Chelsea FC Women have beaten the Ninja A-League All Stars 3-0 at Allianz Stadium in the finale of a massive winter of football down under.
The visitors made a fast start to proceedings in Sydney and found themselves two goals to the good after just 11 minutes through Sandy Baltimore and Sjoeke Nüsken. Ellie Carpenter came to life in the second half but it was the 19 year-old Lexi Potter who scored Chelsea’s third and final goal with a perfect strike from the top of the area.
The travelling Chelsea, who finished third in the 2025/26 WSL season after enjoying six years as champions, named a strong side in their final pre-season match. England international Lauren James was called into the starting eleven alongside veteran Lucy Bronze and homecoming Matildas superstar, Carpenter. Keira Walsh and Giulia Dragoni – still settling into Chelsea blue after her move from Barcelona – were named on the bench.
The Ninja A-League All Stars, turning out for just the second time in their history, were captained by Tameka Yallop and named a starting side including Makala Woods, Kayla Morrison, and last season’s goalkeeper of the season, Courtney Newbon.
Lauren James and Alyssa Thompson showed their quality early on, asking questions right across the All Stars defence
With just their second sight of goal, Chelsea took the lead in style. Alyssa Thompson was found by a pass from within the Chelsea half and squared the ball to Sandy Baltimore, who steadied herself with one touch and curled the ball in off the post with her second.
Thompson continued to threaten down the Chelsea left and when the All Stars were unable to diffuse her in-swinging cross, it bounced to Sjoeke Nüsken, who swivelled and volleyed it through Newbon into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 after 11 minutes.
The All Stars brought the home crowd to their feet for the first time after 24 minutes when Tameka Yallop played Aideen Keane in down Chelsea’s right. She surged into the area and her pull-back lagged slightly behind Yallop, but settled favourably for Leticia McKenna who drove her strike over the bar.
Yallop turned in a solid performance following the news of her move to Wellington Phoenix
The hosts were able to establish themselves in the latter stages of the first half before a cross from James struck Keane in the face, resulting in a lengthy break in play before she was cleared to continue and the opening half was brought to a close.
Keane reemerged for the second half and relished the opportunity of running at Bronze. She turned the England veteran around as she entered the penalty area but was unable to wrap her foot around her strike and it floated behind for a goal kick.
The visitors penned in the All Stars as the half rolled on, while Carpenter and Bronze linked up relentlessly with substitute Maika Hamano and threatened along Chelsea’s right.
The Blues had enjoyed all of the possession in the second half and finally built on their lead when Thompson carried the ball through a crowd and her pass ricocheted through to Dragoni who flicked it on to the freshly introduced Lexi Potter. The 19 year-old took a touch and drilled her shot right into the top corner from just outside the area, adding a fitting dusting of star quality onto a dominant performance from the English giants.
