Alen Stajcic

Alen Stajčić (born 2 November 1973) is the current manager for A-League club Central Coast Mariners. While as a footballer he was a NSW Premier League player and Australian Youth Representative.

Since turning his hand to coaching he had become the head coach of NSWIS for Women's Soccer, Head Coach of The Hills Sports High School Football Program, Head Coach of the Australian Under 20 Women's National Team.He was appointed coach for Sydney FC in the first season of the Australian W-League. From 2014 to 2019, he was the head coach of the Matildas.

A former NSW Premier League player and Captain with Bonnyrigg, Bankstown and Sutherland, Alen represented NSW at the youth level and played for several clubs within the National Youth League and Winter Super League.

Alen Stajcic had been the head coach of the NSWIS Women's Football Program from 2002–2013. Widely considered as the one of the best football nurseries in Australia, the program produced over 30 senior Internationals in that 10-year period. He was also the head coach of the Women's National Soccer League side, the NSW Sapphires, which he guided to a premiership in the 2003/04 season.He started as head coach of HSHS in the foundation year (2003) and has gone on to win many titles and good performances.

In 2006, he was the assistant coach for the Young Matilda's while they were competing at the FIFA U/20's Women's Championships in Russia. Unfortunately they bowed out in the group stage, missing the next round by 1 point to Brazil and Russia. As of 05/03/07 Stajcic became the Young Matildas Coach.

In 2008, Stajcic became the inaugural Sydney FC Women's head coach, until 2014. They qualified for the semi finals in all 6 seasons, winning 2 grand finals and 2 premierships along the way. In 2013, Sydney FC beat Japanese powerhouse NTV Beleza and Sth American Champions Colo Colo to claim 3rd place the IWCC in Japan.

As of September 2014, Stajcic was appointed full-time head coach of the Australian Women's National Football team, the Matildas. In the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada, they became the 1st Senior Australian Football Team to win a knockout match in a World Cup when they defeated Brazil 1–0 in the Round of 16 before losing 1–0 to Japan in the quarter finals. Earlier in 2014, Stajcic had led the Matildas in an Interim capacity, to a Silver Medal at the Asian Championships.

Currently, Stajcic stands as the only Australian-born head coach to win a match at a FIFA World Cup.

In March 2016, the Matildas qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in 12 years. Along the way eliminating World Cup finalists Japan. The Matildas topped the Asian Qualifying group and were undefeated in the tournament. The Matildas subsequently attained their highest-ever FIFA Ranking of 5. At the 2016 Rio Olympics Australia were grouped with Canada, Germany and Zimbabwe. Australia progressed through to the Quarter Finals, where they were beaten 7–6 on penalties by Hosts Brazil after a 0–0 draw.

Despite qualifying for the 2019 Women's World Cup, Stajcic was sacked from his position by Football Federation Australia for reasons that were not made clear by the FFA at the time of the sacking, with FFA board member Heather Reid making cryptic remarks about how people "would be shocked" if they knew the reasons. Stajcic took legal action against the FFA for the sacking and the veil of secrecy behind it, and in May 2019 this legal action lead to a settlement with a significant cash settlement accounting for the loss of potential World Cup bonuses & reputation damage. Heather Reid said in a statement following the settlement, "I apologise unreservedly for the damage, distress and hurt that I have caused to Alen Stajcic as a professional football coach.

Central Coast Mariners

Following the sacking of Mike Mulvey from Central Coast Mariners, on 12 March 2019 Stajcic was appointed as the caretaker manager for the club. On 2 May 2019, Stajcic was appointed head coach on a 3-year contract until the end of the 2021–22 A-League season.

As of 2 March 2020

• W-league Coach of the Year: 2010–11
• W-league Coach of the Year: 2013–14
• Inducted into Sydney FC Hall of Fame: 2015
• Australian Institute of Sport Coach of the Year: 2017

As a player

• Australian Schoolboy International: 1992

As a coach

Matildas

• Finalists Asian Cup: 2014, 2018
• Quarter Finalist World Cup: 2015
• Quarter Finalist Olympics: 2016
• Record high FIFA World Ranking of 4: 2017

Sydney FC Women's Team

• Semi Finalists: 2008, 2011–12, 2013–14
• Premiers: 2009, 2010–11
• Champions: 2009, 2012–13
• Finalists: 2010–11
• 3rd Place International Women's Club Championship: 2013

Young Matilda's (As Assistant Coach)

• Qualified for World U-20's Women Championships: 2006
  • Knocked out in Group Stage

NSW Sapphires

• Winner of Nation Women's Soccer League: 2003–04
• Finalists of Nation Women's Soccer League: 2002–03