Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou

Postecoglou in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Angelos Postecoglou
Date of birth	(1965-08-27) 27 August 1965
Place of birth	Athens, Greece
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current team	Australia (head coach)
Youth career
1978–1983	South Melbourne
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1984–1993	South Melbourne	193	(19)
1994	Western Suburbs[1]
National team
1985	Australia U-20	13	(1)
1986	Australia	4	(0)
Teams managed
1996–2000	South Melbourne
2000–2007	Australia U-20
2008	Panachaiki
2009–2012	Brisbane Roar
2012–2013	Melbourne Victory
2013–	Australia
Honours  Australia Winner AFC Asian Cup 2015
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou (Greek: Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου) is a Greek-born Australian former football (soccer) player and the head coach of the Australian national association football team. He is the most successful Australian club coach with two premierships, four championships and a continental title.

Early life

Postecoglou was born in Athens, Greece and emigrated to Australia from his native country at the age of five, growing up in Melbourne, Victoria.^[2][3] In his early years he grew up playing Australian rules football^[4] and is a lifelong supporter of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League.^[5]

Playing career

Postecoglou played 193 games from 1984 to 1993 for South Melbourne in the National Soccer League, where he was involved in their 1984 and 1990–91 titles, the latter as captain, before moving into coaching.

International career

In his international playing career, Postecoglou represented Australia on four occasions between 1986 to 1988 as well as representing Australia at youth level in 1985.^[6]

Coaching career

South Melbourne

Postecoglou coached South Melbourne from 1996^[7] until 2000. He led them to consecutive National Soccer League titles in 1997–98 and 1998–99, as well as winning the 1999 Oceania Club Championship, which in turn led to their participation in the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship.^[8] After the 1999–2000 NSL season, he stood down from the South Melbourne coaching role when he was appointed coach of the Australian youth team. He is the only person to have been involved in all four of South Melbourne's NSL title-winning teams, the first two as a player and the latter two as coach.

Young Socceroos

Following his domestic coaching success, Postecoglou became coach of Australia's youth sides in 2000. During his tenure, he played a role in identifying and developing Australian players.^[9][10] Postecoglou was involved in an on-air argument with football pundit Craig Foster on The World Game.^[11][12] He was replaced as coach in February 2007 after the Australia failed to qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. After his departure as coach of the Australian youth teams,^[13] Postecoglou worked as a football pundit for Fox Sports and as an elite consultant to Football Federation Victoria.

Panachaiki

Postecoglou coached the third division Greek club, Panachaiki Patras, from March 2008 to December 2008.^[14]

Brisbane Roar

On 16 October 2009, Postecoglou was signed as the new Brisbane Roar coach, replacing Frank Farina.^[15] Postecoglou started rebuilding the team by getting rid of Liam Reddy, Craig Moore, Bob Malcolm and Charlie Miller. Tommy Oar, Michael Zullo and Adam Sarota were bought by Dutch club FC Utrecht and striker Sergio van Dijk went to Adelaide United.^[16] Postecoglou, who asked to be judged a year from the time he took over, proved the critics wrong by winning and playing an entertaining brand of football.^{[17][18][19][20]} The Roar's possession based style of play under Postecoglou earned them the nickname "Roarcelona".^[21]

The 4–0 win against Adelaide United in round 13 was highly praised in the media as some of the best football the A-League has ever seen.^[22][23] Postecoglou led the Roar to the Premiership and Championship in the 2010–11 season, winning the Grand Final 4–2 on penalties against the Central Coast Mariners in front of 52,168 people at Lang Park. The Roar only lost one game all season and went on a 36-game unbeaten run, which broke the previous Australian football record.^[24] On 18 March 2011, he signed a two-year extension with the club keeping him until the 2013–14 season.^[25][26]

Postecoglou's side continued their winning streak in the 2011–12 season and now hold the all-time Australian football code record for longest undefeated sporting streak of 36 games, surpassing rugby league side Eastern Suburbs' record set 74 years ago.^[27] Postecoglou is managed by sports management company Football Focus International. In the 2011–12 season, Brisbane Roar became the first team to win back-to-back A-League championships and Postecoglou became the most successful Australian domestic football (soccer) coach, with four national titles.^[28]

On 24 April 2012, Postecoglou announced his resignation as head coach of Brisbane Roar. Postecoglou left the Roar after two-and-a-half years, during which he led the club to back-to-back A-League championships, a premiership and consecutive qualification for the AFC Champions League.^[29]

Melbourne Victory

On 26 April 2012, it was announced that he had signed a three-year contract with A-League club Melbourne Victory as head coach.^[30] Postecoglou started rebuilding the team by releasing Matthew Kemp, Grant Brebner, Rodrigo Vargas, Tom Pondeljak, Ante Čović, Carlos Hernández, Harry Kewell and Fabio Alves, with Jean Carlos Solórzano and Ubay Luzardo returned to their respective clubs after their loan deals had expired. Postecoglou rounded up his squad by signing Jonathan Bru, Guilherme Finkler, Adama Traoré, Marcos Flores, Mark Milligan, Theo Markelis, Sam Gallagher and Spase Dilevski.

Postecoglou's first game in charge of Melbourne Victory was the Round 1 clash against crosstown rivals Melbourne Heart, an encounter which the Victory lost 2–1. His first win came against Adelaide United in Round 4, with the Victory prevailing 2–1. The following year, Melbourne Victory made the A-League Preliminary Final after beating Perth Glory in an Elimination Final 2–1 at Docklands Stadium. Melbourne Victory then played in the Preliminary Final against Central Coast Mariners and lost 2–0.

Australian national team

Postecoglou was appointed head coach of Australia on 23 October 2013 on a five year contract, replacing German Holger Osieck, who was sacked after successive 6–0 defeats to Brazil and France.^[31][32] Postecoglou was tasked with regenerating the Australian national team, which was deemed to have been too reliant on members of their Golden Generation of 2006, subsequently leading to a stagnation of results, culminating in successive 6–0 defeats to Brazil and France.^{[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]} In his first game as Australia's manager, a home friendly match against Costa Rica, Australia won 1–0, courtesy of a goal from Tim Cahill.^[44]

2014 FIFA World Cup

For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Australia were drawn in Group B alongside reigning Cup holders Spain, 2010 runners-up Netherlands and Chile.^[45] Their first match was off to a lacklustre start, having conceded only a goal from Tim Cahill before losing to South America's Chile 3–1. Their second match against the Netherlands was a close one, but their efforts ended in a 3–2 loss, thus earning their early exit along with the Spanish team. Australian fans praised the team for their outstanding efforts in a tough group. In the end, Australia finished Group B with a third defeat to former world champions Spain 3–0. Australia's competitive World Cup performances in a difficult group lead to belief that a new Golden Generation was about to begin.^[46][47]

2015 AFC Asian Cup

Postecoglou coached Australia in 2015 AFC Asian Cup. Australia beat Kuwait 4–1 and Oman 4–0, but lost to South Korea 0–1 in the qualifying rounds, before beating China (2–0) in quarter-final and United Arab Emirates (2–0) in the semi-final. Australia then beat South Korea 2–1 in extra time to win in the final to win its first AFC Asian Cup.

Australia results

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Goalscorers	Competition
2013
1	November 19, 2013	Sydney, Australia	Costa Rica	1–0	Tim Cahill	Friendly
2014
2	March 5, 2014	London, England	Ecuador	3–4	Tim Cahill (2) & Mile Jedinak	Friendly
3	May 26, 2014	Sydney, Australia	South Africa	1–1	Tim Cahill	Friendly
4	June 6, 2014	Salvador, Brazil	Croatia	0–1		Friendly
5	June 13, 2014	Cuiabá, Brazil	Chile	1–3	Tim Cahill	2014 FIFA World Cup
6	June 18, 2014	Porto Alegre, Brazil	Netherlands	2–3	Tim Cahill & Mile Jedinak	2014 FIFA World Cup
7	June 23, 2014	Curitiba, Brazil	Spain	0–3		2014 FIFA World Cup
8	September 4, 2014	Liège, Belgium	Belgium	0–2		Friendly
9	September 8, 2014	London, England	Saudi Arabia	3–2	Tim Cahill, Mile Jedinak & Bailey Wright	Friendly
10	October 10, 2014	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	0–0		Friendly
11	October 14, 2014	Doha, Qatar	Qatar	0–1		Friendly
12	November 18, 2014	Osaka, Japan	Japan	1–2	Tim Cahill	Friendly
2015
13	January 9, 2015	Melbourne, Australia	Kuwait	4–1	Tim Cahill, Massimo Luongo, Mile Jedinak & James Troisi	2015 AFC Asian Cup
14	January 13, 2015	Sydney, Australia	Oman	4–0	Matt McKay, Robbie Kruse, Mark Milligan & Tomi Juric	2015 AFC Asian Cup
15	January 17, 2015	Brisbane, Australia	South Korea	0–1		2015 AFC Asian Cup
16	January 22, 2015	Brisbane, Australia	China PR	2–0	Tim Cahill (2)	2015 AFC Asian Cup
17	January 27, 2015	Newcastle, Australia	United Arab Emirates	2–0	Trent Sainsbury & Jason Davidson	2015 AFC Asian Cup
18	January 31, 2015	Sydney, Australia	South Korea	2–1	Massimo Luongo & James Troisi	2015 AFC Asian Cup Final
19	March 25, 2015	Kaiserslautern, Germany	Germany	2–2	James Troisi & Mile Jedinak	Friendly
20	March 31, 2015	Sydney, Macedonia	Macedonia	0–0		Friendly

Honours

As a Player

South Melbourne

• NSL Premiership: 3

1984, 1985, 1992–93

• NSL Championship: 2

1984, 1990–91

As a Manager

South Melbourne

• NSL Premiership: 1

1997–98

• NSL Championship: 2

1997–98, 1998–99

• Oceania Club Championship

1999

Brisbane Roar

• A-League Premiership: 1

2010–11

• A-League Championship: 2

2010–11, 2011–12

Australia

• AFC Asian Cup: 1

2015

Managerial statistics

As of 30 March 2015

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
South Melbourne FC		1996	2000	7002127000000000000♠127	7001680000000000000♠68	7001270000000000000♠27	7001320000000000000♠32	7001535400000000000♠53.54
Australia U-20		2000	2007
Panachaiki		March 2008	December 2008
Brisbane Roar		16 October 2009	24 April 2012	7001800000000000000♠80	7001420000000000000♠42	7001220000000000000♠22	7001160000000000000♠16	7001525000000000000♠52.50
Melbourne Victory		26 April 2012	25 October 2013	7001320000000000000♠32	7001150000000000000♠15	7000700000000000000♠7	7001100000000000000♠10	7001468800000000000♠46.88
Australia		23 October 2013	Present	7001200000000000000♠20	7000700000000000000♠7	7000400000000000000♠4	7000900000000000000♠9	7001350000000000000♠35.00
Total				7002259000000000000♠259	7002132000000000000♠132	7001600000000000000♠60	7001670000000000000♠67	7001509700000000000♠50.97

References

External links

• Melbourne Victory profile
• Oz Football profile
• FIFA Profile

Awards
Preceded by Branko Čulina	NSL Coach of the Year 1997–98	Succeeded by David Mitchell
Preceded by Ernie Merrick	Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year 2010–11	Succeeded by Graham Arnold
Preceded by Alberto Zaccheroni	AFC Asian Cup Winning Manager 2015	Succeeded by Incumbent

A-League Coach of the Year 2006: McKinna 2007: Merrick 2008: van Egmond 2009: Vidmar 2010: Merrick 2011: Postecoglou 2012: Arnold 2013: Popovic 2014: Mulvey

Ange Postecoglou international tournaments Australia squad – 2014 FIFA World Cup 1 Ryan 2 Franjic 3 Davidson 4 Cahill 5 Milligan 6 Spiranovic 7 Leckie 8 Wright 9 Taggart 10 Halloran 11 Oar 12 Langerak 13 Bozanic 14 Troisi 15 Jedinak (c) 16 Holland 17 McKay 18 Galekovic 19 McGowan 20 Vidošić 21 Luongo 22 Wilkinson 23 Bresciano Coach: Postecoglou Australia squad – 2015 AFC Asian Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Ryan 2 Franjic 3 Davidson 4 Cahill 5 Milligan 6 Spiranovic 7 Leckie 8 Herd 9 Juric 10 Kruse 11 Oar 12 Langerak 13 Behich 14 Troisi 15 Jedinak (c) 16 Burns 17 McKay 18 Galekovic 19 Antonis 20 Sainsbury 21 Luongo 22 Wilkinson 23 Bresciano Coach: Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou – Managerial positions Brisbane Roar FC – Head coaches Bleiberg (2005–06) Farina (2006–09) Vidošić (2009) Postecoglou (2009–12) Vidošić (2012) Mulvey (a.i.) (2012–2013) Mulvey (2013–14) Thijssen (a.i.) (2014–) Melbourne Victory FC – Head coaches Merrick (2005–11) Durakovic (2011–12) Magilton (a.i.) (2012) Postecoglou (2012–13) Muscat (2013–) Australia national soccer team – Head coaches Gillespie (1947) Langridge (1947) Jack (1950) Brophy (1954–55) Marston (1958) Jelisavcic (1965) Vengloš (1965–67) Vlatsis (1967–69) Rašić (1970–74) Worthington (a.i.) (1975) Boggi (a.i.) (1975) Green (1975–76) Shoulder (1976–78) Gutendorf (1979–81) Scheinflug (1981–83) Arok (1983–90) Scheinflug (a.i.) (1983) Scheinflug (a.i.) (1990) Thomson (1990–96) Scheinflug (a.i.) (1992) Fernandez (a.i.) (1992) Scheinflug (a.i.) (1994) Blanco (a.i.) (1996) Venables (1997–98) Blanco (1998–99) Farina (1999–2005) Hiddink (2005–06) Arnold (2006–07) Baan (a.i.) (2007) Verbeek (2007–10) Berger (a.i.) (2010) Osieck (2010–13) Vidmar (a.i.) (2013) Postecoglou (2013–)