John Aloisi has been confirmed as the new A-League Head Coach at Western United, putting pen to paper on a two-year deal starting with the upcoming 2021/22 season.
This will be Aloisi’s third job as an A-League head coach after previous roles at Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Heart.
But what will he bring to Western United and how will he deliver success to the Club? Get to know the new boss here.
Who is John Aloisi?
Aloisi is a 55-times capped Socceroo, making his debut for the national team as a 21-year-old in March 1997.
He scored 27 goals for Australia, going at nearly a goal every two games, which places him fourth in the all-time top goal scorers list.
He also represented the nation as an overage player at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, scoring three goals and guiding the Olyroos to the quarter-finals.
Away from the national teams, Aloisi had a hugely successful playing career in both Australia and abroad and remains the only Australian to play and score in the English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A and La Liga in Spain.
It was the latter where he was most successful, playing over 150 times for Osasuna and Alaves collectively, scoring 38 goals in total.
After his European success, Aloisi returned to Australia where he became an A-League champion with Sydney FC before ending his career at Melbourne Heart in 2011.
From there, Aloisi began his career in coaching and has worked as a pundit for Optus Sport, covering the Champions League and, most recently, Euro 2020.
What does John Aloisi bring to Western United as a coach?
Aloisi stepped into senior coaching at Melbourne Heart in 2012, having served as the club’s inaugural youth team coach for the previous year.
After leaving in December 2013, Aloisi would wait until 2015 for his next venture, taking over at Brisbane Roar.
In a hugely successful three-and-a-half-year spell, Aloisi led Brisbane to consecutive Preliminary Final appearances in 2016 and 2017, and also engineered a famous 2-1 win over Shanghai Shenhua to qualify the club for the Asian Champions League in 2017.
Known for an exciting, attacking brand of football centred around star players Eric Beautheac, Thomas Broich and Massimo Maccarone across his years at the club, Aloisi’s Roar became one of the league’s top teams.
He again had an influence on young players, aiding the development of Socceroo’s Jamie Maclaren, Brandon Borrello and Dimitri Petratos, who all secured big overseas moves while working under Aloisi.
With plenty of attacking talent in the Western United side, Aloisi is bound to bring similar excitement to the league in this new role and has committed to this upon signing.
“Fans can expect very competitive team that wants to win, that will play on the front foot and try to win football games all the time,” he said.
“We’re very ambitious, so that means the team will be there to fight, hopefully, at the end of the season for trophies. I’m sure the people of the west will be proud of the club.”
Western United Director of Football Steve Horvat also echoed this sentiment and spoke of his anticipation at watching Aloisi’s style be embedded into the playing group.
“He [Aloisi] wants to play an attacking brand of football, and we’ve brought players like Alessandro Diamanti to this league and we love attacking, open, free-flowing football,” he said.
Someone with a long-running pedigree in Australian football, Aloisi will play a key role in Western United’s development and his introduction to the squad and the fans of the club will be eagerly awaited.
