Kicking Goals: Soccer, Equality and the Women's World Cup

Shireen Ahmed is a multi-platform Senior Contributor with CBC Sports, a TEDx speaker, a valued mentor, and an award-winning sports activist who focuses on the intersections of racism and misogyny in sports. She is a global expert on Muslim women in sport. Shireen is the co-creator and co-host of the “Burn It All Down” feminist sports podcast team, and teaches Sports Journalism and Sports Media at Toronto Metropolitan University, in Toronto, Canada. She is happily married, has four amazing kids and a phenomenal cat. She drinks coffee as a tool of resistance.

Emma Checker is a professional footballer who has represented Australia at youth and senior levels achieving her Matildas debut at the age of 16 in 2012. Emma has spent the last 12 years playing National League domestically and internationally including contracts in South Korea, France, Iceland and Sweden. Emma has been a key pillar in a number of Premiership and Championship winning teams with Melbourne Victory, Canberra United, and Melbourne City. She made history by becoming the youngest Captain of an A-League Women’s team during her second stint at Adelaide United. Most recently she has spent 3 seasons captaining Melbourne City. Away from football, Emma has completed a Bachelor Degree in Business, Majoring in Public Relations and is a qualified Personal Trainer. She is currently working at the PFA (Professional Footballers Australia) as the Events and Administration Co-ordinator.

Fiona Crawford is a writer, editor and researcher whose work spans social and environmental issues, the arts and football and has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Big Issue and The Conversation among others. She is an adjunct lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology's Centre for Justice and co-authored a book, Never Say Die: The Hundred-Year Overnight Success of Australian Women's Football.

Julie Dolan is Head of Community and Marketing for Central Coast Sports College in NSW and is Legacy ’23 Ambassador Program member for the 2023 World Cup. Julie started playing football at the age of 14 and became Australia's inaugural captain and Matilda #1 at just 18, leading the team out against New Zealand in 1979. Australia played only occasionally throughout the 1980s but despite limited opportunities, Dolan played 34 matches for Australia across a 14-year career, including 18 full internationals. A commanding central midfielder, she played in the World Invitational Tournament in Taiwan twice, the first Oceania Cup in 1983 and the pilot Women's World Championships in China in 1988. In 1988, the Australian Women's Soccer Association created the Julie Dolan Medal for the best female footballer of the year. In 2016, football became the first major Australian sport to jointly name its prestigious awards event in honour of both a legendary female and male player – the Dolan Warren Awards – with Warren honoured alongside national legend Dolan. Julie was inducted into the Football Australia Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2018 she was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Azmeena Hussain OAM is a Principal at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Chairperson of the Islamic Museum of Australia, Non-Executive Director at Football Victoria and the Victorian Institute of Sport and a Football Australia FIFA Women’s World Cup Ambassador. In addition, she is a member of the SBS Advisory Committee. She has extensive experience in workplace law and is a member of the Victoria Statutory WorkCover Advisory Committee. She is listed in the prestigious Doyle’s Guide as a preeminent Australian personal injuries lawyer and is a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist. She has a strong passion for equality and social inclusion. She is an outgoing Director and Trustee of the Victorian Womens’ Trust, Deputy Chair at InTouch Multicultural Centre against Family Violence, Advisor to Victoria Police, Chief Commissioner’s Human Rights Strategic Committee, AFL Multicultural Advisor and Vice President of the Office for Women at the ICV. Most recently, she was awarded an Order of Australia medal for her contribution to the community and the law.