Melissa Barbieri celebrates 25-year professional milestone

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Australian footballing legend Melissa Barbieri celebrated 25 years of football over the weekend.

Having captained Australia to their 2010 AFC Asian Cup win, and been a part of four Women’s World Cups with the Matildas, Barbieri has experienced an incredible footballing career that doesn’t appear to be slowing down. She is continuing to shine for A-League Women’s side Melbourne City, who currently sit in second place on the table.

“I want girls to play for longer. I want every girl to be able to say, ‘I can play the game that I love for as many years as ‘Bubs’ did’,” Barbieri told Network Ten following City’s A-League Women win over Western Sydney.

“I continue to play because we have got a start, with a good CBA and girls can actually play the sport that they love for a good wage, a decent wage, but we’re not where we can be.

“I want to be able to say to all those little girls out there that want to play soccer for Australia: you can play anywhere in the world, not just for Australia.

“That’s the hope for me. 2023 is going to open up a lot of doors for a lot of people, not just in the game where you’re playing it with the ball at your feet but in administration, in leadership roles, in so many positions.

“Women just need to put their hand up and want to be a part of it and I can’t wait to see where this game grows in the future.”

The occasion marked 25 years since Barbieri first lined up for Victoria Vision against Canberra in the Women’s National Soccer League on February 7, 1997. Since then, she has earned 93 caps for the Matildas and has enjoyed a spectacular career in the domestic competition where she is the oldest player in the A-League Women’s at 41 years old.

It is especially remarkable considering Barbieri began her career as a midfielder, before transitioning to life as a goalkeeper in 2000. And after sitting out 2016-17, Barbieri came out of retirement, and has gone on to become a crucial cog in the City Women’s A-League side this season.

“It’s amazing – you can’t explain how important she is for everyone in the dressing room. Every time someone has debuted for our team, she brings flowers to the girl the next morning. She’s not just a player, she’s not just a mentor, she’s a mother as well,” coach Rado Vidosic said.

“To have her with us, I hope she’s going to stay when I’m 70, so another 10 years and she can be part of this. It’s really remarkable what she has achieved.”

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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.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

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