Brad Maloney former head coach of the Malaysia U23 national team has been appointed to the role of Head Coach of Australia’s U17 national football team.
Maloney returns to Australian football following eight years with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), where from 2014 he was Assistant Coach of Malaysia Men’s U-23 national team and his role expanded to include Head Coach over the past three years of Malaysia Men’s U-23 and U-20 national teams. During his time with FAM, Maloney was also elevated to Assistant Coach of the Malaysian senior national team for several qualifying campaigns and tournaments.
The former Olyroo, Socceroo, and Johnny Warren Medallist will commence in the role later this month (August), as the Australia U17 commence preparations to qualify for the 2023 FIFA U17 World Cup, beginning with AFC U17 Asian Cup 2023™ Qualifiers in Shepparton, Victoria, in October.
“As a proud product of Australia’s elite football pathway and career coach, it’s always been a goal of mine to coach an Australian national team, so I’m delighted to have been appointed Head Coach of the Joeys,” Maloney said.
“I look forward to bringing my experience to this important development role and working closely with clubs and Member Federations to ensure that together, we are identifying the best emerging footballers for the under 17’s national team program, who will hopefully go on to become future Olyroos and Socceroos.
“Based upon the footballers selected for camps this year and the current squad competing at AFF U16 Youth Championship, there is a wealth of highly skilled and exciting talent coming through our pathway, and I can’t wait to get started in the role and continue preparations for October’s qualifiers,” Maloney concluded.
In addition to his Head Coach role with the Joeys, and as part of Football Australia’s National Teams strategy, Maloney will also serve as Assistant Coach of the Young Socceroos (U-20 men’s national football team), supporting newly appointed Head Coach Trevor Morgan in a national teams’ coaching structure which ensures key information and insights are exchanged up and down the elite player pathway.
Football Australia Chief Executive Officer, James Johnson, said that securing the services of Maloney as Joeys Head Coach was a fantastic outcome for our National Youth Teams, and complements the Head Coach appointments of Tony Vidmar (U-23/Olyroos) and Trevor Morgan (U-20/Young Socceroos).
“We are delighted to welcome Brad (Maloney) to Football Australia as the under 17’s men’s national team Head Coach, whilst also providing support to the Young Socceroos,” Johnson said.
“His knowledge and experience as a national youth team coach, particularly at a different Federation within the Asian Football Confederation, will be a great asset as both our Joeys and Young Socceroos commence their respective FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns in the coming months.”
“As someone who came through each Australian national youth and senior team himself, Brad is wonderfully placed to develop and mentor our best emerging players into the footballers and people we want to represent the green and gold for many years to come,” Johnson expressed.
The appointment of Maloney will see Football Australia have a full complement of head coaches for both men’s and women’s youth national teams for the first time since 2019.
“Heading into 2022, we had a deliberate strategy to stand up our national youth teams following two years of border closures and COVID restrictions severely impacting Australia’s participation in international youth football,” Johnson continued.
“As reflected in the XI Principles for the future of Australian football, our national youth teams underpin the future success of the game. So, ensuring we have the right structure, resources and importantly, personnel in place is key to this strategy, and we are delighted that we have been able to achieve this milestone and demonstrate our commitment to being a football-centric organisation ahead of a very busy, yet exciting 24-months for our national youth teams,” Johnson concluded.
Football Australia can also confirm the appointment of the current Football South Australia (FSA) Technical Director, Michael Cooper as Australia’s U17 Assistant Coach. Cooper will provide support to Australia’s U-17 national team program on an ongoing basis, including at camps, qualifying campaigns, and tournaments, while continuing his role with FSA. Cooper is no stranger to the National Youth Teams environment, having previously been an Assistant Coach of the Australia U15 in 2019, and is currently with the U-16 Australian representative team at the AFF U16 Youth Championship 2022 in Indonesia.
Credit Photo : AFC
