The Matildas will face Slovenia twice this week in a series of friendly matches. Both teams will be coached by South Melbourne Alumni.

Joe Montemurro will lead the Matildas after recently being announced as the team’s new head coach. Montemurro spent six seasons at South, initially as a youth coach between 2003 and 2005 and then returning to the club in 2009.

In his second stint at the club Montemurro was elevated to the role of assistant manager, and was even briefly manager of the senior team in a caretaker capacity after Peter Tsolakis was required to serve a two match ban.

Sasa Koleman enjoyed a similar trajectory as South. He joined the club in 2013 as a Youth coach and in 2014 was elevated as coach of the reserves where he helped win the the team a title.

He returned to the club for a second stint in 2016 as an assistant, before taking on the head coaching responsibilities in 2018 where the club suffered a tumultuous season and barely survived relegation.

Both coaches now return to Australia has leaders of their national teams. We wish both managers all the best of luck!