From the A-Leagues to overseas, but as a coach. Australians are making their mark abroad.
With Ange Postecoglou blazing a trail, there is an emerging list of Australian coaches showcasing their exploits abroad – both in Europe and Asia.
Most have come through the Isuzu UTE A-League and Liberty A-League at some point, as a player, or mentor.
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“There’s no reason why we aren’t better than the coaches in Europe,” Michael Valkanis told aleagues.com.au previously.
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Whether it’s in England, France, Turkey or Japan, the Australian flag is flying high – in both male, and female competitions.
After Dario Vidosic’s big move to the Women’s Super League (WSL), we look at the A-Leagues alumni now coaching outside of Australia and New Zealand.
Head coaches
Ange Postecoglou (Tottenham – Premier League)
At the top of the tree is former Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory head coach Postecoglou. A trailblazer for Australian football, he won back-to-back championships in Brisbane, having enjoyed great success with South Melbourne in the NSL. The 58-year-old’s career has gone from strength to strength since leaving Victory for Australia in 2013 – tasting Asian Cup (Socceroos) and J1 League (Yokohama F.Marinos) glory. After winning the treble and five trophies during his historic stint with Celtic, Postecoglou is heading into his second season at the helm of Tottenham as the first Aussie to lead a Premier League side.
Joe Montemurro (Lyon Feminin – Premiere Ligue)
Montemurro now calls Lyon home – one of, if not, the biggest club in women’s football. The Australian is at the forefront of an exciting era in women’s football with the record eight-time European champions, having arrived after leading the A-Leagues All Stars Women side in May. After leaving Women’s Super League (WSL) giants Arsenal at the end of 2020-21 with a league crown and League Cup in the bag, Montemurro won an historic treble at Italian juggernaut Juventus in his first season and departed Turin with five titles in hand earlier this year. The 54-year-old has enjoyed success wherever he has been. At Melbourne City, Montemurro delivered back-to-back Liberty A-League titles while also working as an assistant to the men’s A-League outfit. He created history in 2015-16 after City went through the entire women’s campaign without dropping a point.
Kevin Muscat (Shanghai Port – Chinese Super League)
Muscat is on track to become the first Australian to win league titles across three different AFC nations. Having reigned supreme at Melbourne Victory in the Isuzu UTE A-League and Yokohama F.Marinos in the J1 League, having followed in the footsteps of Postecoglou, he now has Shanghai Port unbeaten and top of the Chinese Super League (CSL) standings. The reigning champions have won a club-record 12 games in a row. Muscat, who had a brief spell in charge of Belgian top-flight outfit Sint-Truiden, was in the running for the Rangers job last season while he was linked with Dutch giants Feyenoord following Arne Slot’s move to Liverpool.
Dario Vidosic (Brighton and Hove Albion Women – WSL)
Vidosic is the newest addition to the list after he was appointed by Brighton and Hove Albion this week. The former Socceroo was lured to the WSL after guiding Melbourne City to their first Liberty A-League Premiership in four years and a Grand Final appearance in his first full campaign last term. The 37-year-old is the second City coach to progress from the club’s women’s setup to the WSL after Joe Montemurro was lured to England’s top flight by powerhouse Arsenal in 2017.
Michael Valkanis (Adana Demirspor – Turkish Super Lig)
The former Adelaide United defender and Melbourne City head coach is the new head coach of Turkish top-flight side Adana Demirspor. He arrives at the club – who sacked Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert in December and is set to go head-to-head with legendary Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho, who is now in charge of powerhouse Fenerbahce. He is coming off a spell at Dutch giants Ajax, where he was assistant to ex-City boss John van’t Schip and even deputised for two games in an historic feat. It is the former Greece assistant’s third head coaching role in Europe following spells with Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel and KAS Eupen in Belgium.
Peter Cklamovski (FC Tokyo – J1 League)
Postecoglou’s trusted number two for so long, Peter Cklamovski is now making waves on his own coaching journey in Japan. Following a difficult spell in charge of J1 League side Shimizu S-Pulse, he took charge of second-tier club Montedio Yamagata, where he had the club flirting with promotion against all odds having faced the threat of relegation prior to his arrival. The former Perth Glory, Adelaide United and Victory fitness coach, who was part of Postecoglou’s staff during F.Marinos’ triumphant 2019 campaign, now calls FC Tokyo home after his shock departure from Montedio in 2023. He has been transforming the capital club with an exciting brand of football and emphasis on youth in 2024.
Harry Kewell (Yokohama F.Marinos – J1 League)
Kewell is the third consecutive Aussie to coach F.Marinos in Japan, following in the footsteps of Kevin Muscat and Ange Postecoglou. The Socceroos legend succeeded Muscat at the end of 2023 – his first senior head coaching role since Barnet in 2021 after he was prised from Scottish champions Celtic. When he took over, Marinos were already in the last 16 of the AFC Champions League but he led them to their first ever appearance in the final, which ended in defeat.
Tanya Oxtoby (Northern Ireland Women national team)
Getting up close and personal with Emma Hayes is quite the experience and Tanya Oxtoby was able to lean on the highly rated former Chelsea head coach and current United States Women’s national team boss in her role as assistant in London previously. That experience saw the former Perth Glory centre-back and assistant appointed head coach of Northern Ireland Women’s national team last year and she is now eyeing qualification for Euro 2025. The 42-year-old was previously manager of Bristol City between 2018 and 2021.
Ante Milicic (China Women national team)
Milicic had not coached since leaving Isuzu UTE A-League Macarthur FC in 2022 but he is now leading China women’s team. The former Matildas boss and Socceroos assistant was appointed in May and earned a 1-1 draw with Australia in the first of two friendlies Down Under two months ago. It is his first senior head coaching gig abroad.
Mark Torcaso (Philippines Women national team)
After Philippines’ historic appearance at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the departure of Alen Stajcic, the Asian nation and world number 39 turned to another Aussie to take control – 2022-23 Liberty A-League Coach of the Year Torcaso. He guided Western to last season’s Grand Final in their inaugural 2022-23 campaign before resigning early in 2023-24.
Warren Moon (Papua New Guinea)
Moon is a familiar face from the A-Leagues – he played for Brisbane Roar and coached the club between 2020-23. Now is trying to revolutionise minnows Papua New Guinea. Ranked 166 in the world, Moon was appointed by the small Pacific nation in October.
Jon Brady (Northampton Town – League One)
Brady has called the UK home for 32 years. During that time, the Newcastle-born Australian has almost experienced it all, while he even trialled in the A-Leagues. He was offered a trial by Gary van Egmond and A-League Men outfit Newcastle Jets in 2009 but nothing came of it. Having coached at Brackley Town until 2015, Brady moved to Northampton Town in 2016 initially as a youth-team coach. Now he is head coach of the third-tier outfit – a role he has had since 2021. In that time, Brady secured promotion from the fourth division to League One.
- Kasey Wehrman (Ull/Kisa – Norwegian 2.Divisjon)
Assistant coaches
Mile Jedinak (Tottenham – Premier League)
When Postecoglou made the big move to the Premier League via Tottenham, he brought a Socceroos great with him – Jedinak. The pair worked together when Postecoglou was Socceroos head coach. Now, Jedinak is part of his Tottenham coaching staff following his time at Aston Villa, where he was a coach in their academy and then a loan development coach.
Aaron D’Antino (Arsenal Women – WSL)
There is a strong Australian contingent at Arsenal with Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross but they are not the only Aussies with the London club. Former Melbourne Victory high performance coach and analyst D’Antino also calls the Gunners home as Jonas Eidevall’s assistant coach. D’Antino was first lured to Arsenal by Montemurro in 2018.
Ross Aloisi (Shanghai Port – Chinese Super League)
Aloisi is part of Muscat’s coaching staff at CSL champions Shanghai Port. The former Brisbane Roar head coach, who reached the 2023 Australia Cup final, reunited with Muscat after he worked with the A-Leagues legend at Yokohama F.Marinos previously.
Vince Ierardo (Shanghai Port – Chinese Super League)
Ierardo is also on Muscat’s coaching staff in China after being lured away from Isuzu UTE A-League side Western United. An inaugural member of Western’s football department, this is his first coaching experience abroad.
John Hutchinson (Yokohama F.Marinos – J1 League)
Central Coast Mariners great John Hutchinson has forging his own coaching career. Winner of an Isuzu UTE A-League Championship in Gosford, the popular 44-year-old is currently working as as an assistant to Harry Kewell at F.Marinos, which represents his second spell at the Yokohama-based club having previously been part of Ange Postecoglou’s coaching staff prior to Kevin Muscat’s arrival in 2021. Hutchinson – whose unique coaching journey has taken him from Western United to Seattle Sounders – previously worked as an assistant at F.Marinos’ city rivals Yokohama FC, while he was head coach and technical director of USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive in 2022.
Andrew Durante (Philippines Women national team)
Torcaso is not the only Australian-born coach working for the Philippines. A-Leagues legend and former New Zealand international Andrew Durante is an assistant as he also splits up his time with Western United in the Isuzu UTE A-League. Fellow Aussie Sinisa Cohadzic is also part of the Philippines staff.
Ivan Jolic (China Women national team)
Jolic is working alongside Milicic in China, having previously worked together at Macarthur FC in the Isuzu UTE A-League. Jolic is no stranger to the A-Leagues as his CV includes assistant coaching roles at Melbourne City and Central Coast Mariners. Also part of China’s coaching staff is former goalkeeper Joey Didulica, who was a coach at Melbourne City previously.
A-Leagues alumni (non-Australian) working abroad:
- Nick Montgomery (Tottenham assistant)
- Sergio Raimundo (Tottenham assistant)
- Josep Gombau (Aston Villa U21 coach)
- Petr Kratky (Mumbai City head coach)
- Des Buckingham (Oxford United head coach)
- Thomas Broich (Borussia Dortmund head of youth academy)
