FFA confirm Matildas next head coach is all but locked in – with announcement in the new year

The next Matildas coach is all but locked in with Football Australia CEO James Johnson confirming interviews had taken place.

A top level of secrecy surrounds who will be the next Matildas coach but Football Australia CEO James Johnson confirmed interviews had taken place and an appointment would be made in 2025.

Matildas have been without a head coach since Tony Gustavsson was shown the door after the side’s dismal Olympic campaign in Paris.

Johnson said after a lengthy search the pool had been narrowed and it was now just a waiting game.

“There’s definitely been discussions with potential candidates and I don’t really want to go much further than that,” Johnson said.

“We’ve gone through a long process, we’ve looked under every rock, we’ve looked locally, globally, we’ve done a lot of analysis.

“We’ve got a football development committee that has done a lot of heavy lifting, we know the market back to front and we’ve been narrowing down the pool of candidates.”

Johnson said the process had progressed and it was now less about finding the right person and more about working out when that person is available to start.

Football Australia CEO James Johnson has confirmed discussions have been had with potential candidates for the Matildas head coach job. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

It has so far been a four-month program – a lot longer than the three days Football Australia needed to replace Socceroos coach Graham Arnold with Tony Popovic when he made his shock resignation in September.

One of the top candidates to take Gustavsson’s job, Joe Montemurro, slipped through Football Australia’s fingers. Montemurro signed a two-year contract with top French women’s team Lyon, just a month before Gustavsson’s contract wasn’t renewed.

Johnson has said since the start of the search Football Australia would not rush the process as the Matildas next competitive game was not until the 2026 Asian Cup.

Instead appointing interim coach Tom Sermanni who is likely to still be in charge come the next window in February.

“We have six windows that we control in 2025, there’s no competition or competition qualification in 2025, our next competition is in 2026, the Asian Women’s Cup which we will host, then we’ve obviously got Brazil in 2027 and LA in 2028,” Johnson said.

“We’re prioritising finding the right person in terms of that process and taking the time that we need to get comfortable to appoint that person.

“We’re not in a position to appoint that person tomorrow.”

Interim Matildas coach Tom Sermanni does not want the role on a permanent basis. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Johnson said there was no guarantee current support staff including assistant coaches and goalkeeper coaches would remain when the new coach was appointed.

“That’s a conversation we need to have with the future coach,” Johnson said.

In the wake of the Matildas’ worst Olympic performance in 20 years, concerns about the high performance strategy and the preparation for the Games, Football Australia said there would be a review into the tournament and preparation.

Four months on Johnson said the review was not yet finished.

“It’s pretty close to being finalised and implemented but it’s not something extraordinary or specific,” Johnson said.

“We review every window and every competition, that’s what we’ve been doing for the last few years. So the Olympic review, whether we were first or last in that competition, was always going to happen.

“We do it systematically now so that we can continue to make improvements within the camp and also within our national team programs.

“That’s why we’ve got leading programs right now because they’re continuing to grow whether we do well on the pitch or not.”

Matildas will next gather in the USA in February for the She Believes Cup.

Johnson said plans for the April window would be announced shortly and hinted the Matildas would definitely be back in Australia to help build excitement in the lead up to the Asian Cup – just as they did prior to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Originally published as FFA confirm Matildas next head coach is all but locked in – with announcement in the new year