By Brittany Busch and Roy Ward
Interim Matildas coach Tom Sermanni has slammed the A-Leagues’ level of investment in women’s soccer and warned more resources were needed to keep developing Australia’s beloved national team well into the future.
As the Matildas prepare for a crowd exceeding 40,000 fans for a friendly against Argentina at Marvel Stadium on Friday, Sermanni said the A-League Women’s competition was not competing internationally in terms of funding, resources and salaries. He said only three A-League clubs – Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix – had enough staff for their needs.
Tom Sermanni is the interim head coach of the Matildas.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“The rest of the clubs are completely inadequately staffed,” he said. “The league, itself, is in need of significant improvement in its professionalism.”
Sermanni’s call comes after clubs faced significant budget cuts in recent years, forcing costs to be slashed.
Sermanni, who previously coached the Matildas from 1994 to 1997 and 2005 to 2012, said clubs had less full-time coaches and staff now than when the league began 17 years ago, which hurt the development of players for the national program.
Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Kyra Cooney-Cross arrived back in Melbourne on Wednesday night.Credit: Getty Images
“We are still grossly underinvested in the women’s game here,” he said. “It’s even more irritating when you think we had the most successful World Cup ever two years ago, and A-League Women are in the situation that they’re in now – it’s just not good enough.”
Sermanni will coach the Matildas for the 150th time on Friday and remain the interim coach while Football Australia finalises the appointment of a new boss.
The Matildas’ longest-serving coach compared the state of the domestic league to Canada’s new Northern Super League, where the base salary for women’s soccer players was double that of Australia’s, despite not commanding the same level of talent.
“We are still trying to produce players when we have a space of three months where the club has got no contact, no control, [and] no reference point for the players to actually keep them and know what’s happening,” Sermanni said, pointing to the 25-week-long contracts the league offered. “So we really need to have, at a league level, a real rethink.”
Defender Charli Grant compared her experience playing in the A-League to her time with English Super League club Tottenham Hotspur, and said the difference in resources was “mind-blowing”.
“You want Australia to be better and push for those facilities, [and] those resources, because having them there every day at Tottenham, it helps you become a better player, having so many different people that you can go to for different areas of the game,” Grant said.
“And you can only imagine what that would do for Australia if they were given the same resources.”
The A-League Women’s competition is made up of 12 teams, including a standalone Canberra side. Expansion club Auckland FC are committed to fielding a women’s team in 2025-2026, and their men’s side debuted this season.
The A-Leagues declined to comment on Sermanni’s call to action, but noted that the Asian Football Confederation ranked Australia at the top of its women’s club competition rankings for this season.
Arsenal’s Australian contingent of Cooney-Cross, Foord and Catley celebrating their Champions League final win.Credit: AP
That ranking was fuelled by Melbourne City’s run to the AFC women’s Champions League final, where they lost to China’s Wuhan FC on penalties.
Australia’s clubs accrued 97.662 points to finish ahead of Korea’s on 75.852, and Japan’s on 74.800.
The Matildas have called up 22 players from nine clubs within the local league this season.
Sermanni said on Thursday Arsenal trio Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross were unlikely to start Friday’s friendly after only landing in Melbourne on Wednesday night, following their UEFA women’s Champions League triumph on the weekend.
Mary Fowler and Sam Kerr are out with ACL injuries – though Sermanni said the captain was getting much closer to returning to the side – and vice captain Ellie Carpenter and midfielder Katrina Gorry were also granted personal leave.
Sermanni said the thin list opened up opportunities for other players.
“It gives them a chance to actually get quality game time and to see how they step up to international level,” he said. “It’s like anything – an unfortunate injury to one player is an opportunity for another one.”
Australia will take on Argentina at Marvel Stadium on Friday night. Kick-off is at 8pm AEST.
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