Northern NSW quartet Lainee Harrison, Tahlia Blanshard, Rae Anderson and Georgia Beikoff have been crowned IFCPF Women's World Cup 2024 champions.
The ParaMatildas defeated USA 6-2 in the gold medal match overnight after they came back from 2-0 down, with two goals from Lake Macquarie product Beikoff.
The historic achievement sees the ParaMatildas as the first-ever Australian national football side to win a World Cup and maintain their ranking as the number one women’s CP football team globally.
Beikoff said she was proud of her team’s fight back and was overjoyed to be crowned world champions.
“It is pretty surreal. I’m pretty exhausted but it is incredible and I am so proud of the girls,” Beikoff said.
“We were 2-1 down at half-time in the last group match so we had a lot of confidence in ourselves that we could come back but we knew we couldn’t drop our heads. I think that we just needed to stick to the game plan, which we did and came out with a massive win. It was amazing out there.
“I was trying to keep the nerves away as I didn’t want the adrenaline to peak too early but I was rather calm, just treating it like any other game and going through the motions.
“We have always had that fire in our belly but we have come a long way in the last two and a half years and we have worked really hard.
“This achievement isn’t just for people living with cerebral palsy, this is for anyone in Australia living with a disability, this is all for you. We are coming home with the gold.”
When Beikoff was young, she dreamed of wearing the green and gold jersey but never thought it would be possible due to her cerebral palsy.
Now at the age of 31, she is one of Australia’s most capped players and the leading ParaMatildas goal-scorer.
Northern NSW Football spoke to Beikoff earlier during the IFCPF Women's World Cup 2024 tournament, where she said that she was proud to be a role model for young boys and girls with disabilities that she never had growing up, showing them that there is a pathway in football.
“It is super important to have a national all-abilities team. I remember when I was six, literally dreaming about wearing the green and gold and thinking that this isn’t going to happen in my lifetime,” Beikoff said.
“It is really important to be able to be a role model. We have a saying amongst the ParaTillies that is ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. Creating those spaces and those avenues for people [that they] can achieve is important.
“I think going back to when I was five or six seeing Tahliah Blanchard with her splint in her arm and kicking goals like she did against the USA, it just would have given me a lot of hope when I was a young kid. It is very special that we can do that now, not just for the younger generation but other women with CP or API as well.”
The ParaMatildas player began playing football at a young age and credited her athletic nature to her parents.
“My mum was a PE teacher and my dad played a lot of hockey, football and rugby so I think I just fell into it,” Beikoff said.
“I started playing football when I was in kindergarten at Valentine Eleebana Football club in Lake Macquarie with my friends and we just kept playing through until I was 14. Then I went into the women’s division until I went into the Paralympics campaign.”
Beikoff made her debut for the ParaMatildas at the 2022 IFCPF World Cup where she made her mark, winning golden boot for the competition with 13 goals in five matches.
As well as being a ParaMatilda, Beikoff is also a Paralympian, representing Australia in the 2012 London Paralympics in the 4x100m and javelin where she won bronze.
But Beikoff said her true love had always been football.
“I have played a lot of sports over the years but I think football has just been the one sport that I have absolutely loved and it has taken me places,” Beikoff said.
“I think it is really hard to explain but it has always been there and become a second nature because I have played it so long. When people ask me ‘what’s your favourite sport?’, it’s got to be football.
“It will always be special every time I put on the jersey.”
The midfielder is one of the most experienced players in the ParaMatildas squad and said that her role in the group was guiding and leading the younger players.
“It has been really good. I think the vibes are really rocking and I am loving seeing the younger girls just soaking it all up,” Beikoff said.
“It has been really lovely seeing the younger girls grow and show Australia what they’ve got.
“My role this time round for the 2024 campaign has been that play maker role and a leader to make sure that the girls around me are playing their best football as well. It’s been great to see so many girls hit the back of the net and I am just happy to be a part of that.”
The ParaMatildas narrowly missed out on gold at the 2022 World Cup after they went down in extra-time against the USA but Beikoff said that she was confident that they could rewrite the script this time around.
“100 per cent we want to win gold. I think that has been our goal since we lost 4-2 in extra-time against the USA. But I think it gave us a real confidence boost the other day to get that 3-2 win over them,” Beikoff said.
“We know we can do it and we are so keen.”
The 31-year-old is the oldest player in the current ParaMatildas squad but said that age would not be a barrier for her in her football career.
“I am very aware that I am now the eldest in the squad. Lainee Harrison likes to call me the dinosaur,” Beikoff said.
“But I am really keen to see how far I can go. It would be awesome if we could be a part of the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games.
“It would be a big challenge personally with my body but as long as my body is okay then I am keen to keep going.”
