Football Coaches Australia teams up with WorldStrides

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Image credit: Football Coaches Australia website

Football Coaches Australia (FCA), the national body for certified coaches, has teamed up with WorldStrides, a global educational travel leader, to offer exciting opportunities for coaches and players.

This collaboration allows FCA members to experience unique sporting and cultural journeys filled with memorable experiences.

FCA includes over 250 Advanced Licence and Community coaches nationwide. Working closely with state federations, FFA, and partners in both corporate and government sectors, FCA strives to offer comprehensive support for coaches, focusing on Advocacy, Professional Development, Wellbeing, and Gender Equity and Diversity.

FCA CEO Kelly Rourke shared enthusiasm for the partnership, highlighting its potential to enhance the coaching community and create opportunities for growth and development.

“FCA is extremely excited to be a part of this initiative with WorldStrides. It provides the potential opportunity for coaches and players to attend international events to enhance their football knowledge, international exposure, experience and connections. It has the potential to open untapped opportunities for all; that’s undeniably an exciting prospect,” she said via press release.

With their expertise and vast network, WorldStrides arranges top-tier matches, training sessions, and access to professional games. This partnership gives coaches a unique opportunity to learn from global leaders while also immersing themselves in different cultures and exploring new cities with WorldStrides’ guidance.

WorldStrides General Manager, Dan Kellerd, highlighted the initiative’s groundbreaking impact.

“Our initiative to send Australian footballers on international trips is groundbreaking, and joining forces with FCA will be pivotal in opening up these opportunities to more young players. It’s an opportunity set to ignite the passion of coaches and players alike,” he said via press release.

Founded in 1967 to offer middle school trips to Washington, D.C., WorldStrides has since expanded to serve over 550,000 students each year across more than 100 countries.

WorldStrides provides hands-on learning experiences in educational travel, performing arts, language immersion, career exploration, service learning, study abroad, and sports, helping students gain new perspectives on the world and themselves beyond the classroom.

FCA will host their online Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday 18 November at 7pm.

Click here to register for the event.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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