Cup Countdown!

Australian Matildas and World Cup superstar Sam Kerr teams up with Aki Fukuoka to bring young readers this fun and inspiring illustrated series about soccer, school, sport, friendship, dealing with bullies and following your dreams.

The 2006 World Cup is around the corner and thirteen-year-old Sam Kerr is pumped! Even though the games are being played on the other side of the world, Sam and her best friend, Dylan, are planning to get up early to watch the games live on TV. They couldn’t be more excited!

But there’s more for Sam to get excited about when she’s invited to trial for a rep soccer team; the coach of the team has seen Sam play and is blown away by how good she is. Sam is thrilled when she gets into the team, then she realises she has to juggle training with the Knights AND with her new rep team. And when her mum and dad organise a family holiday interstate it looks like Sam might have to miss out because of her new timetable.

Sam starts to question if she’s really ready for the big time. Will watching the World Cup convince her that she wants to play in the rep team, or will the juggle of school, training and games all become too much for a girl who has just started high school?

About the Authors

Sam Kerr is the captain of the Australian women’s national soccer team – the Matildas – and a leading goal scorer for Chelsea in the English FA Women’s Super League. She burst onto the W-League scene as a 15-year-old playing with Perth Glory. In 2016 she played for the Matildas at the Olympics in Brazil, and she was the top goal scorer in the 2017 Tournament of Nations. Since joining Chelsea in 2019, Sam has positioned herself as one of the best female strikers in the world. She was named 2018 Young Australian of the Year.

Fiona Harris has written the children’s series The Super Moopers, Trolls and Miraculous. She was head scriptwriter on ABC3 TV’s Prank Patrol and wrote/co-starred in the TV comedy shows Flipside, Comedy Inc. and SkitHouse. Fiona co-wrote and starred in the international-award-winning web series The Drop Off, with husband Mike McLeish. Their adult fiction novel The Drop-off was released in 2020 and its sequel, The Pick-up, is due out in 2021. Fiona also co-authored Sharni Layton’s biography, No Apologies, and Marcus Bontempelli’s picture book, both released in 2021.

About the Illustrator

Aki Fukuoka was born in the valleys of the alps of central Japan and was raised in the rolling hills of the New Zealand countryside. After spending her childhood exploring nature with her four siblings, Aki moved out to the city of Auckland to learn how to cross roads, manoeuvre between pedestrians and gain her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She is currently living in a little wooden cottage house with her husband, four children and animals and works full time as a freelance illustrator. Aki is most well known for her illustrations for the Billie B Brown series.