Football Federation Australia (FFA) confirms that it has today terminated the employment of Westfield Matildas Head Coach Alen Stajcic.

FFA recently conducted a number of confidential surveys to evaluate the standard of the Senior Women’s National Team environment and culture. This included a Wellbeing Audit conducted in partnership with PFA, as well as a Gender Equality Culture Survey conducted by Our Watch.

The surveys, along with other inquiries of players and staff, have led FFA to determine that the team environment is unsatisfactory and that a change in leadership is required to improve the culture and provide every opportunity for the team to perform to its full potential.

FFA CEO David Gallop AM said: “The ultimate responsibility for driving change and leading a high-performance environment that puts the team in the best possible position to achieve what they are capable of, rests with the Head Coach. We no longer have confidence that Alen is the right person to lead the team and staff. “

“FFA is committed to providing the best possible environment for the Westfield Matildas and this change is being made with that objective in mind. We will continue to review other aspects of the team set-up and monitor the Matildas environment in the coming weeks and months as we build for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.”

“Alen has achieved a number of successes on the field with the Westfield Matildas since coming to the role in 2014. We thank Alen for this service and wish him the very best in his future endeavours in football.”, said Gallop.

FFA will now commence the process to appoint an Interim Coach to take charge of the team through until the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The leadership and culture workshop involving the team, PFA and experts from the Australian Institute of Sport and Melbourne Business School will take place next week as planned.