Football Coaches Australia presents ‘The Football Coaching Life Podcast’ S2 Ep 3 with Gary Cole interviewing Zeljko Kalac

Staff Writer

Zeljko Kalac, perhaps better known as ‘Spider’ in Australian Football circles, played over 400 games for club and country, with 54 caps for the Socceroos over 14 years.

 

Spiders amazing career saw him play as a youngster with Sydney United before heading overseas to play in Holland with Roda and in Italy with AC Milan winning a European Champions League.

 

Zeljko’s coaching journey commenced at Sydney FC as Goalkeeping Coach with Vitezslav Lavicka then Frank Farina and Graham Arnold before moving to West Sydney Wanderers to work alongside his good friend Tony Popovic.

 

Spider is our first goalkeeping coach on the podcast and discusses his journey and how it is to work as an assistant with some of Australia’s best coaches. He also speaks honestly about the goalkeeping coaches that helped him on his journey as a player and now as coaching mentors.

 

We also discuss his short stint as Head Coach of Sydney United 58, who went on to win an NPL Championship as well as the culture of this great club that has helped to develop so many Socceroos and coaches.

 

Spiders ‘One piece of wisdom’ for coaches: Be open minded and willing to adapt because football is played in all sorts of ways. There is not a right or a wrong way to play’.

 

This is our first PG rated podcast as Spider is ruthlessly frank. As a wise man once said, ‘If you don’t want to hear the answer, don’t ask the question!’

 

Please join me in sharing Zeljko Kalac’s Football Coaching Life.

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Jets and University of Newcastle Unite to Empower Future Leaders

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Image Credit: Australia Cup

The Newcastle Jets have announced they will renew their partnership with the University of Newcastle for the next three years.

Both the Jets and the University will exchange resources to provide hands-on learning opportunities to the next generation of students across Sports Science, Physiotherapy and the Business School.

Newcastle Jets CEO, Tain Drinkwater, expressed his delight at how the partnership is helping to push for equality in football by supporting both the men’s and women’s teams.

“Through this partnership, we’re providing University of Newcastle students with invaluable opportunities to gain real-world experience within a professional football environment,” he said in a press release.

“The University’s commitment to equality and a sustainable future for female football is also something we’re incredibly proud to showcase, with their logo represented on both our A-League Men’s and Women’s jerseys this season.

“Together, we’re building stronger pathways, creating opportunities, and championing the growth of football in our region.”

The new agreement will continue to support player education through the University’s sports scholarship program and its influence on the Jets’ pathways initiatives.

University of Newcastle Deputy Vice-Chancellor Equity and Engagement, Nathan Towney, also spoke on the new opportunities the partnership will provide for the University’s students.

“This renewed alliance is a collaboration that reflects our shared commitment to excellence, our community, and providing education pathway opportunities for our students and the Jets players,” he said in a press release.

“Through this partnership, we’re not just cheering from the sidelines; together, we’re actively contributing to creating a space for our students and Jets players to thrive, while contributing to the vibrancy and well-being of our community through football and support for the Jets.”

The University has been actively involved through education, athlete development and community engagement across Northern NSW.

Students will gain valuable real-world experience within a professional sporting environment through the partnership, which hopes to help shape the next generation of leaders in football.

Off the Pitch Podcast: Cavallucci On the Importance of FQ’s Future Club+ Initiative for Local Clubs

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Image Credit: Football Queensland

On Episode 16 of Soccerscene’s Off the Pitch Podcast, it was a special episode with FQ CEO Rob Cavallucci ahead of the all-important 2025 Queensland Football Convention.

Many topics around the issues in Queensland football were discussed including Futsal’s incredible growth, update on Perry Park’s upgrade plan and driving player retention in certain youth age groups.

On the topic of administration, FQ’s new Future Club+ is a ground-breaking initiative designed to strengthen the foundations of football clubs across the state.

The concept of this began after last year’s convention and through interactive club lab sessions and ongoing consultation, FQ are continuing those discussions and driving practical change.

Cavallucci discussed the current volunteering and administration issues that are plaguing local football clubs.

“Future Club+ is in line with what I talked about earlier in regard to what we need to do to best position this sport for the next 20 years,” he said.

“Clubs are run by volunteers and volunteerism is waning. A lot of clubs can’t get the administration right because they also can’t get the governance right.

“The sport is run by volunteers and when you look at the fact that volunteerism is declining in Australia across every sport, you know it’s a problem we have to solve right now.

“From a governing body point of view, when you look at that, that’s actually a limiting factor on the success of our sport.”

He also gave a solution on how FQ are going to tackle this in the future, specifically in regards to what  Future Club+ will offer in the 2025 Queensland Football Convention and beyond.

“We need to start to work with clubs to transform how they manage themselves and that means a whole series of things. Hence the Future Club+ concept is looking at that and rethinking about best practice of how a club should operate,” he said.

“What we’ve been doing over the last 18 months through a series of webinars and in the last convention, and even in this upcoming one, there’s three Future Club+ sessions and it’s all about best practice at a club.”

In this convention, the three Future Club+ sessions are:

#1 What data reveals about your club future

#2 The amalgamation playbook: Real stories from the clubs forging the future

#3 The growth engine: your tool kit to fund staff and empower volunteers.

“Those three subjects should be very appealing to any club.”

Click hear the full interview with Rob Cavallucci, on Episode 16 of Soccerscene’s Off the Pitch Podcast – available on all major podcasting platforms.

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