As vice-captain of the Matildas, Steph Catley is nothing wanting a nationwide treasure –particularly after scoring two targets throughout the group stage of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
All eyes have been on her private life this 12 months too, after she revealed again in January that her boyfriend Dean Bouzanis – additionally a soccer participant – had requested her to marry him.
Catley’s skilled profession started in Melbourne, then performed for a handful of golf equipment within the US Women’s soccer league, lastly being signed to Arsenal as a defender in 2020.
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Bouzanis can also be an completed soccer participant, beginning his profession in Europe as a goalkeeper, earlier than returning to Australia in 2014 to play for the Wanderers within the A-League.
The couple first met approach again in 2016, once they have been each enjoying for Melbourne Victory. Three months after probability assembly and a slide into the DMs, they moved abroad collectively.
It’s a modern-day love story – let’s dive proper in.
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2016: Steph Catley begins enjoying for Melbourne City within the W-League; on the similar time, Dean Bouzanis begins enjoying for the Melbourne City males’s workforce within the A-League.
Catley and Bouzanis have an opportunity assembly on the coaching pitch. Though they only had fast chat, there was clear chemistry, and as Bouzanis places it, “one thing led to another”.
Catley revealed later that Bouzanis slid into her DMs on Instagram after she walked previous him at a buying centre and did not discover him waving. “I think he was just too shy to say hello!,” she teased. “So that’s how Dean and I started talking, and that’s how he got me hook, line and sinker.”
January 2017: The couple formally begins courting in January. “We kept it quiet at first, because it’s unusual for two people at the same club to start dating,” he mentioned.
March 2017: However, just some months into attending to know one another, Catley needed to fly again to the US to play a season for Orlando Pride. Many Aussie soccer stars concurrently play in US and Australian leagues, made potential by the alternative timing of the seasons.
Bouzanis took the leap, and flew to spend his low season with Catley within the US whereas she performed in Orlando.
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“That was only about three and a half months into our relationship, so it was a big move on his behalf that early on,” Catley revealed in an interview with The Atlantic. “But if he hadn’t done that, it probably wouldn’t have worked because I was in America for so long. At the beginning of a relationship, that’s probably too much distance without knowing someone that well.”
May 2017: Catley shares images to Instagram of her and Bouzanis exploring Florida.
2018: The couple grapple with a long-distance relationship whereas Catley performs in Australia for Melbourne, and Bouzanis is on mortgage with a workforce within the Netherlands. They reunite at Christmas for a festive season at dwelling.
March 2020: The couple reside collectively in Melbourne, using out the COVID lockdowns collectively.
July 2020: Catley is introduced as the latest participant becoming a member of Arsenal’s Women’s workforce within the UK.
August 2020: The same announcement is made, this time naming Bouzanis as the brand new goalkeeper for Sutton United, additionally within the UK. Phew. The couple will not be separated.
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“Steph’s deal came up first,” Bouzanis later defined. While she was finalising her contract, he was coping with the information that the A-League in Australia could be postponed for 2020.
Though Bouzanis had performed for groups in England previously, it wasn’t straightforward for him to discover a new job and observe his girlfriend.
“I wasn’t at all expecting him to come with me,” Catley revealed. “We’ve always had a pretty good understanding in our relationship of making sure we both get the most out of our careers and if that means one of us is playing in a different part of the world for a certain amount of time, then we’re both very understanding about that, so I just wanted him to do what was going to be best for his career.”
But simply as she was inking her contract, a proposal got here up and he took it.
September 2020: Bouzanis gushes about his girlfriend in an interview. “I feel like she’s not recognised to the level that some other players are and that’s crazy to me,” he says.
“I see her every day at training and she’s unbelievable. I knew how good she was but she’s gone to another level. She’ll be so embarrassed by me saying that too… she’s so humble.”
January 2021: Catley celebrates the couple’s four-year anniversary, with a candy Instagram put up. “Never a dull moment, don’t know what I’d do without you,” she wrote.
May 2022: Catley indicators one other contract extending her time in Arsenal, so the couple determined to proceed dwelling in London.
June 2022: The couple get a canine collectively, a golden doodle named Calvin.
July 2022: Bouzanis opens up about their relationship, saying the way it’s particular to have a companion who totally understands what it is prefer to be an elite athlete.
“Being a footballer, you want to play in these big games and have these moments and to be able to share them together – it is special.”
“It is a great fit because we understand each other and what it takes, whether you have to go away, move clubs, you might have to do a bit of long distance, which we had to do at the start of our relationship.”
January 2023: Steph and Dean get engaged! He units up an elaborate proposal, with a ‘Marry Me’ register lights, pink coronary heart balloons, and their canine Calvin in a bit tuxedo.
July 2023: Catley returns to Australia to play in her third World Cup.
“It’s a home tournament for us, we are playing in front of so many young girls, young boys that will hopefully watch us and aspire to be female or male footballers in the future in Australia,” she shared.
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