Football Australia is set to end 10 months of uncertainty by appointing widely respected Melbourne-born women’s football specialist Joe Montemurro to lead the Matildas towards next year’s home Asian Cup.
FA has called a press conference for Monday morning when interim chief executive Heather Garriock is expected to be joined by Montemurro.
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The 55-year-old Montemurro has won trophies with Arsenal, Juventus and Lyon in a distinguished career in Europe, having broken through in the professional coaching ranks with stints at Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City in the W-League more than a decade ago.
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Montemurro was the best-credentialed Australian candidate for the role vacated by Swede Tony Gustavasson last year, and FA finally secured him after Lyon won the league title in his first season with the French powerhouse.
Montemurro had signed at Lyon for two years at the start of last season, and his early exit needed to be negotiated for him to take control of the Matildas.
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His Lyon side – featuring Matildas fullback Ellie Carpenter – won the league without losing a match, but his impressive campaign was tarnished by a semi-final loss in the Champions League to his former club Arsenal, including Australian Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross.
The French club were leading 2-1 from the first leg in London, but lost 4-1 at home in a result described by Montemurro as “a little bit unexplainable”.
The Australian coach worked with Catley and Foord during in his time at Arsenal.
The appointment of Montemurro ends almost a year of uncertainty following the departure of Gustavsson, whose final game in charge of the Matildas was a 2-1 defeat to the USA at the Paris Olympics that ended Australia’s disappointing campaign.
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The Swede’s contract expired and both parties agreed to end the relationship. Under Gustavsson, Australia reached the semi-finals at the 2023 home World Cup in a tournament that energised women’s football in Australia and made the Matildas one of the country’s most-loved sporting teams.
But a downturn in form at the end of Gustavsson’s tenure has not been reversed, and mixed results under interim coach Tom Sermanni have left the Matildas ranked 16th in the world, their equal lowest.
The Asian Cup gets underway in March 2026, leaving Montemurro with only a short period to affect the side.
Injured captain Sam Kerr is yet to return for Chelsea, almost 18 months since she suffered an ACL injury, and playmaker Mary Fowler is in doubt for the Asian Cup with her own knee injury.
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