Central Coast Mariners vice-captain Bianca Galic has been selected in Croatia’s 24-player squad set to kick off the UEFA Women’s Nation’s League campaign in February.
The Australian-born midfielder earned her first two appearances for the national team in October, 24 and now has the chance to add to her two senior caps when Croatia face Czechia and Ukraine in their first two fixtures in League B of the continental tournament.
Drawn in Group B4 alongside Czechia, Ukraine and Albania, Croatia will aim to finish in the top two of their group in an attempt to earn promotion to League A; finishing top of Group B4 will ensure automatic promotion while a second-place finish will send Croatia to the promotion play-offs.
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In December, Galic spoke to aleagues.com.au about the decision to commit to representing Croatia after sensing her dream of becoming a CommBank Matilda had passed her by.
“It was a massive dream to represent the Matildas and put that Australian shirt on,” Garlic said.
“But not having my name in the system and not necessarily being a person of interest in the extended squad, I had to weigh up what was realistic.
“If I declined the Croatian national team opportunity, would it have come again?
“I was contacted in March this year by the Croatian Football Federation, who connected me with the national team manager. They gave me a call just to understand where my head was at, and whether I was still looking at representing Australia.
“They’d seen my history and looked at clips, and wanted to gauge my interest in that as a potential pathway, going into the Croatian system.
“For me, looking at my history, I haven’t been associated with any of the Junior Matildas, Young Matildas or anything like that. I felt I was under the radar and wasn’t picked in any development or Matildas teams.
“Now I’m 25, so it came down to if I was being looked at in terms of the Australian system, and whether there going to be another opportunity.”
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Galic and the Mariners are next in action in the Ninja A-League against Melbourne Victory at the Home of the Matildas on Sunday, February 16.
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