed with BVV Barendrecht and even learned to speak Dutch to a fluent level.
Fowler and her family returned to Australia when she was 14 years old and went to the Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts. Soon after, she joined Bankstown City, who played in the NSW Women’s National Premier League. When she was just 16 years old, in 2019, Adelaide United offered Mary her first professional contract, requiring her to relocate to South Australia to launch her career in football.
Career at Club Level
To date, Fowler has represented three teams at the domestic club level. She made her W-League debut for Adelaide United in the 2019-20 opener against Western Sydney Wanderers, marking it with
a goal in a narrow 2-1 loss.
Her stint at Adelaide was short-lived because just a few months later in January 2020, she signed a three-year deal for Montpellier HSC to play in the French Ligue 1. She penned the contract just a month before her 17th birthday for an undisclosed transfer fee, moving to France on her own, without her family.
Fowler’s first game for Montpelier came in February 2020 when she played against Olympique Lyonnais. Her performances quickly got her noticed as she was named in ESPN’s list of 21 under 21 – a list of international footballers that represented players to look out for with big careers ahead of them.
After a couple of years in France, Fowler agreed to join Manchester City on a four-year contract in June 2022. While she spent a bit of time on the bench in her first few months at the club, she scored her first two goals for them in a 6-0 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers – the first of which was from the penalty spot.
As the year drew to a close, Fowler was nominated for both The European Golden Girl Award and The Best FIFA Women’s Player, thanks to her domestic and national form.
International Career
Despite attempts to poach her by the Irish Football Association when she was just 15, Fowler has represented The Matildas at four major tournaments. They include the 2018 Tournament of Nations, the FIFA Women’s World Cups of 2019 and 2023 and the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Her debut for the national side came in the 2018 Tournament of Nations against Brazil. When she came on as a late substitute aged 15 years and 162 days, she became the fifth youngest player to represent the national side.
A year later, in 2019, Fowler was part of the Australian squad that competed in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. She was the youngest player in the squad at just 16 years old. However, she was unable to get any game time due to a hamstring injury, as Australia was eliminated in the first knockout round.
Fowler had better luck at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she came on as a substitute against New Zealand in the group stages. She also played in the quarter-finals where she scored a goal in extra time in a 4-3 victory over Great Britain and also played for Australia in the semi-final and third-fourth place play-off, which they lost to Sweden and the USA 1-0 and 4-3 respectively.
Fowler also represented The Matildas at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023. Despite missing the Nigeria game as a result of concussion, she scored her first World Cup goal in a 4-0 thumping against Canada.
She also claimed an assist in the 2-0 win against Denmark in the Round of 16 game and scored her spot kick in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out victory against France. The Matildas crashed out of the tournament at the semi-final stage losing 3-1 to England.
Overall, at the time of writing, Fowler has scored 13 goals for The Matildas in 46 games.
Personal Life and Endorsements
Fowler is currently dating the NRL player Nathan Cleary. She also enjoys various endorsement deals including with Adidas and Rebel Sport. Additionally, she is a brand ambassador for the childcare provider, Rise & Shine.
Away from football, Mary likes to listen to 1980s music, she also has revealed that she likes to write letters for herself to read in the future.