The Australian Matildas women’s football team begin their quest for Olympic qualification on Thursday when they take on Asian Cup runners-up DPR Korea at the Jinan Olympic Sports Centre in China.

The Matildas welcome back experienced pair Sarah Walsh and Thea Slatyer who have battled back from injuries that kept them out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany.

Aivi Luik also returns after narrowly missing out on a spot on the plane to Germany and comes in for injured Brisbane Roar team-mate Lauren Colthorpe, who has a knee injury.

Matildas coach Tom Sermanni says he is happy with the balance of his squad heading into their opening match against DPR Korea. 

‘We have a large and talented squad and when you can only select 20 players for an 11-day, five-match tournament you need to be very balanced in selecting your squad,’ Sermanni said.

‘The flexibility of the playing group given the number of games we have to play over a very short period will be a key for us.

‘Both Thea and Walshy bring special qualities to the squad and now they are fully fit will give us the added bonus through their extensive experience and knowledge of playing big matches in Asia.'

The Matilda’s Olympic campaign will involve a gruelling six team, 11-day round robin tournament with the top two teams progressing to next year’s Olympic Games.

The Matildas’ matches are:

• Australia versus DPR Korea — 1 September
• Australia versus Thailand — 3 September
• Australia versus Japan — 5 September
• Australia versus China — 8 September
• Australia versus Korea Republic — 11 September.