Mary Fowler reveals the big mistake she made when she started her career – and the very surprising way she wants to make a living in retirement

Matildas and Manchester City star Mary Fowler has admitted she took herself far too seriously when she was starting out as a professional footballer – and revealed the two jobs she’d love to get into when her playing career is over.

The 21-year-old has been in glittering form lately, starring for City in the Champions League, helping drive them to first on the Women’s Super League table and looking to be a lynchpin of the Aussie side when they take on Switzerland on Saturday.

But back when she first played for the Tillies in 2018, aged just 15, her desire to give everything to soccer went too far.

‘When I first started out and debuted for the national team I was a super-driven person and very focused on football to the point where anything off the field was a distraction,’ she told Forbes.

‘You feel bad if you eat ice cream, you don’t want to hang out with your friends too much because you should be focusing on your craft.

‘Now I have to be able to laugh on the field, and I have to be able to have balance off the field, and that actually makes me better.’

Fowler added that she finally realised change was needed when she was playing for Montpellier in France in 2020.

Her teammates asked her to go on road trips and hang out with them every week, but she told them she could only manage one outing a month.

‘In my head, I thought that was a good amount of time to spend being social with people,’ she explained.

But when she relaxed and took more breaks from the grind of professional football, her form improved as she scored 10 goals in her 40 appearances for the team.

Fowler has many more years of top-flight football left, but she has already turned her thoughts to how she’d like to make a living once her playing days are behind her.

‘It’s always been a dream of mine to open a café,’ she said.

‘I can’t say I’m very good at making coffee yet, but I’ve always wanted to open a café for the people aspect.

‘I love having a chat with people and I love kids, so I’d love to open a space that’s very child friendly and pet friendly.’

The other field she wants to get into is fashion design.

‘I’d love to start my own brand one day,’ Fowler explained.

‘There have been times where I felt less confident about myself and fashion is something that I’ve turned to, to help figure my stuff out and try to build myself back up again. I would love to share that feeling with someone else.’

The City star has previously opened up about her dream of having children during an appearance at a Sydney kindergarten.

‘For me, off the field, my dream is to have kids one day and have a family, so it’s really nice to be able to work with them [children] now,’ she said.