The Australia women's national under-20 soccer team (later nicknamed Young Matildas) were established in the early 1990s. Initially they were organised as an under-19 team, which played a three-match series against
New Zealand U19 in Australia in September 1991. Another U19 squad toured
Netherlands in 1998. As a member of
Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) the Young Matildas participated in the
2002 OFC Women's Under 19 Qualifying Tournament, held in
Tonga from 23 April to 3 May. After winning their group matches against
Tonga (hosts) 0–16 and
Cook Islands (0–15) they defeated
Samoa (13–0) in the semi-final and New Zealand (0–6) in the final. With that victory Australia U19 qualified for the
2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship (predecessor to
U-20 Women's World Cup). and hosts
Papua New Guinea 14–1, to proceed to the
U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand in November. The Young Matildas were sent home after losing their quarterfinal 0–2 against
United States. Young Matildas became a U-20 team when FIFA changed the upper age limit for its top women's age-grade competition from 19 to 20 effective in 2006. Also during that year all Australian international soccer teams switched from OFC to
Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Alistair Edwards, as coach, took the team to the
2006 AFC U-19 Women's Championship in Malaysia in April, where they finished third by defeating
Japan 3–2 in the third place play-off. Due to their performance, the Young Matildas qualified for the
2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship, held in Russia. At that tournament Australia U20 were eliminated in the group stage. As the third-placed team for the 2006 tournament, the Young Matildas automatically qualified for
2007 AFC U-19 Women's Championship in
Chongqing, China during October 2007. With their 1–0 loss against
Japan and a 2–1 loss against
North Korea, the Australians were eliminated at the group stage and did not qualify for the
2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. From
2013 to
2018, the Young Matildas represented their nation at successive AFF Women's Championships (later renamed
ASEAN Women's Championships): a regional tournament for senior national teams in the
ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). Australia U20's best performances were finishing runners-up in both 2013 and 2018. In the latter final, they lost 3–2 against three-time champion
Thailand despite
Mary Fowler's Player of the Match performance scoring both Australian goals - Fowler also won the Golden Boot for most goals (ten) in the tournament. Blayney coached
the squad, which qualified for the
2024 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup, held in
Uzbekistan in March. The Young Matildas reached the finals, finishing third by defeating
South Korea, 1–0. New coach
Alex Epakis oversaw their three victories in the
2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers for Group C, held during August 2025 in
Tajikistan. Young Matildas reached the
related tournament, which was held in April 2026 in Thailand. ==Results and fixtures==