Sydney FC confirms retention of coach Ufuk Talay despite ‘disappointing’ season

With Sydney FC’s “long-term strategy” on track, Sky Blues officials have made a decision about retaining the services of coach Ufuk Talay.

Sydney FC has kept faith in Ufuk Talay, who will remain coach of the Sky Blues for at least another season.

The star-studded Sky Blues’ failure to qualify for this season’s A-League finals series clouded Talay’s future despite him telling News Corp Australia last month that he had agreed to terms on a new two-year deal.

However, the contract was not signed, and having failed to meet expectations in Sydney’s 2024-25 campaign, Talay’s new contract is now only guaranteed until the end of next season, with an option in the Sky Blues’ favour to keep him at the club for the season after.

Apart from missing out on the A-League playoffs, the Sky Blues also missed out on millions of dollars by failing to reach the AFC Champions League Two final after falling short in their two-legged semi-final against Singapore club Lion City Sailors.

Sydney FC officials have kept faith in coach Ufuk Talay. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“Following a disappointing season it is very easy to simply deflect everything on to the head coach, but this is just one piece of our holistic football strategy to which we will make appropriate changes, and post our men’s football review, the Sydney FC board believe Ufuk remains the coach who has the ability to fulfil that strategy,” the club’s chief executive Mark Aubrey said.

“Last season was disappointing by our high standards, but this is a long-term strategy and we are making inroads.

“We pride ourselves on having a proactive, attacking, dynamic, football philosophy that all our coaches adhere to while integrating our youth pathways.

“In Ufuk we have a coach who has shown his ability to implement an attacking brand of football while bringing through young talent like Adrian Segecic, Hayden Matthews, Jake Girdwood-Reich and Wataru Kamijo.

“Youth development and professional pathways have always been important to Sydney FC, but with recent changes to the A-League, they are becoming more important than ever.

“However, winning trophies is a must for Sydney FC. That remains our ultimate goal, and we must get back to that.

“There are valuable learnings and improvements to make, but we remain determined that we are on the right path.”

Sydney FC chief executive Mark Aubrey was ‘disappointed’ with the Sky Blues’ 2024-25 season. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Talay is confident a “redefined squad” can deliver the Sky Blues success next season.

“We came close to making history in Asia and achieving something special last season and while it ultimately was disappointing, we were not too far away,” Talay said.

“I think there were still plenty of positives to build on, particularly our ability to score goals and entertain as well as the emergence of our younger players.

“We do need to take learnings from last season and will work better to balance our recruitment with our younger players.”

Off-contract Socceroos midfielder Anthony Caceres’ Sydney future remains clouded, while attacking weapons Segecic and Jaiden Kucharski are to set depart the club along with midfielder Max Burgess.

The Sky Blues, who have already announced the departure of former Socceroos goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, are hopeful of retaining experienced defender Alex Grant.

Originally published as Sydney FC confirms retention of coach Ufuk Talay despite ‘disappointing’ season