Brisbane Roar chasing the services of ex-Victory and Adelaide coach Marco Kurz
A German coach who led Adelaide United to FFA Cup glory is the leading candidate to take charge at Brisbane Roar, but there are also a couple of Aussies in the mix.
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Former Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory coach Marco Kurz has been targeted by Brisbane Roar.
Kurz, 53, is understood to be the Roar’s preferred option to take charge of the three-time A-League champions, who are currently being coached in an interim capacity by Nick Green following February’s sacking of Warren Moon.
However, German mentor Kurz isn’t the only candidate, with current Western United assistant coach Hayden Foxe and former Roar assistant Ross Aloisi also understood to be among those in the mix for the Brisbane job.
Green won’t return to the Roar next season, while the early frontrunner in the battle to replace Moon on a permanent basis – Adelaide City NPL coach Paul Pezos – is no longer in contention.
Roar chairman Chris Fong said the club was close to “ticking off” the appointment of a new coach.
“We’re comfortable. We’re very happy. We’re getting what we wanted,” Fong said.
“He’s got a lot of professional experience overseas and in the A-League.
“We did the right thing in this research. and we knew we needed to get an experienced professional coach ... someone who’s coached and been involved in teams at the top level, either in Australia or overseas, or both.
“I believe we’ve got that mix.”
Kurz’s most recent A-League job was with the Victory during the 2019-20 season, but he was sacked after winning just four from 15 matches.
He had better success at Adelaide United, where he worked with current Roar general manager Ante Kovacevic.
In two seasons with the Reds, Kurz twice took them to the finals series and also guided them to FFA Cup glory in 2018.
Kurz has also had coaching stints with German clubs Fortuna Dssseldorf, Ingolstadt, Hoffenheim, Kaiserslautern, 1860 Munich and Pfullendorf.
Before that he played as a defender for Pfullendorf, 1860 Munich, Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund, Nurnberg and Stuttgart.
Fong said: “Our sister club in Indonesia (Persija Jakarta), they’ve ... brought in Thomas Doll from Germany, and he’s doing well, so there’s been a proper deeper analysis of what we need to do.”
Former Socceroos defender Foxe played in the English Premier League for West Ham and Portsmouth, and was caretaker coach at the Western Sydney Wanderers for five matches in 2017.
Fong said the Roar needed to “reset” the way they played after a disappointing 2022-23 season.
He also said the club needed to “move on” in explaining the decision to sack Moon, who took over from Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler in 2020.
“There were no issues with Warren. It was a project, (and) we gave it two and a half, nearly three years, and we needed to move on from that,” Fong said.
Originally published as Brisbane Roar chasing the services of ex-Victory and Adelaide coach Marco Kurz
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