Ante Milicic chooses new A-League club Macarthur over Matildas
Matildas coach Ante Milicic has decided to honour his A-League contract, passing up the opportunity to coach at the Olympics and a World Cup on home soil.
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Macarthur FC chairman Gino Marra never considered Ante Milicic reneging on his coaching deal with the A-League newcomers despite the lure of leading the Matildas at the 2023 World Cup.
The Matildas are searching for a new coach after Milicic stayed loyal to Macarthur, who enter the A-League next season.
The postponement of the Olympics by a year, plus the recent decision to award Australia and New Zealand 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup hosting rights had many believing Milicic would remain with the Matildas.
However, Marra was always confident the former Socceroos striker would stick with Macarthur.
“Nothing ever was raised with us,” Marra said.
“We always had Ante in our plans as coach. There was never any discussion, anything contrary to that.
“When we talked about the kind of coach we wanted, we wanted someone who believed in what we wanted to do and also was somebody we as a club could respect, and he respected us.
“He was always that type of person. It shows the type of person he is.”
Macarthur, who have made 13 player signings but only announced one of them in former Socceroo Tommy Oar, are set to starting training after the completion of the current A-League season on August 30.
Milicic said: “Truth be told, I have simply chosen to honour the commitment I made to Macarthur over a year ago, and hope that the Matildas’ players, staff, and fans, many of whom I have grown close with, will accept that.”
He later tweeted: “Coaching @TheMatildas has been a highlight of my career. To my staff: I hope you are as proud as I am of your contribution to creating a world class environment. To my players: Every day, every session you worked to achieve something special. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Coaching @TheMatildas has been a highlight of my career
— Ante Milicic (@AnteMilicic) July 20, 2020
To my staff: I hope you are as proud as I am of your contribution to creating a world class environment
To my players: Every day, every session you worked to achieve something special. Thank you from the bottom of my heart pic.twitter.com/OhIEts45Yb
Matildas star Hayley Raso also took to social media to express her sadness about the departure of Milicic, and his assistant Ivan Jolic and analyst Kate Cohen, who are also heading to Macarthur.
“Gutted!! Thank you @AnteMilicic, @IvanJolic and @KateCohenKCS for creating such an incredible environment for us and for developing our team into a world class squad. This is hard to take, but extremely grateful for our time together. @TheMatildas won’t be the same without you,” Raso tweeted.
Gutted!! Thank you @AnteMilicic, @IvanJolic and @KateCohenKCS for creating such an incredible environment for us and for developing our team into a world class squad. This is hard to take, but extremely grateful for our time together. @TheMatildas won’t be the same without you 🇦🇺 https://t.co/buI3vidgX5
— Hayley Raso (@HayleyRaso) July 19, 2020
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Early candidates to replace Milicic as Matildas coach included current Arsenal women’s coach Joe Montemurro, Sydney FC W-League coach Ante Juric and former Brisbane Roar A-League assistant coach Ross Aloisi.
It’s understood Aloisi, who was Matildas assistant coach at the 2015 World Cup, was in strong contention to be awarded the Matildas’ top job in February last year before Football Federation opted for Milicic as the replacement for Alen Stajcic, now the mentor of A-League cellar dwellers Central Coast Mariners.
Aloisi is also a former Adelaide United W-League coach and currently heads the Queensland-based Female Football Development Academy.
Originally published as Ante Milicic chooses new A-League club Macarthur over Matildas