By Bill Papastergiadis
The Athens Global Women’s Football Summit brings the best football talent together in the one place.
Attending were two good friends of mine – Joe Montemurro (Head Coach of the Matildas) and Sasa Kolman (Head Coach of the Slovenian Women’s team). I caught up with both Joe and Sasa by chance. We live in a small world.
Joe has had a stellar career in Australia and abroad and has coached some of the best clubs globally. He has won league titles at Arsenal, Juventus and Olympique Lyonnais. His philosophy is simple.
“We need to nurture and drive talent from a young age,” he told me.
“Our focus should always be in providing opportunities to young aspiring footballers. A fully integrated program is essential for our footballers.
“I loved my time at Olympique Lyonnaise, but the completions coming up for the Matildas are irresistible to not want to challenge yourself. The Matildas have before them the Asian Cup, the World Cup and the Olympics. Women’s football has never been brighter in Australia.”
Sasa is no stranger to Australia. He is the former Head Men’s Coach at South Melbourne Hellas and also coached my son Lee at South juniors. His achievements in Slovenia have been nothing but extraordinary having elevated the senior women’s national team to Division 1 in Europe. An amazing achievement for a nation of only 2 million people.
Sasa is also close with my co-President at South Melbourne, Andrew Mesourouni. Recently in Perth, Sasa coached his Slovenian team to a one all draw with the Matildas.
“I loved my time in Australia and at South,” he said.
“I’m so excited by South’s participation in the Oceania Professional League. The Club deserves to play at the top tier in Australia. The Club will always be close to me heart as I have so many close friends there.”
Football unites us all and often brings out the best in people. We are fortunate to be close to such great coaching talent who care deeply for their players and programs.
