How Postecoglou’s overseas success can propel more Australian coaches forward

Staff Writer

He’s one of the biggest names in Australian football right now. Ange Postecoglou is continuing to put the land down under on the footballing map internationally.

Fresh off guiding Celtic to the Scottish Premiership title, there are now recent talks of where Australia’s coaching darling will be headed next. Some are suggesting he should set his sights to the English Premier League.

This includes former Celtic striker Chris Sutton, who spoke on Optus Sport’s GegenPod Football Podcast.

“I don’t get the argument that he can’t manage in the Premier League,” he said.

“Look at his track record, it speaks for itself. I think people would have sat up and noticed the job he’s done at Celtic.”

Postecoglou has won over Scottish fans just as he did in Australia at club level, with South Melbourne and Brisbane Roar.

Closer to home, it’s not just fans he’s won over though. Very few involved in football have anything bad to say about the newly-crowned Celtic champion manager.

But much like the initial reception that Postecoglou found in Scotland, it wasn’t always this way, as outlined by Football Coaches Australia President, Phil Moss.

“I had a few friends, particularly Rangers fans, who were let’s just say encouraging me to reach out to Ange and warn him against taking the job, it was that strong a feeling from certain sections,” he told Soccerscene.

“I just smiled and waved really. As anyone who knows Ange – and I’m not professing to know him very closely – but I’ve had some dealings with him over the years, and it was always going to be successful.

“Ange eats that sort of pressure for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If he decided that was the job for him, then you knew he was going to turn into a success.”

Hail, hail Ange Postecoglou - the anti-Howe who transformed Celtic in a season

Moss is optimistic that Postecoglou is paving the way for Australian coaches overseas. Having previously coached at the J-League’s Yokohama F. Marinos, the Celtic move was one of the biggest in the history of Australian coaching.

But alongside the likes of Kevin Muscat (Sint-Truiden and Yokohama), Harry Kewell in England, and Alen Stajcic (Philippines women’s national team), he’s overcoming the obstacles that get in the way of Australian coaches.

“The main obstacle is our lack of profile down here when it comes to European circles and competitions,” Moss continued.

“If you look at a Steven Gerrard for instance, Ange’s CV leaves his in coaching terms a long way behind. But Ange obviously doesn’t have the profile from his playing career.

“He’s formally in the A-League and NSL as well, but let’s not forget the success he had with South Melbourne in the National Soccer League.

“What its done is a couple of things. Initially when players first started going overseas from Australia it opens doors, and it sparks interest of people in positions of power over in Europe that Aussies know how to play.

“This will now certainly let people understand that we know how to coach.

“It opens doors and gives coaches in Australia the confidence to know that they can aspire to rise to a higher level, despite maybe not having a high profile European playing career.”

Despite Postecoglou and other international coaches’ successes, the FCA still faces challenges at home when it comes to their own coaches.

“Our role at FCA is to go on the journey with the coaches,” Moss said.

“A key part of our work at the moment is working towards aligning our AFC/FA coaching badges with UEFA. At the moment, if you go through the AFC/FA coaching licenses, that doesn’t align to Europe.

“For coaches like Ange and Kevin Muscat, they’ve all had to go through or are going through a process of aligning their qualifications.

“It’s a big issue because it basically means any coach going through the AFC coaching pathway at the moment is reassessing if that’s the right pathway for them at the moment.”

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And although many Australian coaches are still facing issues reaching their potential in a position in a European league, Postecoglou is well and truly a trailblazer.

“We’ve got to put this into context, he took over what local pundits were saying was the worst Celtic squad in 30 years where they lost the last league title by 25 points,” Moss said.

“That is a massive turnaround, just to get even with Rangers, let alone beat them to the title this season. As Ange said the other night, to fit two seasons into one – with a rebuilding season and a season for the title – is a phenomenal effort.”

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The Spreadsheet Is Dead: Majestri’s Fix for How Clubs Actually Assess Players

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If you’ve ever sat through a club’s end-of-season review, you’ll know the drill. A coach pulls out a folder of notes, someone half-remembers what a player was like back in Round 3 and a parent quietly wonders what they actually got for their rego fees beyond a team photo. Football club platform Majestri says it has a fix for that, and it’s built directly into its Player Assessment module.

Why clubs bother assessing players in the first place

According to Majestri, clubs run player assessments for one of three reasons – usually more than one at once. Some are chasing genuine development, using the data to lift the level across their high-performance squads. Others are after a fairer way to pick teams, putting every player on the same measurable scale so selection is based on evidence rather than a coach’s gut feel about who “looks the part.” And for clubs operating under a Football Australia or state federation licence, assessments at set intervals often aren’t optional – they’re a compliance requirement, with the paperwork to prove it when asked.

Whatever the motivation, Majestri’s pitch is the same: don’t let that assessment data die in a spreadsheet on someone’s laptop.

Build your own assessment, your way

There’s no one-size-fits-all template here. The Assessment Designer lets technical directors set their own criteria, sort them into whatever categories their coaching staff already use – think core skills, possession, defending, attacking – and decide what each point on the rating scale actually means. Crucially, every criterion also gets a comment field, because a bare number rarely tells the full story of a player’s development.

The Assessment Module Builder for an NPL Juniors assessment
The Assessment Module Builder, showing an NPL Juniors assessment with a 1-10 rating scale banded from under performing through to excelling and role-specific criteria grouped into core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

Build it once and it’s reusable every time that assessment cycle comes around, so every player and every coach – is working off the same yardstick.

Something for the parents to actually take home

One of the more relatable pain points Majestri is targeting: most families never see much tangible return from a season of fees beyond a team photo. Player Assessment addresses that with report cards – colour-coded against the same scale coaches used, grouped by category with averages calculated automatically, and delivered as a PDF or an interactive web page a parent can read without needing a coaching badge themselves.

A player report card for an under-15 player
A report card for an under-15 player, colour-coded from under performing to excelling, with a score for every criterion and a group average across core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

 

Turning the numbers into something useful

The real value, though, sits in what Majestri calls the Player Analysis Lab. This is where clubs can plot a player against their team-mates or an entire age group across two categories at once, spotting clusters and outliers at a glance. Every score gets read against the group average – so a “7” actually means something in context – and clubs can report at the broad category level or drill into individual fields underneath. The results can be filtered down and exported for selection meetings or grading purposes.

The Player Analysis Lab comparing players in an under-15 and under-16 squad
The Player Analysis Lab comparing seven players across under-15 and under-16 squads, with a scatter plot, a sortable table of scores against the player average, and controls for choosing which categories and fields to report on. Source: Majestri.

The admin side nobody enjoys, made easier

Beyond the flashy analytics, there’s a practical layer built for the volunteers actually running the process:

  • Sweep monitoring – a quick view of which assessments are done and which are still outstanding, organised into defined assessment periods so progress can be tracked against peers.
  • Individual development plans – every player gets a personalised plan, and clubs can group common improvement areas to run cross-team training sessions that lift the whole club rather than just one squad.
  • Access control – coaches and technical staff can only see assessments for the teams they’re responsible for, and completed assessments are only visible to people linked to that player’s registration.
“Hard numbers to draw on when you review coaching staff and curriculum – and something tangible for the players and parents who pay the fees.” – Majestri

 

The bigger picture

Majestri frames all of this as sitting on top of the club’s own data – assessment results live on each player’s profile inside the platform rather than in a spreadsheet that walks out the door when a technical director moves on. For committees, it also means hard numbers to lean on when reviewing coaching staff or curriculum, rather than relying on anecdote.

It’s a fairly clear read on where club administration software is heading: less about digitising paperwork for its own sake, and more about making the data clubs already collect actually work for player development, team selection and compliance  without adding to the workload of the volunteers who run the show.

For more information on Majestri’s Player Assessment module, visit majestri.com.au/player-assessment.

From Classroom to Global Football: GIS Opens New Career Path

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Image Credit: Global Institute of Sport

The Global Institute of Sport (GIS) has opened new opportunities for students who want to build careers in football. GIS has partnered with the World Football Summit (WFS). The partnership offers two exclusive scholarship and internship opportunities.

Students can gain practical experience while studying. They can also build industry contacts and learn how the global football business works.

Two Football Industry Roles

The first opportunity focuses on partnerships and commercial development. Students in the Partnership Executive Intern role will support WFS commercial activity. They will learn how football organisations build and manage partnerships.

The second role focuses on clubs, leagues and federations. The Club, League & Federation Relations Intern will support WFS relationships with football organisations. This includes key stakeholders inside football.

Both roles give students direct exposure to the business side of the sport.

International Experience

The placements also offer flexibility. Full-time students can complete a six-month internship or placement. WFS will tailor the experience to each student’s profile and availability.

Part-time students can complete two six-month placements. This gives them exposure to different areas of the WFS business. Students may work remotely or at the WFS headquarters in Madrid. The final setup will depend on the student and WFS requirements.

A Global Football Network

WFS has built a major international football network since its launch in 2016. The organisation has hosted events across 11 countries. More than 44,600 people have attended its events. Its network now includes more than 153,000 football industry professionals.

WFS events have also featured major football figures. These include FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Ronaldo Nazário, Rio Ferdinand, Didier Drogba and Javier Tebas. The partnership gives GIS students access to this wider football ecosystem. It also connects academic study with real industry work.

Applications Open for 2026

Applications opened on 18 August 2026. New and existing GIS students can apply. The deadline is 14 September 2026.

For students targeting careers in football business, the opportunities offer a direct route into the industry. They can develop commercial skills and can build professional networks. They can also gain experience with the relationships that drive modern football.

To learn more about the GIS scholarship program click the link here.

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