George Cross FC Make Coaching Deal With DF Football

Bennett Perry13/10/2025 6:15 am12/10/2025

Image Credit: DF Football

Caroline Springs George Cross Football Club have announced a collaboration with advanced coaching group, DF Academy for the 2026 season.

DF Academy (aka DF Football) is specialist football training group with programs run professional ex-footballer, Western United coach and Pro Licence Coach, Diogo Ferreira.

The deal will see DF Football players enter the DF group and participate in George Cross’ Youth Premier League program in the 2027 season.

Also, George Cross FC will also gain access to coaching resources and assistance from Pro Licence/A-League coaches to enrich the club’s players’ development, and coaching standards across all levels.

DF Football Founder and Head Coach, Diogo Ferreira decided to collaborate with George Cross FC as he comes from the area the football club called home.

“The type of coaching we do is similar to what goes into professional level football,” he said to Soccerscene.

Diogo Ferreira has an extensive career in football, with roles in present and past professional football which he translates into his coaching and training of players from junior to senior to professional football.

DF Football are offering programs as young as U8s all the way to U14s for young footballers to attempt to enter DF Football, and U18s for some programs, however, not every footballer who receives training will transfer to the DF Football team.

DF Football and Sydenham Park Soccer Club have an exclusive partnership where they train junior footballers across the country.

The DF Football Academy Program

The DF Football Academy Program offers young football players weekly training set during the school terms, providing professional training based on skill level.

The program is designed to let footballers express themselves while in a challenging environment to achieve the best conditions for personal development, advertised on the DF Football website.

Players will develop their strength and speed on-field, ball manipulation, injury prevention, movement and mobility in each session with an hour dedicated to a specific aspect of the game per week.

The final term of the year of the Academy Program has already begun and will end in mid-December.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

Patrick Irving16/04/2026 8:55 am16/04/2026

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

Patrick Irving15/04/2026 6:05 am14/04/2026

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.