{"id":79847,"date":"2026-08-25T06:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/79847\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T06:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:38:08","slug":"matildas-defender-jessika-nash-signs-for-melbourne-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/79847\/","title":{"rendered":"Matildas defender Jessika Nash signs for Melbourne City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne City FC have signed Matildas defender Jessika Nash on a two-year deal, with the 21-year-old returning to Australia from Italian side U.S. Sassuolo Calcio.<\/p>\n

One of Australia\u2019s most promising young defenders, Nash joins City with significant domestic and overseas experience, as well as four senior international caps.<\/p>\n

Nash made her professional debut with Canberra United in 2020 and went on to make 85 Ninja A-League appearances across five seasons.<\/p>\n

TRANSFER CENTRE: Ninja A-League 2026\/27 Transfer Centre: Your club\u2019s moves<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Jessika Nash of the Mariners poses after winning the A-League Women\u2019s Grand Final<\/p>\n

She helped Central Coast Mariners win the Championship in 2024\/25 before earning a move to Italy\u2019s Serie A Femminile with Sassuolo.<\/p>\n

Nash also made her Matildas debut as a 17-year-old against the United States in 2021 and has since earned four senior caps.<\/p>\n

Nash said she was excited to join City and continue her development in a successful environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelbourne City is a Club that has consistently set high standards and competed for trophies, so I\u2019m really excited to be joining this group,\u201d Nash said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ambition of the Club, the quality within the squad and the opportunity to compete for silverware both in Australia and Asia were all big reasons why I wanted to come here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot from my experience overseas and I\u2019m looking forward to bringing that back with me, continuing to develop my game and doing everything I can to help the Club achieve more success.\u201d<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL 2026\/27 NINJA A-LEAGUE FIXTURE LIST<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Jessika Nash in action during the Grand Final<\/p>\n

CITY EXITS: Champions confirm departures of four players ahead of title defence<\/a><\/p>\n

Her arrival strengthens City\u2019s defensive unit as the reigning Premiers and Champions prepare to defend their domestic titles and compete in a third consecutive AFC Women\u2019s Champions League campaign.<\/p>\n

Melbourne City FC Director of Football Michael Petrillo said Nash\u2019s experience and potential made her an exciting addition to the squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cJessika is a player we\u2019ve admired for a long time, and we\u2019re delighted to bring her to Melbourne City,\u201d Petrillo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite only being 21, she\u2019s already built an impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 with significant A-League experience, a Championship, senior international football and a season competing in Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJessika still has plenty of room to grow, and we believe our environment is the perfect place for her to continue developing while making an immediate contribution to our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arrival of Nash takes Melbourne City\u2019s off-season recruitment tally to five following the arrivals of Cortnee Vine<\/a>,\u00a0Melina Ayres<\/a>,\u00a0Avaani Prakash<\/a> and\u00a0Taylor Ray<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, first teamers\u00a0Aideen Keane<\/a> and\u00a0Karly Roestbakken<\/a> have both signed new contracts this season, joining Head Coach Michael Matricciani<\/a> in committing themselves to the club.<\/p>\n

Matricciani\u2019s side have also offloaded plenty of players this season though, with Holly McNamara<\/a>,\u00a0Bryleeh Henry, Alexia Apostolakis<\/a>,\u00a0Laura Hughes<\/a>,\u00a0Ayana Aoyagi, Caitlin Karic, Chinaza Uchendu and Ellie Wilson<\/a> all now seeking pastures new.<\/p>\n

The reigning Premiers and Champions kick off their 2026\/27 title defence with a Grand Final rematch against Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand on Sunday, October 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne City FC have signed Matildas defender Jessika Nash on a two-year deal, with the 21-year-old returning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[342,1417,4640,260,152,24641],"class_list":["post-79847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-a-league-women","tag-a-leagues","tag-alwfeatured","tag-melbourne","tag-news","tag-transfer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}