| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (2002-04-29)29 April 2002 (age 23) | ||
| Place of birth | Melbourne, Australia | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Melbourne Victory | ||
| Number | 9 | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2022–2024 | Santa Clara | 36 | (4) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2021 | Senior NTC | 73 | (22) |
| 2025– | Melbourne Victory | 14 | (3) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2022 | Australia U20 | 1 | (0) |
| 2025 | Australia U23 | 5 | (4) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 2 July 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 19 August 2025 | |||
Holly Furphy (born 29 April 2002) is an Australiansoccer player. She plays as aforward forMelbourne Victory in theA-League Women. Upon debut, during the2024–25 season, she scored her first goal.[1][2] In May 2025, Melbourne Victory were runners-up in thegrand final to champions,Central Coast Mariners. Furphy has represented Australia in theAustralia U-20s (Young Matildas) andAustralia U-23s. The latter team won the2025 ASEAN Women's Championship and she was awarded Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Furphy was born in Melbourne in 2002,[3] to Liza Alpers and Richard Furphy and grew up with two brothers.[4] Alpers is a former diver, who won national titles.[5] Furphy's father is a formerVictorian Amateur Football Association player.[6] Her older brother, Joe is a formerGeelong AFL reserves player.[7][8] Younger brother,Johnny, is a professional basketballer for theIndiana Pacers in America's NBA.[9] She began playing soccer for Yarra Jets juniors (Victorian State League Division 4 East) as a ten-year-old.[3][1] At 13 she joined theFootball Federation Victoria National Training Centre (FFV NTC) in 2016.[3][1] She attendedMaribyrnong College as a secondary student.[10] For tertiary studies Furphy attended California'sSanta Clara University, under a sports scholarship,[8] from 2022 and started an Environmental Science Degree.[7][10][11]
In 2016 Furphy was a member of Victoria's Under-15 girls soccer team at the National Youth Championships for Girls, which won the tournament contested by seven other state/regional teams.[12] As a teenager, Furphy was a train-on player forMelbourne Victory in 2020.[7][11] She relocated to Santa Clara, playing for theirsoccer team from 2022, as part of the American college soccer system'sNCAA Division I women's soccer tournament.[3][7][10] Furphy's first season was interrupted after five matches by anACL injury,[7] "[it was a] bit of a set back for me and made me really reflect on what I want to do really because of not playing for 10 months and trying to work my way back to what I was, in that moment I decided to become a different player."[11] After recovery, the second season resulted in 18 matches and two goals.[10][11] In her third and final season, the forward kicked two goals in 13 matches.[10]
Furphy played for an FFV NTC side, Senior NTC/FV Emerging, in theNPLW Victoria from 2016 to 2021,[1][13][14] both 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled due toCOVID-19 pandemic.[15][16] After three years in Santa Clara, Furphy returned to Australia and signed with Melbourne Victory in2024–25 mid-season as an injury replacement for Paige Zois on 24 January 2025.[1][17] Her first game was againstSydney, where she scored her debut goal nine minutes after being subbed on, which resulted in their 2–0 win.[1][18] On 18 May Furphy participated in Melbourne Victory'sGrand Final againstCentral Coast Mariners, which finished in a 1–1 draw after extra time.[19] In the ensuingpenalty shootout, she converted herspot kick, but her team lost 5–4.[19]
Immediately after her international performances (see below) Furphy, in late August 2025, was re-signed by Melbourne Victory for the2025–26 season.[20]
Furphy was selected for theAustralia women's national under-20 soccer team (Young Matildas), 24-Player squad's training camp for 1–4 October 2019 in Sydney.[21] She joined another Young Matildas training camp from 30 May to 3 June 2022 in Sydney.[22] Subsequently Young Matildas coachLeah Blayney selected her for a friendly match againstNew Zealand on 12 June 2022.[23] Due to an ACL injury in Santa Clara, she was unavailable for the Young Matildas campaign to the2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica in August.[24] Furphy joined the 23-player squad for theAustralia women's national under-23 soccer team (U23 Matildas), which competed at the2025 ASEAN Women's Championship inVietnam from 6 to 19 August.[25] She scored the team's first goal of the tournament in their 2–1 loss againstMyanmar on 7 August,[26] and two more in their 9–0 defeat ofTimor Leste to reach the semi-finals.[27] In thefinal of the tournament, Furphy scored the only goal giving Australia U23 the trophy.[28] Consequently she was awarded Player of the Match for the final and Most Valuable Player of the tournament.[28][29]
Regional
Club
Individual
Furphy comes from a sporting family with his brother and sister both at College in the United States with basketball and soccer scholarships respectively.
Jeff Hopkins introduced Holly Furphy just past the hour mark for her Victory debut, a decision that certainly paid off. Just nine minutes after entering the game, Rachel Lowe played through the debutant who rounded Sydney's goalkeeper and put the Navy Blue's 2–0 up.
