Serial winner Joe Montemurro confirmed as new coach of Australia’s Matildas

Joe Montemurro was appointed coach of the Australian women’s national football team on June 2. PHOTO: REUTERS

UPDATED Jun 02, 2025, 06:58 PM

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SYDNEY – Joe Montemurro was confirmed as the Australian women’s football team’s new coach on June 2 and handed the task of leading the Matildas to the Women’s Asian Cup title on home soil in 2026.

The 55-year-old Australian moves from Lyon Women to replace Tom Sermanni, who has held the role on a caretaker basis since Tony Gustavsson departed in the wake of the disappointing Olympic campaign at Paris 2024.

The Matildas have established themselves as one of Australia’s most popular sports teams but despite runs to the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 and the Women’s World Cup on home soil two years later, silverware has been sparse.

Serial winner Montemurro, who said the appointment was the “honour of a lifetime”, will be expected to change all that.

“To be given the opportunity to lead one of the best brands in the world, one of the most exciting teams in the world, and to do it at home, it’s something quite emotional,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“It’s all set up for me to take over and bring it to the next level. Is the Asian Cup winnable? Of course it is... I want to win, I want to win playing a great brand of football.”

After a modest playing career, Montemurro started his coaching career at state level in Victoria before taking over Melbourne Victory’s women’s side in 2014.

He quickly established a reputation for playing attractive football and moved across his home town the following season to join Melbourne City, where his team won two W-League titles.

In November 2017, he moved to England to take over as Arsenal manager and within six months had steered the club to victory in the FA Women’s League Cup.

The Women’s Super League title was to follow in 2019 before a switch to Juventus women, where he won the Serie A and Coppa Italia double in 2021 during a successful three-year spell.

He was hired by Lyon Women to replace Women's Champions League-winning coach Sonia Bompastor following her departure for Chelsea in June 2014.

Montemurro has long been Football Australia’s prime candidate for the post and he was freed to take up the job when Lyon released him from his contract on June 1.

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With a squad featuring Arsenal’s Women’s Champions League-winning trio Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Caitlin Foord along with Chelsea striker Sam Kerr, expectations on him to deliver long-overdue success will be high.

“We are at an exciting moment for the Matildas with the Women’s Asian Cup nine months away,” said Football Australia interim chief executive Heather Garriock.

“We expect this team to be focused, driven and ready to show the world what we believe they’re capable of.”

Meanwhile, Australia men’s coach Tony Popovic is eyeing victory over Japan on June 5 to not only boost his side’s World Cup qualification hopes but also further improve the Socceroos’ prospects of becoming the strongest team in the Asian confederation.

The Australians face Hajime Moriyasu’s much-changed squad in Perth knowing a win would put them on the verge of securing a ticket for the 2026 Finals in North America as Group C runners-up behind the already-qualified Japanese. “A win is something that we’re pushing towards,” said Popovic, who led his team to a 1-1 draw when the sides last met in October.

“We feel confident we can show an improved performance from what we did in Japan, albeit that was a very good one.

“We’ll have to be at our best to beat the best team in Asia. That’s where we want to get to.” REUTERS

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