Mary Fowler

Adelaide United

Fowler made her W-League debut for Adelaide United in the first game of the 2019–20 season. She scored her first goal in that game in a 2–1 loss against Western Sydney Wanderers.

Montpellier

In February 2020, on the day of her 17th birthday, Fowler signed for French Ligue 1 club Montpellier HSC on a three-year contract, arranged by her father, after an undisclosed transfer fee was paid. She moved to Montpelier and made her debut against Olympique Lyonnais in February 2020. She was named to ESPN's 21 under 21, an international list of footballers representing the next generation of talent, in May 2021. In her book, Bloom, published in 2025, Fowler wrote that she had self-harmed, had suicidal thoughts, and had also seriously contemplated quitting football, during her time with Montpellier. She had planned her retirement in detail, even drawing up a budget for living in a renovated van back in Australia and working as an online personal trainer. "I wasn't even 20 years old, so if I wanted to jump into a whole new career, time was on my side. There were options aplenty," she later wrote in her book. Fowler also claimed that she and her friend Ashleigh Weerden had been treated differently from their teammates throughout her second year at Montpellier. In particular, she wrote that after she, Weerden, and several of their foreign teammates had played their final game for the club, the foreign teammates had been presented with flowers, but that the…

Young Matildas

Fowler, aged 15, was named by Australia under-20s (Young Matildas) head coach Leah Blayney to the 23-player squad on 20 June 2018 for the AFF Women's Championship, which was held in Indonesia. The Young Matildas competed against senior teams from the ASEAN region. Fowler was the tournament's highest goal scorer (Golden Boot) with ten goals, which included five against Cambodia in a group stage game and two goals in their 3–2 loss in the final against Thailand, to become runners-up.

2018 Tournament of Nations

As a teenager, Fowler resisted attempts by the Football Association of Ireland to poach her from Football Australia's youth system. In 2018, she was added to the Australian squad for the Tournament of Nations. She made her debut late in the game against Brazil, thus becoming the fifth youngest player for the Matildas at 15 years and 162 days. At that early stage in her international career, Fowler received wide praise for her abilities as a player, with coach Alen Stajcic saying that she has "probably got the most weapons I've seen from a young player her age in women's football". Fowler was again used as a substitute in Australia's friendlies against England and France later in the year, but was unavailable for the matches against Chile to attend trials with the first teams of Chelsea, West Ham and Manchester City, who all wanted to sign her. She also attended sprint and power training sessions in Manchester with coach Mick Clegg.

…

Mary Boio Fowler was born on 14 February 2003 in Cairns, Queensland, the third of five children. Fowler's father, Kevin, is from Dublin, Ireland. Her mother, Nido, is from Kira Kira, a village within greater Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where the couple met. As a young child, Fowler attended Holy Cross Primary School in Cairns. Her favourite school subject was maths. Her parents chose not to have a television set at home, and so she and her siblings engaged in other forms of entertainment, such as kicking a football around at Trinity Beach near Cairns after school. As a child, Fowler was interested in drawing, writing poetry, dressing up and acting in little shows with her siblings, and enjoyed being creative. Fowler began playing football at the age of seven. While still at school, she was a member of boys teams for Saints FC as well as Leichhardt FC in the local Cairns league. She was selected to play for the Queensland state under-12s team at 10 years of age. A year later, she moved with her family to the Netherlands where they lived for three years, during which she was signed to BVV Barendrecht and learnt to speak Dutch fluently. At age 14, Fowler returned to Australia with her family and began attending Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts. Later, she played for Bankstown City in the NSW Women's National Premier League. In 2019, aged 16 years, Fowler signed her first professional contract with Adelaide United and relocated to South Australia to begin her…

Fowler began her professional career together with her older sister Ciara when they were both signed by Adelaide United in the same year. They played together professionally for the first time in the first match of the 2019–20 season when Ciara came on as an 85th-minute substitute. This was the debut for both sisters. Fowler likes connecting with her heritage and ethnic roots, both New Guinean and Irish. During the 2023 World Cup, her mother's home village hung up banners in Fowler's honour and held viewing parties for her matches. Since August 2023 and as of November 2025, Fowler has been in a relationship with Australian rugby league player Nathan Cleary, after meeting several months earlier at an Adidas event in Sydney. They had their first date on the morning of Australia's first game in the 2023 World Cup, and continued to meet during the tournament. Fowler enjoys travelling and learning languages. Although she enjoyed living in Montpellier, she became homesick during the COVID-19 pandemic. She had learned Dutch at school in the Netherlands, but found learning French challenging. She still enjoys painting, drawing, and writing. Fowler's memoir, Bloom, was published in November 2025.