Sydney: The Australian women's national team will appear in the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 with a new head coach, after Alen Stajcic was relieved of his duties in an announcement on Saturday.
Football Federation Australia Chief Executive Officer David Gallop AM revealed the rationale behind the decision, which comes less than five months before Australia begin their France 2019 campaign against Italy.
“The ultimate responsibility for driving change and leading a high-performance environment that puts the team in the best possible position to achieve what they are capable of, rests with the Head Coach," he said.
"We no longer have confidence that Alen is the right person to lead the team and staff."
“FFA is committed to providing the best possible environment for the Matildas and this change is being made with that objective in mind. We will continue to review other aspects of the team set-up and monitor the Matildas environment in the coming weeks and months as we build for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.”
“Alen has achieved a number of successes on the field with the Matildas since coming to the role in 2014. We thank Alen for this service and wish him the very best in his future endeavours in football."
Beginning in 2014, Australia became runners-up at two AFC Women's Asian Cups, and reached the last eight at both the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and 2016 Olympics under Stajcic's reign.
The selection process for the interim head coach who will guide the team through to the global Finals in France will now begin.
Source: the-afc.com