James Johnson says no timeline in place to find the ‘right coach’ for Matildas

Football Australia will assess all the coaching options available as they begin the search for a new Matildas head coach following the departure of Tony Gustavsson, two years out from the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup on home soil.

With all seven windows before that tournament consisting of friendlies rather than competitive fixtures, Johnson said they want to get the appointment done right, saying “time is up our sleeve”.

“We want to make sure we get the right appointment. We’ve been doing our work, we know the market well. We went through a thorough process before we hired Tony Gustavsson, and we’ve continued to monitor the market ever since,” he said.

“I think we’re further ahead than what most would be, and it’s about trying to find the right coach, and as soon as we’re ready to appoint the right coach, we’ll appoint the right coach.”

The FA CEO also said that the federation would not be appointing an interim coach at this stage with no games taking place until October, which he confirmed will be in Europe.

“I would like to get a coach in as soon as possible, but the reality is we want to get the right appointment, and we do have time. We don’t have a competitive fixture until Q1 2026,” Johnson said.

“We’re going to go out, we’re going to look abroad [and] locally, and we’re going to look for a coach that we believe will set this team up for success.

“If that takes a month, great. If that takes three to six months, then that’s fine as well.”

One of the key edicts on the Gustavsson era was that he said on many occasions he had two jobs, which were to create depth and to win trophies, regularly saying that those two things did not necessarily mix.

Johnson acknowledged that it is hard to get the balance right between bringing new players through and going deep in tournaments, but also recognised it as a necessity and that there will be a need to get the balance right again under the new coach.

“I think if you look at Tony’s reign as a whole, he’s done a very good job. He’s bought the likes of Mary Fowler through, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Charlotte Grant, Clare Hunt for example [and] Clare Wheeler, he’s bought a new group of players through on one hand, and we did ask him to do that, because the team needed young blood to come through,” he said.

“He also took the CommBank Matildas to their best ever performances twice, not just once, but twice. And that happened to be the best ever senior national team performance of an Australian team, so we think he’s achieved that over the full cycle that he was in charge.

“Going forward, we’ve got to get that balance right again. The reality is that some of our players are approaching the age of 30 at the moment, and while those players I hope will still be available for the Women’s Asian Cup in 2026, as we get to the back-end of the cycle, there going to be sort of mid-30’s by that age, so naturally the next coach will need to bring a new generation of players through.”

The Matildas' journey at the Paris 2024™️ Olympic Games has now come to an end, with head coach Tony Gustavsson also ending his time with Football Australia following this Olympic cycle.

— Matildas (@TheMatildas) August 1, 2024

Johnson also said that the FA has set itself up well to assist with that development, pointing to the investment in the underage programs on the women’s side.

“We’ve invested twice as much over the past 12-18 months in our youth national teams than we ever have before. That’s been a huge investment by Football Australia. We’ve established on the women’s side for the first time, an under-23 team, and we have a line of coaches. We have an under-23 coach, an under-20’s and an under-17 coach,” he said.

“We’re investing more in youth development than we ever have. We think that will help the next coach bring the next generation of the Matildas through during the cycle.”

One of the names floated around for the role by a number of people has been Joe Montemurro, and while Johnson praised him as a coach, he said he would not go into specifics around candidates.

“Joe, we know very well. He’s a local coach, he’s done an outstanding job in Europe,” he said.

“We’re very well aware of Joe, not just because he’s Australian, but also because he’s an Australian doing great things in Europe. 

“What I can say is any coach that is at the top of their game, that are coaching at both club land or at national federations around the world, they are on the radar. We’ve just got to find the right coach and one that would be available and ready and willing to come back to Australia and coach the Matildas.”