Western Sydney Wanderers have announced the appointment of Kat Smith as the club’s Liberty A-League head coach for the next two seasons.
The AFC/FFA Pro Licence holder comes to Western Sydney after plying her trade at both a domestic and national team level, having held coaching roles within the A-Leagues and Matildas set-up.
Smith was formerly the assistant coach at Melbourne Victory and during her time at the club was named the 2018 Female Coach of the Year and was called up to join the Matildas technical staff as a scout for the FIFA 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
More recently, Smith has been balancing her time between an analyst and assistant role with the Junior Matildas (Australia’s U17s squad) as well as being the head coach of Alamein FC, one of the eight inaugural teams in the Victorian Women’s National Premier League.
The next two seasons at the club will see Smith mentored and supported by the Wanderers Head of Women’s Football, Tom Sermanni, with the duo tasked to build the foundations for the next generation of national team players to come from Western Sydney.
Western Sydney Wanderers CEO Scott Hudson welcomed Kat to the club.
“Kat has had such a range of experience and leads the direction in where we want to go as a club in building our women’s team and program,” said Hudson.
“It is very important that we give opportunities to young domestic coaches and we build the team over the next two seasons to breed consistency and success.
“We are also proud to have Tom Sermanni involved to help guide and mentor one of the best up and coming coaches in the country.”
Head of Women’s Football Tom Sermanni praised the appointment.
“The key thing here is that it’s a significant appointment on several levels. When you look at Kat’s background, you see that she has accumulated an impressive resume in football to get to this stage,” said Sermanni.
“Kat is a fantastic example for aspiring coaches having been part of the elite youth level, senior Matildas staff, an assistant coach and a head coach in the National Premier League.
“This shows that she’s ready to be running our women’s program as she has built the foundations of her coaching career.”
Wanderers head coach Kat Smith said she was excited to be starting her journey at the Red & Black.
“It’s really exciting. The timing of the opportunity couldn’t be any better given it’s on the eve of the boom of women’s football in this country. I’m really excited to take on this opportunity at such a big club and ride that wave to bring success on and off the field,” said Smith.
“In sport, we know that continuity does drive performance. Success breeds off the back of that so to have the opportunity to build that over the next two seasons is something that I hope will lead towards results and success.
“Obviously, there’s the aspiration in this league to make Finals as that is the structure in place for the Liberty A-League competition.
“My driver is to be the best version of myself for these players as they have so many opportunities in front of them. For me personally, it’s bringing something to their journey and to their lives that’s positive and that’s going to create change and success for them.”
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