Veteran Swedish coach Tony Gustavsson has been named the new coach of the Australian women’s soccer team, Matildas.
Highlights:
- Tony Gustavsson to succeed Anti Milikik as Matildas coach, with contract to take him to 2024
- Gustavsson, a former assistant to the US women’s national team, is currently playing for the Swedish men’s team Hammersby IF. He will officially start his contract on January 1, 2021
- Announcing the move, the FFA Says Gustavsson will work closely with elite Australian coaches and emerging players over the next four years
Gustavsson, 47, has a two-decade-long career in coaching, including two stints with her native Sweden team and the United States women’s national team, which has led US coach Jill Ellis to two women’s World Cup victories. Assisted.
He replaces Anti Milic, who left Matildas earlier this year to coach new A-League club McCarthy FC.
Gustavsson’s four-year contract means he will coach Matildas for the next two Olympic Games campaigns, the 2022 Asian Cup in India and the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia.
Australia lost to Norway 1-0 in the final of the 2018 Asian Cup in Jordan and lost to Norway on penalties in the 16th round of the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
F.F.A. “Gustavsson’s perspective on world football, experience in major tournaments and a strong history of national and international success will be invaluable to the team,” said James Johnson, chief executive of the ICC.
“We believe that the combination of Tony’s personality and his experience makes him the right person to help us do that,” Johnson said in a statement.
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“Importantly, Tony worked with leading Australian coaches, including Mel Andretta, Roy Dover, and Leah Blaine, to hone their skills and help bring the next generation of women players to the forefront of the broader Australian football perspective. Has also demonstrated a strong desire to positively influence. “The path of development for the critical four-year period of the future.”
Gustavsson Sweden’s men’s top-tier league club, Hammersby IF. In charge of the first team by the end of 2020.
Under the Covid-19 restrictions, he will oversee the proposed Matildas camp in Europe this November, before starting his formal contract with Matildas on January 1 next year.
Gustavsson said he was “very proud and happy” to have been offered a job as Australia’s national team coach.
“I think my 21 years of coaching have prepared me for this position,” he said.
“I’ve been demanding success in the pressure cooker many times and in the environment. These experiences will be rewarding because we do it together with the fans, the participants, the players and the staff,” he said.
