Ange Postecoglou

Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou (/ˈændʒ ˌpɒstəˈkɒɡluː/ ANJ POS-tə-KOG-loo; Greek: Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου) is a Greek-born Australian former football player and the former head coach of the Australia national football team. He is one of the most successful Australian club coaches with two premierships, four championships and a continental title. Currently, he is the manager of Yokohama F. Marinos.

Ange Postecoglou
Postecoglou at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup
Personal information
Full name Angelos Postecoglou
Date of birth (1965-08-27) 27 August 1965
Place of birth Athens, Kingdom of Greece
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Yokohama F. Marinos (manager)
Youth career
1978–1983 South Melbourne
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1993 South Melbourne 193 (19)
1994 Western Suburbs (4)
National team
1985 Australia U20 13 (1)
1986 Australia 4 (0)
Teams managed
1996–2000 South Melbourne
2000–2005 Australia U17
2000–2007 Australia U20
2008 Panachaiki
2009–2012 Brisbane Roar
2012–2013 Melbourne Victory
2013–2017 Australia
2018– Yokohama F. Marinos
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Personal life

Postecoglou was born in the Nea Filadelfia neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. After Postecoglou's father, Dimitris ("Jim"), lost his business following the 1967 Greek military coup, Postecoglou emigrated to Australia by boat in 1970 at the age of five, growing up in Melbourne, Victoria.[1][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] Postecoglou supports Liverpool.[6] Postecoglou is married to Georgia, who worked at South Melbourne as a marketing manager when he served as manager of the club.[7] Postecoglou has three sons, James, Max and Alexi.[8]

Playing career

After first joining the club as a nine year old,[9] Postecoglou rose through the ranks to play 193 games from 1984 to 1993 for South Melbourne in the National Soccer League as a one-club player.

As a player, he was involved in their 1984 and 1990–91 titles, the latter as captain.[10] He was also involved in 2 Dockerty Cup wins for Hellas. A tough defender, his top-flight career was ended prematurely following a knee injury.

International career

In his international playing career, Postecoglou represented Australia on four occasions between 1986 and 1988 as well as representing Australia at youth level in 1985.[11]

Coaching career

South Melbourne

Following his retirement, Postecoglou was South's assistant coach for 3 seasons earning a reputation around the club as a brilliant tactician. Postecoglou would then gain the head position at South Melbourne in 1993 following the firing of Jim Pyrgolios[12] and would stay in this position 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.[13] South would go up against clubs such as Vasco De Gama and Manchester United with his squad earning praise among the football community. Postecoglou's NSL sides were feared amongst the competition for their fast-paced possession style.

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.[14][15] Postecoglou was involved in an on-air argument with football pundit Craig Foster on The World Game.[16][17] He was replaced as coach in February 2007 after Australia failed to qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. After his departure as coach of the Australian youth teams,[18] Postecoglou worked as a football pundit for Fox Sports and as an elite consultant to Football Federation Victoria.

Panachaiki

Postecoglou coached Panachaiki in the Greek third division from March to December 2008. Despite keeping the traditional club well within contention for promotion, and more precisely in the top three for most of the season, a falling out with club management ended his tenure in Patras.[19]

Brisbane Roar

On 16 October 2009, Postecoglou was signed as the new Brisbane Roar coach, replacing Frank Farina.[20] Postecoglou started rebuilding the team by releasing 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.[21] 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.[22][23][24][25] The Roar's possession based style of play under Postecoglou earned them the nickname "Roarcelona".[26]

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.[27][28] 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.[29] On 18 March 2011, he signed a two-year extension with the club keeping him until the 2013–14 season.[30][31]

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.[32] 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.[33]

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.[34]

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.[35] 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.[36][37] 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.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44] 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.[45]

2014 FIFA World Cup
Postecoglou in 2014

For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Australia were drawn in Group B alongside holders Spain, 2010 runners-up Netherlands and Chile.[46] 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 led to belief that a new Golden Generation was about to begin.[47][48]

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 group stage, 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.

Resignation

Two weeks after Australia qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, on 22 November 2017, Postecoglou announced his resignation as Socceroos coach.[49]

Yokohama F. Marinos

On 19 December 2017 Yokohama F. Marinos announced they had appointed Postecoglou as head coach at the Succession of the 2017 Japanese Emperor's Cup.[50][51][52][53] Postecoglou's first domestic game as coach of Yokohama ended with a 1–1 draw against Cerezo Osaka at Yanmar Stadium, Osaka.[54][55]

After an initial difficult start to the season, which saw Yokohama F. Marinos facing potential relegation,[56] Postecoglou guided the club to the final of the J-League Cup, and a 12th place finish in the league.[57] Although the club finished with the second highest number of goals scored in the season, they also conceded the third most goals of any club during the season.

After receiving interest from the Greece national football team to become their new manager,[58][59] Postecoglou extended his contract with Yokohama F. Marinos.[60]

Yokohama's belief in Postecoglou was rewarded during the 2019 season when he guided the club to their first J. League title in 15 years.[61] In doing so, he became the first Australian manager to win a league title in Japan.

Honours
Postecoglou at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup

Player

South Melbourne

Manager

South Melbourne

Brisbane Roar

Australia U17

Australia U20

Australia

Yokohama F. Marinos

Individual

Records With Brisbane Roar

Managerial statistics
As of 19 December 2020.
Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
South Melbourne 1996 2000 127 68 27 32 053.54
Australia U20 2000 2007
Panachaiki March 2008 December 2008
Brisbane Roar 16 October 2009 24 April 2012 84 42 24 18 050.00
Melbourne Victory 26 April 2012 25 October 2013 32 15 7 10 046.88
Australia 23 October 2013 22 November 2017 49 22 12 15 044.90
Yokohama F. Marinos 1 January 2018 present 137 65 22 50 047.45
Total 429 212 92 125 049.42

References
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