FIFA 23 Cover Athlete Leak: Sam Kerr, Kylian Mbappé

Kerr started her career at the age of 15 with Perth Glory where she played from 2008 to 2012, before transferring to Sydney FC. In 2013, she joined the Western New York Flash for the inaugural season of the NWSL and helped lead the team to win the NWSL Shield. She later played for Sky Blue FC and the Chicago Red Stars in the same league. In 2019, Kerr indicated her interest to play in Europe, and having fielded multiple offers from clubs such as Olympique Lyonnais, Kerr ultimately signed with Chelsea, winning 8 trophies with the club, including back-to-back-to-back Women’s Super League titles, as well as helping the team reach the UEFA Women’s Champion’s League final for the first time in 2021.

Kerr earned her first senior international cap in 2009 at the age of 15 and has since represented Australia at the 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup tournaments, the 2011, 2015, and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups, and the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. During the 2019 World Cup, she became the first Australian player (male or female) to score a hat trick at a World Cup tournament. In 2021, she captained the team to their historic first ever semi-final of a major tournament during the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, resulting in their best ever 4th place finish.

Kerr was named the 2018 Young Australian of the Year as part of the 2018 Australia Day Honours, and as part of the 2022 Australia Day Honours, was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her “services to football,” becoming only the second Australian female footballer to receive such an honour after the inaugural Matildas’ captain, Julie Dolan. She was awarded the 2017 and 2018 Julie Dolan Medal as the best player in Australia, is a four-time recipient of the PFA’s Women’s Footballer of the Year Award, awarded it in 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and was named International Player of the Year by the Football Media Association in 2013 and 2014. She received the ESPY Award for Best International Women’s Soccer Player in 2018 and 2019, and was nominated for the award in 2021. She also won the ESPY Award for Best NWSL Soccer Player in 2019, and was nominated for the award in 2018. In 2022, Kerr was awarded the FWA Women’s Footballer of the Year. She is the first and only Australian women’s footballer to be named to the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or Féminin, and one of only four players to have been nominated in all editions of the award since its inception in 2018, ranking 5th, 7th and 3rd, respectively. She has also been shortlisted for The Best FIFA Women’s Player consistently since 2017, ranking 10th, 9th, 11th, 7th, and 2nd, respectively. Kerr has also been nominated for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year award from 2018–2021 and has been named to the Top 10 of The Guardian’s The 100 Best Female Footballers In The World from 2017–2021, ranking 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 6th and 3rd, respectively.

Kerr is known for her “speed, skill, tenacity,” and backflip goal celebrations, and is widely considered one of the best female footballers, and strikers, in the world, and one of Australia’s greatest athletes.

Mbappé began his senior career with Ligue 1 club Monaco, making his professional debut in 2015, aged 16. With them, he won a Ligue 1 title, Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year, and the Golden Boy award. In 2017, he signed for league rivals Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on an initial loan, which was made permanent in 2018 in a transfer worth €180 million plus add ons, making him both the second-most expensive player and most expensive teenager. At PSG, Mbappé’s honours include four Ligue 1 titles and three Coupe de France titles; he was also a prominent player in the club’s run to their first UEFA Champions League Final in 2020. He currently stands as PSG’s second-highest goalscorer in history.

At international level, Mbappé made his senior debut for France in 2017, at age 18. At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Mbappé became the youngest French player to score at a World Cup, and became the second teenager, after Pelé, to score in a World Cup Final. He finished as the joint second-highest goalscorer as France won the tournament, and he received the Best Young Player and French Player of the Year awards for his performances.

Mbappé was named to the FIFA FIFPro World11 in 2018 and 2019, the UEFA Team of the Year in 2018 and the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season in 2016–17, 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22. He was awarded the Globe Soccer Best Player of the Year in 2021. At PSG, he has been named Ligue 1 Player of the Year three times and has finished as the Ligue 1 top scorer for four consecutive seasons.