A Melburnian who once coached the Socceroos will be taking the reins of one of the biggest football clubs in the world.
Ange Postecoglou has been appointed coach of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, a team from London that plays in the English Premier League.
Postecoglou is the first Australian to coach in the EPL, which is widely considered the best football league in the world.
Who is Ange Postecoglou?
Postecoglou was born in Greece but moved to Australia with his family when he was young. He played for South Melbourne FC in the top tier of Australian football in the 1980s and 90s, and won two championships.
Postecoglou got his first head coaching job with South Melbourne in 1996. He was then appointed the coach of the Australian U20 team in 2000, which he held for seven years.
In 2009, Postecoglou became the coach of A-League side Brisbane Roar. He led the Roar to back-to-back championships in 2011 and 2012. Brisbane went 36 games unbeaten with Postecoglou, which is the longest run without a loss for any Australian top-tier sporting team.
Postecoglou was then named coach of the Socceroos in 2013 after a brief stint at A-League club Melbourne Victory.
His greatest achievement as Socceroos coach was winning the 2015 Asian Cup on home soil. It was the first and only time the Socceroos have won the Asian Cup.
Postecoglou then qualified the Socceroos for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, however resigned before the tournament to seek a new challenge.
International career
Postecoglou’s next job after the Socceroos was at Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, where he led the side to their first league triumph in 15 years in 2019.
In 2021, he was named coach of Celtic FC, a heavyweight of Scottish football with a rich history of success.
Postecoglou turned an underperforming team into Scottish League and League Cup winners in his first season at Celtic. He won both again this season, as well as the Scottish Football Association Cup.
The Tottenham project
Like Celtic, Postecoglou is inheriting a Tottenham team in disarray. They finished eighth in the Premier League and sacked two of their coaches last season amid poor results.
There are also uncertainties over the future of some of the club’s top players. Longtime captain Hugo Lloris has said he wants to leave Tottenham, while star striker Harry Kane has been linked with a move to Real Madrid.
Pressure to win silverware will also be mounting on Postecoglou. Tottenham haven’t won a trophy since 2008.
When does Postecoglou start?
Postecoglou will begin work at the start of next month on a four-year contract.
Coincidentally, his first official match in charge will be played in Australia.
Tottenham will play a friendly match in Perth against fellow Premier League side West Ham United on 18 July.