Grant: I'm very happy to be back

CommBank Matildas defender Charli Grant said that she is "happy to be back" after an extended run of games in Sweden for Malmö FF, which earned her a recall to the national side for the first time since October 2025.

The 25-year-old was speaking to the media from Karlsruhe, Germany, where the team is preparing to take on Germany and Haiti in the upcoming international window.

"It's definitely been a while, so I'm very happy to be back," she said.

"It was very unfortunate timing when my knee injured, but at the same time I felt fortunate for it not to have been a worse injury. At the time, I thought it was. It came at the time when it was Adelaide camp actually [November/December 2025], so it would have been nice to be home in Adelaide. I thought that I might be able to come back in time for the Asian Cup, but with no minutes, I wouldn't have been able to give what I wanted to the team.

"It was really disappointing. It would have been amazing to be at another home tournament. But I was definitely the biggest supporter in England. I was always hassling everyone to pull up on the TV while we're all doing gym and stuff, to watch the girls. It was a very difficult time. I didn't actually get to return to play at Tottenham, so my first game was when I moved to Malmö. I'm just really happy to be playing again and to be back with the girls now."

Her move to Malmö came in the middle of this year, but it has been a successful one, starting in seven games and picking up a goal and an assist for the side that competes in both the league and the Europa Cup.

"It's been a great preparation for coming back in the Matildas environment," she said.

"I'm just getting the minutes that I've needed for a very long time. It's been a great preparation for me coming back in here to be confident to know that I'm back playing and ready to give my all to the team."

Grant has been deployed as both a right and left back in different environments for club and country. She said she is happy to be used wherever she is needed to help the team's success.

"I just love being on the pitch, so wherever that puts me is fine," she said.

"I like left and right back. I enjoy them both. They both have different positives for my skill sets; it always just depends on the team. I'm really enjoying playing at left back at Malmo, and wherever Joe feels is my best fit, I'm just going to put my best foot forward."

While these games are meaningful on a personal level for Grant, she also explained why they were so important for the team looking ahead to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027.

"It's so important to play against these teams to test where we are as a team, and see what we need to improve on going into the World Cup," she said.

"Especially a team like Germany, they're a top-level team, and it's really important to see where we are and challenge ourselves. We just use each camp to develop, and develop our tactics and plans, so we'll just continue to do that."