This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Football Federation Australia has reverted to a foreign coach, again opting to go down the Dutch route by appointing Bert van Marwijk as the man to lead the Socceroos in their World Cup campaign later this year in Russia.

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FFA on Thursday confirmed the appointment of the 65-year-old as Ange Postecoglou’s successor on a short-term contract, with longer-term arrangements to be announced “in the near future”.

Van Marwijk, who follows in the footsteps of compatriots Guus Hiddink and Pim Verbeek in taking the job, guided Holland to the final of the 2010 World Cup and most recently successfully negotiated a tricky Asian qualification campaign in charge of Saudi Arabia.

Another Dutchman, Mark van Bommel, is in line to join Van Marwijk as his assistant. The pair worked together for Saudi Arabia and Van Marwijk said it was important to have the former PSV, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan player alongside him in the Australian setup.

Van Marwijk was considered one of the leading contenders for the position, with the likes of Graham Arnold, Jürgen Klinsmann, Slaven Bilić, Marcelo Bielsa and Louis van Gaal also thought to have been in the mix.



Arnold, the only local coach realistically in contention, pulled out of the running earlier this week to concentrate on Sydney FC’s tilt at a second consecutive A-League title. With van Marwijk currently locked in just for the World Cup campaign, Arnold remains an option post-Russia.

The Football Federation Australia chairman, Steven Lowy, said Van Marwijk’s experience and knowledge of the Socceroos gained during the Asian conference qualifying campaign made him the ideal choice.

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“This is a great result for Australian football,” said Lowy. “Bert van Marwijk is world class.

“He took the Netherlands to the World Cup final in 2010, he led the Saudi Arabian team to qualify directly for this year’s finals and, most importantly, he knows a lot about our team and how they play because he studied them closely as an opposition manager in the same group. These experiences make him a compelling choice.”

Lowy added: “In Bert van Marwijk we have a manager who can achieve great things with this team. And we will ensure they have the resources necessary to give them the highest level of preparation.”

Van Marwijk has fewer than five months to familiarise himself with and prepare his new charges. He will take his bow against Norway in Oslo on 23 March before the Socceroos take on Colombia in London four days later. The team’s first game in Russia, against France in Kazan, comes on 16 June.

FFA, which has come under fire for the length of time it has taken to find a replacement for Postecoglou, had previously stated it would announce the new coach mid-February, but after the FFA chief executive, David Gallop, flew to Amsterdam, the selection process accelerated over recent days.

Gallop said Van Marwijk was FFA’s preferred candidate and was “delighted” to have secured his services.

“We went through a thorough and disciplined process, and used internal and external experts to build up a profile of the person who would be the best fit for the task in Russia,” said Gallop. “We had a number of outstanding coaches very interested in the role, but Bert was at the top of our shortlist.”

Van Marwijk counts Feyenoord (with whom he won the 2002 Uefa Cup), Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg among his former clubs, while Australia will be the third national team he has coached.

Having guided Holland to the World Cup final in 2010 by encouraging a physical style of play not normally associated with Dutch football, he quit in 2012 at the end of a pointless European Championship campaign.

He returned to the international arena with Saudi Arabia in 2015, qualifying them directly for Russia, before a dispute over preparations for the tournament led to his departure.

He said he was honoured to be chosen as the man to lead Australia at their fourth consecutive World Cup and insisted they would not be there to simply make up the numbers.

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“I know a lot about the players and how the team has been playing after coaching against them for the two World Cup qualifiers, in 2016 and in June last year,” van Marwijk said. “I have also been impressed by the national team set-up that the FFA has developed over the past few years.

“My response to them [FFA] has been that we are not going to Russia just to be competitive. I want to win our matches.”



The former Socceroos player, Brett Emerton, who played under Van Marwijk at Feyenoord, said the squad could expect to be pushed hard by their new boss.

“He can be quite demanding,” Emerton told Fox Sports. “He knows what he wants from his players. He makes it clear what their roles and responsibilities are. If you don’t [listen to him], you’ll find yourself on the sidelines.

“He’s a great man-manager. He knows how to get the best out of each and every player. He’s dealt with big names before. He knows how to deal with big personalities.

“He’s not a typical Dutch coach. He’s quite flexible in the way he plays. He’s got a big job ahead of him. It’s going to be tough, but fingers crossed he does a good job.”

After their World Cup opener against France, the Socceroos meet Denmark in Samara and Peru in Sochi.