# List of A-League Men head coaches

The A-League Men is a professional soccer league in Australia which is at the top of the Australian league system. The league was formed in 2005 as a replacement for the original National Soccer League.
Some of the people have served spells as caretaker (temporary) managers in the period between a managerial departure and appointment. Several caretaker managers such as Tony Walmsley at Central Coast Mariners have gone on to secure a permanent managerial post. As of 2023, Ernie Merrick, Mike Mulvey, John Aloisi, Marko Rudan and Tony Popovic are the only coaches to have managed more than two A-League Men clubs.

## Managers

The list of managers includes everyone who has managed clubs while they were in the A-League Men, whether in a permanent or temporary role. Caretaker managers are listed only when they managed the team for at least one match in that period.
The dates of appointment and departure may fall outside the club's period in the A-League Men, for example, John Kosmina was appointed as Adelaide United manager in 2003 (before the A-League was formed in 2005) and remained in his position through the league's establishment.
Key :
| † | Incumbent manager |
| ‡ | Caretaker manager |
| * | Present up to date as of 31 January 2025 |
Managers :
| Name | Nat. | Club | From | Until | Duration (days) | Seasons in A-League Men | Ref. |
| John Kosmina | AUS | Adelaide United | 13 September 2003 | 23 February 2007 | 1259 | 2 | |
| Aurelio Vidmar | AUS | Adelaide United | 23 February 2007 | 3 June 2010 | 1196 | 3 | |
| Rini Coolen | NED | Adelaide United | 6 July 2010 | 18 December 2011 | 530 | 2 | |
| John Kosmina | AUS | Adelaide United | 18 December 2011 | 28 January 2013 | 407 | 2 | |
| Michael Valkanis ‡ | AUS | Adelaide United | 28 January 2013 | 10 April 2013 | 72 | 1 | |
| Josep Gombau | ESP | Adelaide United | 30 April 2013 | 24 July 2015 | 815 | 2 | |
| Guillermo Amor | ESP | Adelaide United | 24 July 2015 | 10 May 2017 | 652 | 2 | |
| Marco Kurz | GER | Adelaide United | 16 August 2017 | 30 June 2019 | 684 | 2 | |
| Gertjan Verbeek | NED | Adelaide United | 1 July 2019 | 29 April 2020 | 304 | 1 | |
| Carl Veart ‡ | AUS | Adelaide United | 15 June 2020 | 15 June 2020 | 95 | 1 | |
| Carl Veart † | AUS | Adelaide United | 18 September 2020 | Present* | 1691 | 5 | |
| Steve Corica † | AUS | Auckland FC | 20 December 2023 | Present* | 408 | 1 | |
| Frank Farina | AUS | Brisbane Roar | 15 November 2006 | 14 October 2009 | 1064 | 4 | |
| Rado Vidošić ‡ | CRO | Brisbane Roar | 14 October 2009 | 17 October 2009 | 3 | 1 | |
| Ange Postecoglou | AUS | Brisbane Roar | 17 October 2009 | 24 April 2012 | 920 | 3 | |
| Rado Vidošić | CRO | Brisbane Roar | 25 April 2012 | 18 December 2012 | 237 | 1 | |
| Mike Mulvey | ENG | Brisbane Roar | 18 December 2012 | 23 November 2014 | 705 | 3 | |
| Frans Thijssen ‡ | NED | Brisbane Roar | 23 November 2014 | 26 May 2015 | 184 | 1 | |
| John Aloisi | AUS | Brisbane Roar | 26 May 2015 | 28 December 2018 | 1313 | 4 | |
| Darren Davies ‡ | WAL | Brisbane Roar | 29 December 2018 | 30 June 2019 | 184 | 1 | |
| Robbie Fowler | ENG | Brisbane Roar | 1 July 2019 | 29 June 2020 | 365 | 1 | |
| Warren Moon Darren Davies ‡ | AUS WAL | Brisbane Roar | 29 June 2020 | 16 July 2020 | 18 | 1 | |
| Warren Moon | AUS | Brisbane Roar | 16 July 2020 | 20 February 2023 | 950 | 4 | [28] [29] |
| Nick Green ‡ | ENG | Brisbane Roar | 21 February 2023 | 2 May 2023 | 70 | 1 | |
| Ross Aloisi | AUS | Brisbane Roar | 2 May 2023 | 24 December 2023 | 237 | 1 | |
| Luciano Trani ‡ | AUS | Brisbane Roar | 24 December 2023 | 1 January 2024 | 9 | 1 | |
| Ben Cahn | ENG | Brisbane Roar | 1 January 2024 | 1 February 2024 | 31 | 1 | |
| Ruben Zadkovich ‡ | AUS | Brisbane Roar | 1 February 2024 | 22 April 2024 | 82 | 1 | |
| Ruben Zadkovich | ENG | Brisbane Roar | 22 April 2024 | Present* | 284 | 2 | |
| Lawrie McKinna | SCO | Central Coast Mariners | 10 October 2004 | 9 February 2010 | 1948 | 5 | |
| Graham Arnold | AUS | Central Coast Mariners | 9 February 2010 | 14 November 2013 | 1374 | 4 | |
| Phil Moss | AUS | Central Coast Mariners | 15 November 2013 | 5 March 2015 | 475 | 2 | |
| Tony Walmsley | ENG | Central Coast Mariners | 5 March 2015 | 8 August 2016 | 522 | 2 | |
| Paul Okon | AUS | Central Coast Mariners | 28 August 2016 | 20 March 2018 | 570 | 2 | |
| Wayne O'Sullivan ‡ | IRL | Central Coast Mariners | 20 March 2018 | 18 April 2018 | 184 | 1 | |
| Mike Mulvey | ENG | Central Coast Mariners | 1 July 2018 | 10 March 2019 | 253 | 1 | |
| Alen Stajcic ‡ | AUS | Central Coast Mariners | 12 March 2019 | 1 May 2019 | 51 | 1 | |
| Alen Stajcic | AUS | Central Coast Mariners | 1 May 2019 | 1 May 2021 | 732 | 2 | |
| Nick Montgomery | SCO | Central Coast Mariners | 2 July 2021 | 11 September 2023 | 802 | 2 | [52] [53] |
| Abbas Saad ‡ | AUS | Central Coast Mariners | 11 September 2023 | 27 September 2023 | 17 | 1 | |
| Mark Jackson † | ENG | Central Coast Mariners | 27 September 2023 | Present* | 492 | 2 | |
| Miron Bleiberg | ISR | Gold Coast United | 6 June 2008 | 19 February 2012 | 1353 | 3 | |
| Mike Mulvey ‡ | ENG | Gold Coast United | 19 February 2012 | 5 April 2012 | 46 | 1 | |
| Ante Milicic | AUS | Macarthur FC | 15 May 2019 | 8 May 2022 | 1090 | 2 | |
| Dwight Yorke | TRI | Macarthur FC | 15 May 2022 | 21 January 2023 | 252 | 1 | [61] [62] |
| Mile Sterjovski † | AUS | Macarthur FC | 23 January 2022 | Present* | 739 | 2 | |
| John van 't Schip | NED | Melbourne Heart | 12 October 2009 | 26 April 2012 | 927 | 2 | |
| John Aloisi | AUS | Melbourne Heart | 7 May 2012 | 29 December 2013 | 601 | 2 | |
| John van 't Schip | NED | Melbourne City | 29 December 2013 | 3 January 2017 | 1101 | 4 | |
| Michael Valkanis ‡ | AUS | Melbourne City | 3 January 2017 | 27 January 2017 | 24 | 1 | |
| Michael Valkanis | AUS | Melbourne City | 27 January 2017 | 19 June 2017 | 144 | 1 | |
| Warren Joyce | ENG | Melbourne City | 19 June 2017 | 8 May 2019 | 659 | 2 | |
| Erick Mombaerts | FRA | Melbourne City | 26 June 2019 | 3 September 2020 | 436 | 1 | |
| Patrick Kisnorbo | AUS | Melbourne City | 3 September 2020 | 23 November 2022 | 812 | 3 | |
| Rado Vidošić ‡ | CRO | Melbourne City | 23 November 2022 | 6 February 2023 | 76 | 1 | |
| Rado Vidošić | CRO | Melbourne City | 6 February 2023 | 1 November 2023 | 269 | 2 | |
| Aurelio Vidmar † | AUS | Melbourne City | 1 November 2023 | Present* | 457 | 2 | |
| Ernie Merrick | SCO | Melbourne Victory | 20 December 2004 | 11 March 2011 | 2272 | 6 | |
| Mehmet Durakovic | AUS | Melbourne Victory | 11 March 2011 | 6 January 2012 | 301 | 2 | |
| Kevin Muscat ‡ | AUS | Melbourne Victory | 6 January 2012 | 7 January 2012 | 1 | 1 | |
| Jim Magilton ‡ | NIR | Melbourne Victory | 7 January 2012 | 1 April 2012 | 85 | 1 | |
| Ange Postecoglou | AUS | Melbourne Victory | 26 April 2012 | 25 October 2013 | 547 | 2 | |
| Kevin Muscat | AUS | Melbourne Victory | 31 October 2013 | 19 May 2019 | 2027 | 6 | |
| Marco Kurz | GER | Melbourne Victory | 27 June 2019 | 14 January 2020 | 202 | 1 | |
| Carlos Pérez Salvachúa ‡ | ESP | Melbourne Victory | 14 January 2020 | 29 May 2020 | 137 | 1 | |
| Grant Brebner ‡ | SCO | Melbourne Victory | 1 June 2020 | 24 August 2020 | 85 | 1 | |
| Grant Brebner | SCO | Melbourne Victory | 24 August 2020 | 17 April 2021 | 237 | 1 | |
| Steve Kean ‡ | SCO | Melbourne Victory | 19 April 2021 | 30 June 2021 | 73 | 1 | |
| Tony Popovic | AUS | Melbourne Victory | 1 July 2021 | 12 June 2024 | 1078 | 3 | |
| Patrick Kisnorbo | AUS | Melbourne Victory | 25 June 2024 | 17 December 2024 | 176 | 1 | |
| Arthur Diles ‡ | AUS | Melbourne Victory | 17 December 2024 | 31 January 2025 | 46 | 1 | |
| Arthur Diles † | AUS | Melbourne City | 31 January 2025 | Present* | 0 | 1 | |
| John Adshead | NZL | New Zealand Knights | 14 January 2005 | 10 April 2006 | 451 | 1 | |
| Paul Nevin | ENG | New Zealand Knights | 10 April 2006 | 15 November 2006 | 219 | 1 | |
| Barry Simmonds ‡ | ENG | New Zealand Knights | 15 November 2006 | 14 December 2006 | 29 | 1 | |
| Ricki Herbert | NZL | New Zealand Knights | 14 December 2006 | 1 April 2007 | 108 | 1 | |
| Richard Money | ENG | Newcastle Jets | 25 May 2005 | 3 April 2006 | 313 | 1 | |
| Nick Theodorakopoulos | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 5 April 2006 | 10 October 2006 | 188 | 1 | |
| Gary van Egmond | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 10 October 2006 | 28 June 2009 | 992 | 3 | |
| Branko Culina | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 30 June 2009 | 4 October 2011 | 826 | 2 | |
| Craig Deans ‡ | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 4 October 2011 | 20 October 2011 | 16 | 1 | |
| Gary van Egmond | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 20 October 2011 | 19 January 2014 | 822 | 3 | |
| Clayton Zane ‡ | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 19 January 2014 | 5 May 2014 | 106 | 1 | |
| Phil Stubbins | ENG | Newcastle Jets | 5 May 2014 | 26 May 2015 | 386 | 1 | |
| Scott Miller | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 18 June 2015 | 7 September 2016 | 447 | 1 | |
| Mark Jones | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 23 September 2016 | 16 April 2017 | 205 | 1 | |
| Ernie Merrick | SCO | Newcastle Jets | 9 May 2017 | 6 January 2020 | 973 | 3 | |
| Craig Deans Qiang Li ‡ | AUS CHN | Newcastle Jets | 9 January 2020 | 6 February 2020 | 29 | 1 | |
| Carl Robinson | WAL | Newcastle Jets | 6 February 2020 | 14 October 2020 | 252 | 1 | |
| Craig Deans ‡ | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 14 October 2020 | 9 February 2021 | 119 | 1 | |
| Craig Deans | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 9 February 2021 | 3 June 2021 | 115 | 1 | |
| Arthur Papas | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 28 June 2021 | 19 June 2023 | 722 | 2 | [122] [123] |
| Robert Stanton † | AUS | Newcastle Jets | 26 June 2023 | Present* | 585 | 2 | |
| Ian Ferguson | SCO | North Queensland Fury | 15 September 2008 | 6 April 2010 | 568 | 1 | |
| František Straka | CZE | North Queensland Fury | 8 June 2010 | 1 March 2011 | 266 | 1 | |
| Steve McMahon | ENG | Perth Glory | 25 January 2005 | 7 December 2005 | 316 | 1 | |
| Alan Vest ‡ | NZL | Perth Glory | 8 December 2005 | 26 July 2006 | 230 | 1 | |
| Ron Smith | AUS | Perth Glory | 26 July 2006 | 3 November 2007 | 465 | 2 | |
| Dave Mitchell | AUS | Perth Glory | 3 November 2007 | 11 October 2010 | 1073 | 4 | |
| Ian Ferguson | SCO | Perth Glory | 11 October 2010 | 11 February 2013 | 854 | 3 | |
| Alistair Edwards | AUS | Perth Glory | 11 February 2013 | 17 December 2013 | 309 | 2 | |
| Kenny Lowe | ENG | Perth Glory | 20 December 2013 | 20 April 2018 | 1583 | 5 | |
| Tony Popovic | AUS | Perth Glory | 11 May 2018 | 27 August 2020 | 840 | 2 | |
| Hayden Foxe ‡ | AUS | Perth Glory | 2 September 2020 | 18 September 2020 | 16 | 1 | |
| Richard Garcia | AUS | Perth Glory | 18 September 2020 | 20 March 2022 | 549 | 2 | |
| Ruben Zadkovich ‡ | AUS | Perth Glory | 20 March 2022 | 2 June 2022 | 75 | 1 | |
| Ruben Zadkovich | AUS | Perth Glory | 2 June 2022 | 2 June 2023 | 366 | 1 | [142][143] [144] |
| Kenny Lowe ‡ | ENG | Perth Glory | 12 July 2023 | 3 August 2023 | 23 | 1 | |
| Alen Stajcic | AUS | Perth Glory | 3 August 2023 | 25 June 2024 | 328 | 1 | |
| David Zdrilic † | AUS | Perth Glory | 28 June 2024 | Present* | 217 | 1 | |
| Miron Bleiberg | ISR | Queensland Roar | 5 February 2005 | 14 November 2006 | 647 | 2 | |
| Pierre Littbarski | GER | Sydney FC | 26 February 2005 | 3 May 2006 | 431 | 1 | |
| Terry Butcher | ENG | Sydney FC | 17 May 2006 | 8 February 2007 | 267 | 1 | |
| Branko Culina | AUS | Sydney FC | 13 February 2007 | 22 October 2007 | 251 | 1 | |
| John Kosmina | AUS | Sydney FC | 24 October 2007 | 31 January 2009 | 465 | 2 | |
| Vítězslav Lavička | CZE | Sydney FC | 3 February 2009 | 30 March 2012 | 1151 | 3 | |
| Ian Crook | AUS | Sydney FC | 14 May 2012 | 11 November 2012 | 181 | 1 | |
| Steve Corica ‡ | AUS | Sydney FC | 11 November 2012 | 28 November 2012 | 17 | 1 | |
| Frank Farina | AUS | Sydney FC | 28 November 2012 | 23 April 2014 | 511 | 2 | |
| Graham Arnold | AUS | Sydney FC | 8 May 2014 | 31 May 2018 | 1485 | 4 | |
| Steve Corica | AUS | Sydney FC | 1 June 2018 | 7 November 2023 | 1986 | 6 | [166] [167] |
| Ufuk Talay † | AUS | Sydney FC | 8 November 2023 | Present* | 450 | 1 | |
| Ricki Herbert | NZL | Wellington Phoenix | 19 March 2007 | 26 February 2013 | 2171 | 6 | |
| Chris Greenacre ‡ | ENG | Wellington Phoenix | 26 February 2013 | 20 May 2013 | 83 | 1 | |
| Ernie Merrick | SCO | Wellington Phoenix | 20 May 2013 | 5 December 2016 | 1296 | 4 | |
| Des Buckingham Chris Greenacre ‡ | ENG ENG | Wellington Phoenix | 5 December 2016 | 1 January 2017 | 28 | 1 | |
| Des Buckingham | ENG | Wellington Phoenix | 1 January 2017 | 7 June 2017 | 158 | 1 | |
| Darije Kalezić | BIH | Wellington Phoenix | 7 June 2017 | 7 March 2018 | 274 | 1 | |
| Marko Rudan | AUS | Wellington Phoenix | 30 May 2018 | 3 May 2019 | 339 | 1 | |
| Ufuk Talay | AUS | Wellington Phoenix | 20 May 2019 | 6 May 2023 | 1448 | 4 | [178] [179] |
| Giancarlo Italiano † | AUS | Wellington Phoenix | 6 May 2023 | Present* | 636 | 1 | |
| Tony Popovic | AUS | Western Sydney Wanderers | 18 May 2012 | 1 October 2017 | 1963 | 5 | |
| Hayden Foxe ‡ | AUS | Western Sydney Wanderers | 3 October 2017 | 1 November 2017 | 30 | 1 | |
| Josep Gombau | ESP | Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 November 2017 | 19 April 2018 | 170 | 1 | |
| Markus Babbel | GER | Western Sydney Wanderers | 19 May 2018 | 20 January 2020 | 612 | 2 | |
| Jean-Paul De Marigny ‡ | AUS | Western Sydney Wanderers | 20 January 2020 | 14 July 2020 | 177 | 1 | |
| Jean-Paul De Marigny | AUS | Western Sydney Wanderers | 14 July 2020 | 12 October 2020 | 91 | 1 | |
| Carl Robinson | WAL | Western Sydney Wanderers | 15 October 2020 | 30 January 2022 | 473 | 2 | |
| Marko Rudan | AUS | Western Sydney Wanderers | 31 January 2022 | 16 May 2024 | 837 | 3 | |
| Alen Stajcic † | AUS | Western Sydney Wanderers | 25 June 2024 | Present* | 220 | 1 | |
| Marko Rudan | AUS | Western United | 23 May 2019 | 23 May 2021 | 748 | 2 | |
| John Aloisi † | AUS | Western United | 15 July 2021 | Present* | 1296 | 2 | |

### By club

| Club | Total |
| Adelaide United | 10 |
| Auckland FC | 1 |
| Brisbane Roar | 15 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 11 |
| Gold Coast United | 2 |
| Macarthur FC | 3 |
| Melbourne City | 8 |
| Melbourne Victory | 12 |
| Newcastle Jets | 15 |
| New Zealand Knights | 4 |
| North Queensland Fury | 2 |
| Perth Glory | 13 |
| Sydney FC | 10 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 8 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 8 |
| Western United | 2 |

## Most games coached in A-League Men

List of head coaches who have taken charge of over 100 A-League Men matches—As of 25 January 2025 :
| Rank | Head coach | Games | Club(s) |
| 1 | Ernie Merrick | 308 | Melbourne Victory (151), Wellington Phoenix (90), Newcastle Jets (67) |
| 2 | Tony Popovic | 284 | Western Sydney Wanderers (142), Perth Glory (57), Melbourne Victory (85) |
| 3 | John Aloisi | 230 | Melbourne Heart (39), Brisbane Roar (95), Western United (96) |
| 4 | Graham Arnold | 211 | Central Coast Mariners (98), Sydney FC (113) |
| 5 | Kevin Muscat | 172 | Melbourne Victory (172) |
| 6 | Ricki Herbert | 159 | New Zealand Knights (5), Wellington Phoenix (154) |
| 7 | Steve Corica | 159 | Sydney FC (146), Auckland FC (13) |
| 8 | Marko Rudan | 153 | Wellington Phoenix (28), Western United (54), Western Sydney Wanderers (71) |
| 9 | Ufuk Talay | 147 | Wellington Phoenix (105), Sydney FC (42) |
| 10 | John van 't Schip | 144 | Melbourne City (144) |
| 11 | Gary van Egmond | 130 | Newcastle Jets (130) |
| 12 | Carl Veart | 129 | Adelaide United (129) |
| 13 | Kenny Lowe | 128 | Perth Glory (128) |
| 14 | Lawrie McKinna | 120 | Central Coast Mariners (120) |
| 15 | John Kosmina | 118 | Adelaide United (83), Sydney FC (35) |
| 16 | Miron Bleiberg | 114 | Queensland Roar (33), Gold Coast United (81) |
| 17 | Frank Farina | 113 | Brisbane Roar (66), Sydney FC (47) |
| 18 | Ange Postecoglou | 112 | Brisbane Roar (80), Melbourne Victory (32) |
| 19 | Aurelio Vidmar | 110 | Adelaide United (73), Melbourne City (37) |