List of A-League head coaches

The A-League is the top level professional association football league in Australia. The league was established by Football Federation Australia in 2004 as a successor to the National Soccer League and commenced in August 2005. Since the start of the league there have been a total of 62 head coach appointments in the 13 (currently 10) clubs. Some of the people have served spells as caretaker (temporary) coaches in the period between a managerial departure and appointment. Several caretaker head coaches have gone on to secure a permanent managerial post.

Note that head coaches may have served a club of a different name due to a change in the clubs name: Brisbane Roar formally Queensland Roar prior to the 2009–10 season, and Melbourne City formally Melbourne Heart prior to the 2014–15 season.

Head coaches

The list of head coaches includes everyone who has managed clubs while they were in the A-League, whether in a permanent or temporary role. Caretaker head coaches are listed only when they managed the team for at least one match in that period.

Key

	Incumbent head coach
	Caretaker head coach

Name	Nationality	Club	From	Until	Ref
John Kosmina	Australia	Adelaide United	September 2003	February 2007
Aurelio Vidmar	Australia	Adelaide United	February 2007	June 2010
Phil Stubbins	Australia	Adelaide United	June 2010	July 2010
Rini Coolen	Netherlands	Adelaide United	July 2010	December 2011
John Kosmina	Australia	Adelaide United	December 2011	28 January 2013
Michael Valkanis	Australia	Adelaide United	January 2013	April 2013
Josep Gombau	Spain	Adelaide United	1 May 2013	Present
Miron Bleiberg	Australia	Brisbane Roar	2 March 2005	12 November 2006
Frank Farina	Australia	Brisbane Roar	15 November 2006	14 October 2009
Rado Vidošić	Australia	Brisbane Roar	11 October 2009	16 October 2009
Ange Postecoglou	Australia	Brisbane Roar	16 October 2009	24 April 2012
Rado Vidošić	Australia	Brisbane Roar	25 April 2012	18 December 2012
Mike Mulvey	Australia	Brisbane Roar	18 December 2012	Present
Lawrie McKinna	Australia	Central Coast Mariners	2005	9 February 2010
Graham Arnold	Australia	Central Coast Mariners	9 February 2010	14 November 2013
Phil Moss	Australia	Central Coast Mariners	14 November 2013	6 March 2015
Tony Walmsley	Australia	Central Coast Mariners	6 March 2015	Present
Miron Bleiberg	Australia	Gold Coast United	August 2007	February 2012
Mike Mulvey	Australia	Gold Coast United	February 2012	March 2012
John van 't Schip	Netherlands	Melbourne City	October 2009	April 2011
John Aloisi	Australia	Melbourne City	May 2011	29 December 2013
John van 't Schip	Netherlands	Melbourne City	30 December 2013	Present
Ernie Merrick	Australia	Melbourne Victory	20 December 2004	12 March 2011
Kevin Muscat	Australia	Melbourne Victory	6 January 2012	7 January 2012
Jim Magilton	Northern Ireland	Melbourne Victory	7 January 2012	1 April 2012
Mehmet Durakovic	Australia	Melbourne Victory	12 March 2011	6 January 2012
Ange Postecoglou	Australia	Melbourne Victory	26 April 2012	26 October 2013
Kevin Muscat	Australia	Melbourne Victory	31 October 2013	Present
John Adshead	New Zealand	New Zealand Knights	January 2005	April 2006
Paul Nevin	England	New Zealand Knights	May 2006	November 2006
Barry Simmonds	England	New Zealand Knights	November 2006	November 2006
Ricki Herbert	New Zealand	New Zealand Knights	December 2006	January 2007
Richard Money	England	Newcastle Jets	1 January 2005	31 December 2005
Nick Theodorakopoulos	Australia	Newcastle Jets	2006	2006
Gary van Egmond	Australia	Newcastle Jets	2006	2009
Branko Čulina	Australia	Newcastle Jets	1 January 2009	4 October 2011
Craig Deans	Australia	Newcastle Jets	3 October 2011	20 October 2011
Gary van Egmond	Australia	Newcastle Jets	20 October 2011	20 January 2014
Clayton Zane	Australia	Newcastle Jets	20 January 2014	5 May 2014
Phil Stubbins	Australia	Newcastle Jets	5 May 2014	Present
Ian Ferguson	Scotland	North Queensland Fury	2009	2010
František Straka	Czechoslovakia	North Queensland Fury	2010	2011
Steve McMahon	England	Perth Glory	25 January 2005	7 December 2005
Alan Vest	New Zealand	Perth Glory	8 December 2005	25 July 2006
Ron Smith	Australia	Perth Glory	26 July 2006	4 November 2007
Dave Mitchell	Australia	Perth Glory	4 December 2007	12 October 2010
Ian Ferguson	Scotland	Perth Glory	12 October 2010	February 2013
Alistair Edwards	Australia	Perth Glory	11 February 2013	17 December 2013
Kenny Lowe	England	Perth Glory	20 December 2013	Present
Pierre Littbarski	Germany	Sydney FC	Feb 2005	June 2006
Terry Butcher	England	Sydney FC	July 2006	February 2007
Branko Čulina	Australia	Sydney FC	April 2007	October 2007
John Kosmina	Australia	Sydney FC	October 2007	March 2009
Vítězslav Lavička	Czechoslovakia	Sydney FC	February 2009	May 2012
Ian Crook	England	Sydney FC	May 2012	11 November 2012
Steve Corica	Australia	Sydney FC	12 November 2012	27 November 2012
Frank Farina	Australia	Sydney FC	28 November 2012	23 April 2014
Graham Arnold	Australia	Sydney FC	8 May 2014	Present
Ricki Herbert	New Zealand	Wellington Phoenix	2007	26 February 2013
Chris Greenacre	England	Wellington Phoenix	26 February 2013	31 March 2013
Ernie Merrick	Australia	Wellington Phoenix	20 May 2013	Present
Tony Popovic	Australia	Western Sydney Wanderers	17 May 2012	Present

By club

Includes multiple appointments of a head coach by a club(s).

Club	Total
Adelaide United	7
Brisbane Roar	6
Central Coast Mariners	4
Gold Coast United	2
Melbourne City	3
Melbourne Victory	6
New Zealand Knights	4
Newcastle Jets	8
North Queensland Fury	2
Perth Glory	7
Sydney FC	10
Wellington Phoenix	3
Western Sydney Wanderers	1

By nationality

Does not include multiple appointments of a head coach by a club(s).

Country	Total
Australia	26
England	8
New Zealand	3
Scotland	1
Czechoslovakia	2
Netherlands	2
Northern Ireland	1
Spain	1
Germany	1

Most games coached in A-League

List of head coaches who have taken charge of over 100 A-League matches.

Rank	Head coach	Games	Club(s)
1	Ernie Merrick	194	Melbourne Victory (151), Wellington Phoenix (43)
2	Ricki Herbert	159	New Zealand Knights (5), Wellington Phoenix (154)
3	Gary van Egmond	129	Newcastle Jets (129)
4	Lawrie McKinna	120	Central Coast Mariners (120)
5	John Kosmina	118	Adelaide United (83), Sydney FC (35)
6	Miron Bleiberg	115	Queensland Roar (33), Gold Coast United (82)
7	Graham Arnold	114	Central Coast Mariners (98), Sydney FC (16)
8	Frank Farina	113	Brisbane Roar (66), Sydney FC (47)
9	Ange Postecoglou	112	Brisbane Roar (80), Melbourne Victory (32)