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Executive committee

In 1939, the Gladesville-Ryde club appointed the first Professional Soccer Coach in Australia, Bobby Walker, who had played professionally in Scotland for Motherwell FC and Falkirk FC …          Eric Worthington, National Director of Coaching Report in the 1984 Annual report … states “… need for the formation of an Association of (professional) coaches …..”. Historically, Football Coaches Australia was formed on the day that the Australian male international “A” representative team qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2018, having been coached to the World Cup by an Australian national football coach, Ange Postecoglou. Ongoing discussions with a cross-section of professional Australian coaches over the October-December 2017 period resulted in a resounding endorsement of the formation of an association. FCA will provide coaches with industry recognition as a significant stakeholder in Australian football, a platform for a “collective coaches’ voice” and professional support – particularly in legal advocacy, high performance, leadership, development and well-being. After many months of careful planning and working with our prospective members across Australia, and with our coaches working abroad, FCA unveiled the Interim Executive Committee. The interim committee was elected during the organisation’s inaugural meeting, held on November 15 at Macquarie University in Sydney. They represent the many coaching cohorts in Australian football, including A-League, W-League, National Teams, Youth Development, Academy Development, NPL Clubs, Overseas-based coaches, Education and High Performance. FCA aims to work closely with the key football stakeholders –

  • Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA),
  • Football Federation Australia (FFA),
  • Asian Football Confederation (AFC),
  • Professional Footballers Australia (PFA),
  • Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (APFCA),
  • Association of Australian Football Clubs (AAFC),
  • international coaching associations,

– to deliver best practice services to professional Australian coaches.           FCA will also work closely with Member Federations and aspiring state-based coaching associations to align and support the development and wellbeing needs of all Australian community coach members. FCA membership will consist of Australian coaches holding validated FFA Advanced Coaching Licence Accreditation (Pro Diploma, A-Licence, B-Licence & C Licence coaches) or equivalent AFC and UEFA accreditation, and international coaches residing in Australia whose qualifications have been certified by the FFA as equivalent to the FFA accreditations. As part of the process to establish a Working Group to review membership of the FFA Congress, a Football Coaches Australia delegation met with representatives of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation in Sydney in February, 2018.

  • Also present at the meeting were representatives of Football Federation Australia.
  • FIFA and AFC are presently assessing which stakeholders will be involved in the make-up of the Working Group.
  • FCA is seeking representation, not only on behalf of coaches, but as an active voice which advocates for higher standards across the entire sport.
  • FCA was represented at the meeting by interim directors, Glenn Warry and James Kitching, alongside FCA Interim Executive Committee members Spencer Prior, Warren Grieve and Kelly Cross. Other FCA ExCo members joined the meeting via teleconference.
  • The FCA delegation warmly welcomed both the FIFA and AFC representatives to Australia and was pleased by the highly productive exchange of ideas.

“FCA presented our strategic plan to FIFA and the AFC and put forward our key priorities with regards to delivering better outcomes for coaches,” Warry said, “all FCA and member federation coaching delegates present expressed the same view: that coaches have had no historical voice in the management of the game, which is unacceptable given the fundamental importance of what coaches do.” The interim FCA Executive Committee have developed FCA’s strategic plan, leading up to the inaugural Annual General Meeting and first elections. FCA looks forward to working closely with worldwide football organisations to enhance the ongoing profile of the great game of football.