The new coach of the women's football team, can he do it?

China News Weekly

2024-05-13 20:58Published on the official account of China News Weekly in Beijing

After being shelved for nearly half a year, the new coach of the Chinese women's football team finally "came out". Australian head coach Ante Milicic took over from Shui Qingxia at the helm of the Chinese women's football team in preparation for the 2026 Women's Asian Cup and the 2027 Women's World Cup.

Surprisingly, after the release of the new coach of the Chinese women's football team, there were many doubts in the football world and social media. Some agents even publicly disclosed the selection process, saying that their clients were suspected of being "unprofessionally treated" in the process of competing for the position of coach of the Chinese women's football team.

Who the hell is Ante Milicic? Why did the Chinese Football Association hand over the handsome seal to him?

The Chinese Football Association announced that Ante Milicic is at the helm of the Chinese women's football team. Photo/Official website of the Chinese Football Association

Who is Ante Milicic?

The Australian coach of the Chinese women's football team, Ante Milicic, is of Croatian descent and a former Australian international.

According to public information, in the 90s of the last century, Ante Milicic became a professional player, starting from the Australian domestic league, and then played in the Netherlands, Croatia, and Malaysian league teams, and returned to the Australian league at the end of his career until his retirement. He was named to the Australian national team from 2002 to 2005 and made six appearances and scored five goals in four years.

Milicic, on the other hand, began his coaching career in 2009 and spent about 10 years as an assistant coach with the men's team. He has served as an assistant to two Australian men's football coaches, Postecoglou and Van Marwijk, in two World Cups, and in 2015, he became a member of the Australian men's Asian Cup winning coaching staff.

However, Ante Milicic's independent resume as a head coach is only from 2017 to 2019, when he was the head coach of Australia's U23 and U19 teams. Her only experience as a women's coach was as head coach of the Australian women's team from 2019 to 2020, where she led the team to the round of 16 at the Women's World Cup in France that year.

Milicic. Photo/Visual China

According to Australian media reports, when coaching the Australian women's football team in 2019, Milicic reached a "verbal agreement" with the Australian McArthur men's football club, planning to join after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Despite the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics until 2021, Milicic ended his contract in 2020 and took over as McArthur coach.

Milicic coached Macarthur FC for 2 years, and was idle at home for 2 years after "leaving class" in 2022.

For the Chinese women's football team, Milicic is not a stranger in the absolute sense. In 2020, the Chinese women's football team coached by Jia Xiuquan won 1-1 against the Australian women's football team coached by Milicic in the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers.

Previously, Milicic praised the Chinese women's football team in several interviews. He said that he was deeply impressed by the physical fitness and excellent physical fitness of the Chinese women's football team, and also said that the Chinese Football Association's investment in women's football is worthy of emulation by the Australian Football Association. "[The Chinese women's team] is more organised in the game, in better physical condition, in more style of play, because they train together all the time. As coaches, you can also see that they train together for a long time. ”

Stronger losers?

According to public information, the Chinese Football Association issued an announcement on the selection of coaches for the Chinese women's football team on March 19, and coaches who propose to participate in the competition must register within two weeks after the notice is issued.

For the new head coach of the women's football team, the criteria of the Chinese Football Association include: having a successful head coach in international competitions, coming from a high-level women's football country (region), and having a certain understanding of Chinese football.

In the primary selection stage, 42 coaches sent the registration form to the Chinese Football Association through various channels. The Chinese Football Association preliminarily screened nine candidates and completed three rounds of interviews around late April, with Milicic finally coming out on top.

It is reported that among the candidates who signed up for the Chinese women's football coach competition, there are former French women's football coaches, former England women's football coaches, former Dutch women's football coaches, and some coaches have dazzling resumes in the semifinals of the European Cup or the World Cup semifinals.

According to media reports, among the coaches who were defeated at the last minute was the technical director of the Manchester City FC women's football team in the Premier League, Dane Nils Nelson. It is reported that Nelson is very popular with the Football Association, because he served as the assistant coach of the Chinese U20 women's football team in 2018 and assisted the then Danish coach Peter Bondi to lead the team to the U20 Women's World Cup.

However, the common reason why Nielsen and some big-name foreign coaches regretted not being able to get a chance is that the salary requirements do not match the budget of the Football Association.

The other loser, Australian Stasić, and his agent have publicly expressed their displeasure with the Football Association.

The agent publicly released the interview and said that Stasic is better than Milicic in terms of coaching resume. Stasic has twice led the Australian women's team to the Asian Cup runners-up, once in the quarter-finals of the World Cup and once in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games, leading the team to defeats the Brazilian women's football team and the United States women's football team, and also led the Philippines to the World Cup. In addition, Stasic was nominated for the FIFA Best Coach Award.

The agent said that Stasic was treated "unprofessionally" by the Chinese Football Association during the interview process, but the Chinese Football Association did not comment on these "controversies". At present, the broker has also deleted all the leaks.

In response to these revelations, China News Weekly interviewed a number of people in the women's football industry. The interviewees all admitted that Stasic's resume was indeed better, but they did not believe that what the agent with his own "interests" said was 100% true.

A person from a domestic women's football club said to China News Weekly: "Since the women's football team did not participate in the Paris Olympics, there will be no major competition in the next two years. For example, the women's soccer team may be able to access better resources for overseas training through new coaches and their agents. The women's football team may have more cooperation in youth training and player retention in the future, but it is not yet mature enough to be announced. ”

According to the plan, the new Chinese women's football team will start training in the near future and play two legs against the Australian women's national football team on May 31 and June 3 under the leadership of Milicic.

The women's football team went to Australia first?

Milicic's appointment as the coach of the Chinese women's football team is "already a boat", but thinking about the future of the Chinese women's football team, we have to look back at the "historical background" of the last Olympic cycle.

In recent years, the Chinese women's football team has emerged popular stars such as Wang Shuang and Zhang Linyan. In 2022, under the leadership of Shui Qingxia, the Chinese women's football team defeated Japan and reversed South Korea in one fell swoop and won the long-lost Asian Cup championship, which made the whole society excited.

But only a year later, the Chinese women's football team "fell into the sand" in three major competitions. Among them, the Chinese women's football team lost to the final runner-up England with a disparity of 1-6 in the Women's World Cup, lost to the Japanese women's football team "second team" 3-4 in the Hangzhou Asian Games, and lost 1-2 to the North Korean women's football team in the Paris Olympic Games qualifiers.

Compared with the North Korean women's football team, the basic skills of the Chinese women's football team are obviously lacking, and in terms of overall style building, the Chinese women's football team seems to be "left behind" by the world's mainstream teams. This is no longer a "systemic gap" that can be reversed by a head coach Shui Qingxia and a star Wang Shuang.

The Chinese women's football team lost 1-6 to England in the knockout round of the 2023 Women's World Cup. Photo/China News Photo Photo by China News Service reporter Tomita

In fact, Shui Qingxia and Wang Shuang and others have continued to speak out, expressing concerns about the youth training of the Chinese women's football team, and combined with the statement of Song Kai, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, that "youth training is a top priority", whether it is men's football or women's football, youth training is undoubtedly a key part of the Chinese Football Association that must be improved.

After missing the Paris Olympics, the Chinese women's football team did not have an important major task until the 2026 Women's Asian Cup. If the Chinese women's football team really intends to regard Milicic as a "bridge", promote exchanges and cooperation in youth training and overseas countries, and achieve "blood exchange" by 2026, will Australia be that ideal destination?

A football industry insider familiar with women's football players in the United States told China News Weekly that the most advanced competition and training environment for women's football must still be in Europe, because Europe has a mature men's professional football league system, and women's football can develop rapidly if it is used for reference. "Looking back at the 2023 and 2018 Women's World Cups, European women's football teams occupied the majority of the quarter-finals, and the overall strength has improved a lot compared to the 2015 World Cup."

"But judging from the strength of the current Chinese women's football team's first-line players and reserve talents, Europe is not just going to go." The person said, "Football is not the most popular sport in Australia, and the level of youth training in Australia is not very high, and not long ago, the Chinese U17 women's football team defeated Australia U17 by three goals." However, if we do not look at it with an absolutely utilitarian mentality, Australia can be used as a platform and springboard for Chinese women's football players, especially young players, to initially integrate into the international and professional environment and improve their English communication skills. It is also common for Australian players to grow up in this environment before going to the Europa League. ”

From this point of view, if the speculation in the football industry finally "fulfills", the youth training and overseas work of the Chinese women's football team can be further promoted through Milicic, which is not a pragmatic measure.

However, football youth training and staying abroad are long-term work of "long-term success" after all, and I don't know if the Chinese Football Association will face another choice and consideration in the international competition two years later.

Resources:

How is the head coach of the Chinese women's football team chosen? Xinhua News Agency

"1 out of 40! The Chinese women's football team officially announced that Milicic has become the new coach, and there is only one domestic coach among the applicants" Beijing Youth Daily

Author: Ye Zhufeng

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