Tony Popović set to be named Socceroos coach for 2026 World Cup tilt

Tony Popović is set to become the next coach of the Socceroos, with Football Australia moving quickly to replace Graham Arnold following his shock resignation last Friday.

It was reported on Sunday that Popović had been tapped to take over as the next coach of Australia’s men and multiple sources have since confirmed it to The Guardian.

Having relocated to Europe following his exit as coach of Melbourne Victory after the 2023-24 A-League Men season, it’s believed the 51-year-old flew back to Australia soon after Arnold’s departure was made official on Friday. The unveiling of the Sydney-born Popović is set to take place as soon as Monday and discussions are under way surrounding staff he wants in the national setup.

Capped 58 times by the Socceroos across his 19-year playing career, Popović will become the first member of the ‘golden generation’ – players that qualified for the 2006 World Cup – to coach Australia. He looks set to sign a deal that will take him through to the end of the 2026 World Cup cycle and will be in the dugout for next month’s qualifiers against China in Adelaide and Japan in Saitama.

There will be little scope for a bedding-in period. The deadline for submitting the squad list for those fixtures is rapidly approaching and the China fixture, in particular, is shaping as a must-win game after Arnold presided over a defeat against Bahrain and a draw with Indonesia in the opening games of the third-phase of Asian qualification.

Football Australia has declined to comment on the reported appointment of Popović.

Though linked with a move to Hajduk Split in May, Popović has been a free agent since departing Victory after the last A-League Men season, where they were defeated 3-1 by the Central Coast Mariners in the grand final after finishing the regular season in third place.

It was this availability that saw him quickly emerge as the favourite to replace Arnold, beating out a field that had been speculated to include figures such as Western United boss John Aloisi, Frenchman Hervé Renard, former Mariner boss and current Tottenham assistant Nick Montgomery, and FC Tokyo gaffer Peter Cklamovski.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that former Iran and Qatar boss Carlos Queiroz threw his hat into the ring but did so too late to be seriously considered.

The Australia post will be the first international post held by Popović since he moved into coaching in 2008, beginning with stints as an assistant at his former clubs Sydney FC and Crystal Palace before being named as the inaugural coach of Western Sydney in 2012.

Popović famously won the A-League Men premiership in his first year with the Wanderers before registering his signature coaching achievement in 2014 as he led them to an Asian Champions League crown – the only Australian side to ever achieve the feat.

Leaving the Wanderers on the eve of the 2017-18 season to pursue what ended up being a short, ill-fated stint with Turkish side Karabükspor, he returned to Australia in 2018 with the Glory, whom he led to their lone piece of silverware in the A-League era by securing the 2018–19 premiership.

After another ill-omened period abroad, this time with Greek side Xanthi, he was named the coach of Victory in 2021, leading them to an Australia Cup triumph that same year and being credited for helping to rid the club’s football department of the complacent rot that had set in at the club in the preceding years.

A former centreback by trade and one of the most defensively-sound coaches ever produced by Australia, Popović will likely have little trouble in maintaining the defensive foundation left by Arnold, which has seen the side concede just once in this phase of qualification.

However, while he helped reinvigorate the careers of Nick D’Agostino, Bruno Fornaroli and Daniel Arzani during his time at the club, he also drew the increasing ire of the Victory fanbase during his tenure for what was often a blunt attacking approach – something that has also haunted the Socceroos under Arnold’s tenure.