The Matildas' first three opponents at next year's Women's World Cup have been confirmed, with the co-hosting nation taking on Republic of Ireland, Nigeria, and Olympic gold medallists Canada in the group stage from July 20.
At the official draw conducted in Auckland on Saturday, which featured legends of the game such as the Matildas' first cap Julie Dolan, USA legend Carli Lloyd and Arsenal champion Ian Wright, 29 of the 32 nations discovered which nations they will be facing in 270 days' time, with fellow co-hosts New Zealand drawn against Norway, Switzerland, and the Philippines.
The final three teams to complete the 32 will take part in a play-off tournament in Auckland in February, with the winners of the three groups being slotted into pre-determined spots.
World champions USA are in Group E and will be based in New Zealand up until the final, where they will take on debutants Vietnam, 2019 finalists the Netherlands, and the Group B winner of February's play-off tournament, while recently-crowned European Championship winners England will come up against Denmark, China, and the Group A play-off winner in Group D.
Due to Australia's position in Pot 1 as a host nation, they'll avoid the tournament's highest-ranked nations — the USA, Sweden, England, Germany, France, and Spain — until at least the knock-out stage.
The Matildas will go into their group relatively familiar with their opponents. They last faced Nigeria at the 2015 Women's World Cup, coming away 2-0 winners in the group stage, while they have also played both the Republic of Ireland and Canada in the past 18 months, though lost all three games.
"I'm really excited," head coach Tony Gustavsson said afterwards. "I've been texting with my coaching staff and analysts already saying 'hey, let's start preparing and planning.'
"We just wanna get on with it now; we know what we're facing, we know what the opening game looks like, now it's all about preparation.
"We want to start the tournament as good as possible. It is tough opponents: someone texted me and said we drew the top-ranked opponent in Pot 2, the third-ranked opponent in Pot 3, and the top-ranked opponent in Pot 4.
"So yes, it's a tough draw, but if you look at the bracket and you look at the tournament, there's no easy games in this tournament. It's all about knowing who you're facing and preparing the best way possible."
Not only did the draw confirm who the Matildas would play in the group stage and the possible opponents they could face in the knock-out stages, but it also clarified where each of their matches will take place — and the two possible paths that await them depending on results.
All of Australia's matches will take place on the eastern seaboard, with their three group games hosted in Sydney (v Republic of Ireland on 20 July), Brisbane (v Nigeria on 27 July) and Melbourne (v Canada on 31 July).
If they finish first in Group B, the Matildas will face the second-placed team from Group D — possibly Denmark or China — in Sydney in the Round of 16 knock-out match on August 7.
Should they win that, they will fly back up to Brisbane for the quarter-final on August 12. If they make it past that stage, which no senior Australian team has ever done, they will then return to Sydney for their remaining matches.
Their journey is altered slightly if they finish second in their group. Instead of playing their Round of 16 match in Sydney, they will instead travel to Brisbane for that must-win game against the winner of Group D — likely England — on August 7.
If they win that, they will play their quarter-final in Sydney on August 12 and stay there for the remainder of their tournament.
"With the pre-release of tickets [recently], I know Matildas fans right across Australia and, indeed, around the world will be looking forward to mapping out the scenarios and possible pathways for the Matildas," Football Australia CEO James Johnson said last week.
"Over the last two years, we have employed a deliberate strategy to play as many top-10 teams and to expose our team to as many different playing styles as possible.
"We still have a number of international windows available to us and are working on some premium match-ups which will be announced in the near future.
"After a successful international window where we beat current African Champions South Africa 4-1 and a come-from-behind victory against Denmark 3-1, we are confident that our Matildas will put in a strong performance."
Single match tickets go on sale to the general public from November 1, with a final sales phase opening next April.
Australia's next international window takes place in three weeks' time where they will play Tokyo Olympics silver medallists Sweden on November 12 in Melbourne before facing Thailand on November 15 on the Central Coast.
