Matildas star Lydia Williams made a nostalgic return to her childhood home of Kalgoorlie-Boulder for a Statewide initiative designed to empower first nations women and girls through soccer.

Her visit to Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Tuesday launched the Yilkari x Football Futures Foundation — a football program designed to build confidence, connection, and community pride.

Williams, a proud Noongar woman, said the program was a tool to give back and build better outcomes for First Nations girls.

“It wasn’t until I moved away from Kal that I got my opportunity to play for the Matildas,” she said.

“You don’t want everyone to walk away from the town that they grew up in and family and friends.

“It’s important to create opportunities for young people in remote communities to get exposure and really think about career paths — or even just being healthy and having fun.”

Across two years from November 2025, the program will train 20 Aboriginal women as accredited football coaches and establish 30 girls’ teams across 10 regional communities from the Kimberley to the Great Southern.

Williams hung up her gloves as the Matildas’ longest-serving player after the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she was a travelling reserve.

She said programs like this were not available to her when she was growing up.

“It was basically you played everything under the sun, and you were kind of thrown in mixed teams,” she said.

“If you made it, you did, if you didn’t, you had to leave that sport.”

Williams said it was important for her to return to Kalgoorlie-Boulder and “give back” to the place she grew up.

“I just remember Hammond Park and having families get together there every weekend, every field is packed with every kind of sport,” she said.

“That’s the thing that I really loved about being in a small country town.”