When Cortnee Vine scored the winning penalty against France in the World Cup quarter-final her life changed forever. Now, she can’t even walk down the street without someone recognising her.

With her new-found fame, you could be forgiven for thinking she had every temptation to take her career overseas, but when it came time to put pen to paper, there was no doubt in her mind about staying with Sydney FC in the A-League competition.

“I love Australia, I love Sydney, I have a life here that’s not just football,” Vine said.

“I think a lot of people think it’s [football] your whole life, and I have to make decisions. I have a partner, do I want to leave? There are just a lot of things to weigh up, and for me at the moment I was progressing so well in this league, and my life was so great, that I just don’t see the point in leaving right now.”

After the Matildas’ World Cup success, Vine re-signed with Sydney FC for 2023-24 season, while fellow Matildas’ Kyah Simon joined the Central Coast Mariners and Tameka Yallop signed with Brisbane Roar.

But Vine said more needed to be done to keep players in the domestic competition, and said it was important fans could see their World Cup heroes in Australian stadiums.

“I think it’s so important [retaining talent]. I think it’s one of the main things we should be focusing on, to bring more of the girls [Matildas players] back,” she said.

“And by doing that we need to make it full-time, we need to pay better and be more professional in this league. It’s getting there, but it still needs so much more work, and that’s why those girls have left, and stayed away because those leagues [overseas] are professional, they pay a lot more than this league, and I just think once we start fixing that they will start to come back.