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Co-hosts Australia have lost their captain and star striker Sam Kerr for at least the first two games of the World Cup after she suffered a calf injury in training. The Chelsea star confirmed on Thursday that she will miss the Group B match with Nigeria as well as the Matildas' 1-0 opening win over Ireland.

Kerr, 29, is Australia's all-time leading scorer and one of the biggest names at the competition hosted down under this summer.

"Unfortunately I sustained a calf injury yesterday in training," read her statement. "I wanted to share this with everyone so there is no distraction from what we came here to achieve.

"Of course I would have loved to have been out there tonight, but I can't wait to be a part of this amazing journey which starts now."

Steph Catley took over as captain against Ireland and scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after 52 minutes in Sydney while Mary Fowler replaced Kerr in attack.

The Matildas' medical team also issued an update on their star via a squad note: "Sam Kerr is unavailable tonight after she picked up a calf injury at training on MD-1."

"Sam will be unavailable for the next two matches with the Matildas Medical Team to re-assess her following our second group stage match," added the bulletin.

Kerr debuted for the Aussies at 15 and is now recognized as one of the best in the women's game and she joined Chelsea back in 2020.

A regular in Ballon d'Or and the Best FIFA Women's Player discussions in recent years, Kerr became the first Australian -- man or woman -- to score a World Cup hat-trick back in 2019.

However, major titles have eluded Kerr and the Matildas so far and this is a huge opportunity to secure silverware on home soil.