A convenient compromise: Why Adelaide United turned to Airton Andrioli as its next coach
Antonis Pagonis 
Airton Andrioli, Adelaide United's Head of Youth Football, has been promoted to Head Coach after Carl Veart's exit. Photo Credit: Pagonis Photography
A convenient compromise. That is what the appointment of Airton Andrioli represents for Adelaide United, a club that finds itself pulled in two different directions.
Internally, Adelaide United has created a brand that revolves around a proud South Australian identity. While recognising that, club owners and their Technical Director, Ernest Faber, want the club to adopt a philosophy closer to the PSV model that is based on an attacking approach to the field and youth development with an emphasis on technical skills.
It is natural that when those two worlds collide, there is some conflict around selecting a head coach. As murmurs of Carl Veart’s exit began to circle, word spread that internally, the club preferred an Australian coach, while Faber preferred to look to his motherland for Veart’s replacement.
The natural question may be, where does Airton Andrioli, a man born and raised in Brazil, figure in this equation?
When it comes to South Australian football, Airton Andrioli, a former Football South Australia Technical Director, knows the landscape like the back of his hand. One of Carl Veart’s strengths during his time as Adelaide United coach was his connection to the pathways between developmental and senior, professional football, which allowed him a deep insight into who to blood into his senior set-up.
Airton Andrioli is one of the people who went on that journey with Veart, re-modelling the Football South Australia system into the production line it has become today and helping fine-tune it for years.
Just like Veart, Andrioli found his niche in developing young footballers. As Adelaide United’s Head of Youth Football, Andrioli has worked directly with players on the cusp of entering professional football with great success, even winning the 2023 NPL SA title.
Andrioli has juggled that role with being Veart’s assistant during his reign, so the shift should be as seamless as it gets when it comes to taking the top job and adopting the club’s priorities of playing attractive football and promoting young and local. His success in the role has earned him national attention.
While Andrioli may not be Dutch or connected to the PSV system, he obviously has a fan in Technical Director Ernest Faber.
From a club priority point of view, like PSV, Adelaide United wants to win by doing it their way, developing players, and using their sales as a funding mechanism to continue supporting their operation.
Airton Andrioli has proven to be an exceptional cog in South Australia’s production line, earning plaudits for the number of players who have successfully transitioned to senior football.
For someone like Faber, who spent most of his life at PSV, a club that values that jump, it is no surprise that he holds Andrioli in high regard.
While Veart is an exceptional man manager, with his players playing for him even weeks after his departure was announced, there were frustrations about his lack of flexibility regarding the game’s tactical side.
This fact became clear early in the 2024-25 A-League Men season, when the Reds moved to a new style, something that Faber influenced, before Veart began reverting to a style familiar in previous seasons. The Unite Round game against Brisbane is a strong example, with the Reds’ shape and output being the polar opposite on either side of half time, which incidentally is when adjustments were made.
Critics may also point to Craig Goodwin’s brilliance earlier in Veart’s reign as something that got Adelaide United, and subsequently its coach, out of tricky situations.
While his side has excelled going forward, Veart has not been able to dodge the defensive issues during his time in the hot seat. As Veart’s reign went on, his side reverted from an average defensive record to one of the worst in the league, a troubling development that remained unaddressed and frustrated fans.
Coaching a youth team in a men’s league, it is hard to judge Andrioli’s NPL side defensively, but anyone who has followed the team closely in recent years can see tangible improvements both in team defence and on an individual level when it comes to his defenders.
When it comes to attack, Andriloli seems comfortable experimenting, identifying weaknesses in his opponent’s ranks and moulding his team’s game style to exploit them. Adelaide United’s recent 6-2 NPL victory over West Torrens Birkalla offers a great example of his side baiting their opponent’s willing press, before exploiting their lack of pace in wide areas to devastating effect.
As rumours of Veart’s job insecurity arose, so did murmurs of Faber’s dislike of the coach’s sideline demeanour. While Veart is measured and reserved off the pitch, he is one of the more animated coaches in the league when the referee’s whistle blows.
It has become well-known across the league, with the Reds even using a brief positive cut from a widely shared compilation of Veart’s animation on the sidelines when announcing his last contract extension. While the video the Reds use shows Veart celebrating, the extended cut shows many moments of frustration, with individual players often in the firing line.
This is where cultures more than likely clashed, because even though most Australians may have probably laughed off outbursts in the heat of the moment or loved the passion of their coach, Faber obviously had a different view.
Coming from a more reserved cultural background and having been involved at a club that has valued youth development for decades, it is easy to infer that Faber wants a cooler head at the wheel.
While Andrioli is not unknown to moments of frustration, they are much more reserved and usually stay between him and his coaching staff. Frustrations with individual players are generally shared more discreetly.
Many fans may be bemused at the internal hiring of a lower-profile coach. This was probably compounded by the recent hirings of Mark Milligan and Michael Valkanis, two coaches with connections to Adelaide United, by Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar, respectively.
Andrioli, who has previously coached Canberra Eclipse, Solomon Islands, Australia Beach Soccer, and in the Football South Australia system, admittedly does not have the most eye-catching resume. Anyone jumping to early conclusions must remember that neither did Veart, and he did a commendable job before exiting the club as its longest-reigning coach.
Guillermo Amor, the club’s only ever Championship-winning coach, may have had a star-studded career, but the Reds remain his first and last professional coaching role.
Andrioli ticks all the boxes that the various kingmakers of the club may have posed. His being an internal hire may be an asset that helps him balance the priorities the power brokers demand.
Andrioli may not be the option fans expected or many know much about, but he ticks the boxes posed by both sides of the club’s identity struggle. He is local enough to continue the club’s South Australian vision and progressive enough to incorporate the PSV vision in his practice.
It is important to remember that Andrioli will more than likely face challenges similar to Veart’s when it comes to investment and recruiting. Having worked closely with him for years, he enters the top job well aware of the hurdles he’ll have to negotiate.
While his appointment may not be met with fanfare, he could be the right choice to unify the club’s concurrent visions.