The Ford Football Ferns squad to face Chinese Taipei (FIFA rank 42) next month has been named with two players called up for their debuts. 

Adelaide United goalkeeper Claudia Jenkins, who has started every game this season for her club in the A-League Women, and University of Denver goalkeeper Alina Santos, have both been selected for the first time for the Ferns. 

The squad also sees C.S. Marítimo’s Jana Radosavljević and Lexington SC’s Grace Wisnewski called up after missing out on the last tour. 

The changes to the squad that faced Costa Rica reflect a continued drive to examine more players in the Ford Football Ferns team environment to build depth across the pitch ahead of the next FIFA Women’s World Cup cycle. 

The full 22-player squad is:

Liz Anton (21 caps) Canberra United, Australia
Hannah Blake (7 caps) Durham FC, England
Kelli Brown (2 caps) Perth Glory, Australia
Claudia Bunge (33 caps) Melbourne Victory, Australia
Milly Clegg (13 caps) Halifax Tides FC, Canada
Manaia Elliott (1 caps) Wellington Phoenix, Aotearoa New Zealand
Victoria Esson (26 caps) Rangers FC, Scotland
Michaela Foster (24 caps) Durham FC, England
Maya Hahn (2 caps) FFC Turbine Potsdam, Germany
Jacqui Hand (33 caps) Sheffield United, England
Claudia Jenkins (debut) Adelaide United, Australia
Katie Kitching (16 caps) Sunderland AFC, England
Annalie Longo (138 caps) Wellington Phoenix, Aotearoa New Zealand
Meikayla Moore (69 caps) Calgary Wild FC, Canada
Ruby Nathan (5 caps) Canberra United, Australia
Grace Neville (12 caps) London City Lionesses, England
Emma Pijnenburg (1 cap) Feyenoord Rotterdam, Netherlands
Indiah-Paige Riley (29 caps) Crystal Palace, England
Jana Radosavljević (3 caps) C.S. Marítimo, Portugal
Alina Santos (debut) University of Denver, USA
Kate Taylor (23 caps) Dijon FCO, France
Grace Wisnewski (3 caps) Lexington SC, USA

Mackenzie Barry, Geo Candy, Brianna Edwards, Macey Fraser, and Grace Jale, who were part of the squad assembled for the win and draw against Costa Rica last month, haven’t been selected for this tour due to injury, managing playing time after returning from injury, and a desire to test other players. 

Interim head coach Michael Mayne is keen to continue the work started during the unbeaten tour in Costa Rica last month:

“I was pleased with the progress we made in Costa Rica, which involved implementing a new playing model on the pitch, and some new language and some different approaches off the pitch, so I’m very much looking to continuing that work next month. 

“I want to approach this tour with a drive towards refining some of the details within our system, and with a training game behind closed doors first, it gives us the perfect opportunity to try a couple of new things as we prepare for the full international against Chinese Taipei on 8 April. 

“Our objective remains the same and that is to assess the strength of our squad, and build the competition within this team, so that come the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027, should we qualify, we are in the best place to perform.

“But we are also not losing sight of what we are and what our job is, and that’s to go away, perform and strive for positive results. 

“Having seen the benefits of our approach against Costa Rica, and the energy and alignment of the team there, I felt a reasonable amount of consistency was important, especially with the windows so close together.

“I’m looking forward to continuing our work to build a new and exciting performance culture, as well as getting another opportunity early in this new cycle to revisit some players plus introduce a couple new faces.” 

The Ferns will face the Blue Magpies on Tuesday 8 April at Kaohsiung Nanzih Football Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, kicking off at 10:30pm NZT (6:30pm local time). 

The sides will also face-off in a behind closed doors training game three days earlier on Saturday 5 April. 


Article added: Friday 14 March 2025