Alen Stajcic

Alen Stajčić (born 2 November 1973) is the current manager for A-League club Central Coast Mariners. While as a footballer he was a NSW Premier League player and Australian Youth Representative.

Alen Stajčić
Stajčić with the Matildas in 2017
Personal information
Full name Alen Stajčić
Date of birth (1973-11-02) 2 November 1973
Place of birth Australia[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Central Coast Mariners (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994 Mount Druitt Town 6 (0)
1994–1997 Bonnyrigg White Eagles 35 (2)
1998 Bankstown City Lions 13 (2)
2000 Western Sydney Passion
2000–2002 Sutherland Sharks 38 (2)
Teams managed
2002–2004 New South Wales Sapphires
2008–2014 Sydney FC Women
2014–2019 Australia Women
2019 Central Coast Mariners (caretaker)
2019– Central Coast Mariners
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 August 2007

Since turning his hand to coaching he had become the head coach of NSWIS for Women's Soccer, Head Coach of The Hills Sports High School Football Program, Head Coach of the Australian Under 20 Women's National Team.[2] He was appointed coach for Sydney FC in the first season of the Australian W-League.[3] From 2014 to 2019, he was the head coach of the Matildas.

Playing career

A former NSW Premier League player and Captain with Bonnyrigg, Bankstown and Sutherland, Alen represented NSW at the youth level and played for several clubs within the National Youth League and Winter Super League.

Coaching career

Alen Stajcic had been the head coach of the NSWIS Women's Football Program from 2002–2013. Widely considered as the one of the best football nurseries in Australia, the program produced over 30 senior Internationals in that 10-year period. He was also the head coach of the Women's National Soccer League side, the NSW Sapphires, which he guided to a premiership in the 2003/04 season. He started as head coach of HSHS in the foundation year (2003) and has gone on to win many titles and good performances.

In 2006, he was the assistant coach for the Young Matilda's while they were competing at the FIFA U/20's Women's Championships in Russia. Unfortunately they bowed out in the group stage, missing the next round by 1 point to Brazil and Russia. As of 05/03/07 Stajcic became the Young Matildas Coach.

In 2008, Stajcic became the inaugural Sydney FC Women's head coach, until 2014. They qualified for the semi finals in all 6 seasons, winning 2 grand finals and 2 premierships along the way. In 2013, Sydney FC beat Japanese powerhouse NTV Beleza and Sth American Champions Colo Colo to claim 3rd place the IWCC in Japan.

Matildas

As of September 2014, Stajcic was appointed full-time head coach of the Australian Women's National Football team, the Matildas. In the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada, they became the 1st Senior Australian Football Team to win a knockout match in a World Cup when they defeated Brazil 1–0 in the Round of 16 before losing 1–0 to Japan in the quarter finals. Earlier in 2014, Stajcic had led the Matildas in an Interim capacity, to a Silver Medal at the Asian Championships.

Currently, Stajcic stands as the only Australian-born head coach to win a match at a FIFA World Cup.

In March 2016, the Matildas qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in 12 years. Along the way eliminating World Cup finalists Japan. The Matildas topped the Asian Qualifying group and were undefeated in the tournament. The Matildas subsequently attained their highest-ever FIFA Ranking of 5. At the 2016 Rio Olympics Australia were grouped with Canada, Germany and Zimbabwe. Australia progressed through to the Quarter Finals, where they were beaten 7–6 on penalties by Hosts Brazil after a 0–0 draw.

Despite qualifying for the 2019 Women's World Cup, Stajcic was sacked from his position by Football Federation Australia for reasons that were not made clear by the FFA at the time of the sacking, with FFA board member Heather Reid making cryptic remarks about how people "would be shocked" if they knew the reasons. Stajcic took legal action against the FFA for the sacking and the veil of secrecy behind it, and in May 2019 this legal action lead to a settlement with a significant cash settlement accounting for the loss of potential World Cup bonuses & reputation damage. Heather Reid said in a statement following the settlement, "I apologise unreservedly for the damage, distress and hurt that I have caused to Alen Stajcic as a professional football coach. [4]

Central Coast Mariners

Following the sacking of Mike Mulvey from Central Coast Mariners, on 12 March 2019 Stajcic was appointed as the caretaker manager for the club.[5] On 2 May 2019, Stajcic was appointed head coach on a 3-year contract until the end of the 2021–22 A-League season.[6][7]

Managerial statistics
As of 6 February 2021[8]
Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Australia women September 2014 January 2019 64 37 11 16 057.81
Central Coast Mariners March 2019 Present 42 14 3 25 033.33
Total 106 51 14 41 048.11

Honours

As a player
  • Australian Schoolboy International: 1992

As a coach
Matildas
  • Finalists Asian Cup: 2014, 2018
  • Quarter Finalist World Cup: 2015
  • Quarter Finalist Olympics: 2016
  • Record high FIFA World Ranking of 4: 2017
Sydney FC Women's Team
  • Semi Finalists: 2008, 2011–12, 2013–14
  • Premiers: 2009, 2010–11
  • Champions: 2009, 2012–13
  • Finalists: 2010–11
  • 3rd Place International Women's Club Championship: 2013
Young Matilda's (As Assistant Coach)
  • Qualified for World U-20's Women Championships: 2006
    • Knocked out in Group Stage

NSW Sapphires

  • Winner of Nation Women's Soccer League: 2003–04
  • Finalists of Nation Women's Soccer League: 2002–03

References
  1. https://us.soccerway.com/coaches/alen-stajcic/322791/
  2. Football Australia Profile
  3. Young Matildas Coach for Sydney – FourFourTwo
  4. "FFA loses face and cash in apology to Stajcic". smh.com.au. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  5. "Mariners confirm appointment of sacked Matildas coach Stajcic". The World Game. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  6. "Alen Stajcic commits to Central Coast Mariners until 2022". Central Coast Mariners. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  7. "Stajcic signs three-year Central Coast Mariners deal". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 May 2019.
  8. "Alen Stajcic". Ultimate A-League. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  9. "Matildas and Kerr Australia's fan favourites at AIS awards". Australian Sports Commission website. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
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