Sermanni To Again Coach Qantas Matildas

Internationally acclaimed coach Tom Sermanni will return to Australia to again coach the national women’s soccer team and run the Australian Institute of Sport women’s soccer program.

Internationally acclaimed coach Tom Sermanni will return to Australia to again coach the national women-s soccer team and run the Australian Institute of Sport women-s soccer program.    In a joint announcement the AIS and the Australian Soccer Association (ASA) said Mr Sermanni was the right person to take the national women-s team forward.   A native of Scotland, Sermanni played in the Scottish and English leagues before moving to Australia in 1983 to play for Marconi.   Between 1984-1991 he was a player and then player/coach with the Canberra Cosmos before being appointed Australian women-s coach (1994-97).   In recent years he has coached with the San Jose CyberRays and the New York Power in the United States Women-s Professional Soccer League and then served as director of soccer development in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.   During his time in the US he was named as one of the top three coaches in the WUSA and worked with internationals from Brazil, China, Norway and Canada as well as high profile US and Australian players.   Sermanni says his leadership style tends to focus on building a common sense of purpose and a culture of excellence.   Welcoming Mr Sermanni-s return to Australia, AIS Director Michael Scott said that since his earlier years at the AIS and as National Coach, he had added considerable international experience to his already impressive coaching skills.   ‘In particular, Tom-s experience in the high pressure women-s league in the United States will be particularly valuable as the Matildas seek to build on their performance at the Athens Olympics where they qualified for the quarter finals for the first time,- Mr Scott said.   ASA Head of High Performance, John Boultbee said the Qantas Matildas had made significant progress under outgoing coach Adrian Santrac over the last three years.   ‘There is now a need to step up and be medal contenders,- Mr Boultbee said.   ‘We believe that the programs we have in place with the AIS and State Institutes, plus the appointment of Tom Sermanni, will achieve this,- he said.   Both Mr Boultbee and Mr Scott paid tribute to the excellent work of Adrian Santrac noting that he would always be able to claim “a significant role” in the development of the women-s national soccer team.