Canberra United are pleased to announce that Njegosh Popovich has been appointed as Head Coach for Season 15 of the Liberty A -League.
It’s a return home for Popovich who was Assistant Coach in the national Capital from September 2015 to March 2017 helping the club to the Runners-Up spot in Season 8 and then helping them be crowned Premiers the following year.
“I am thrilled to have been appointed as Head Coach for Canberra United and am very excited about getting started at the club,” Popovich said of the announcement.
“My aim is to put Canberra United back on the map in the Liberty Women’s A-League. The club has a strong and proud history, and we should be challenging for league titles and playing in Grand Finals.
“My goal is to achieve that, and I am confident that we can regain our position as one of the most prominent clubs in the competition.”
Popovich has quite some pedigree in the coaching world coming into the United set-up off the back of a successful five-year stint as Assistant Coach with the Junior Matildas where he was part of the squad that finished 4th at the AFC Women’s Championship in Thailand in 2019.
“We considered a number of potential candidates for the role of Head Coach and Njegosh’s profile ticked all the right boxes for us as an organisation,” Canberra United CEO Chris Gardiner commented.
“Njegosh brings a highly valued CV, an understanding of Women’s football and is across the local football scene. He is Canberra born, has experience through Canberra United and is a very capable Canberra local to lead the club forward.
“I’ve never received such strong references in a selection process, and in this instance, both as a coach and as a person, I am very confident he is the right coach for the Club, the key players we have and want, and the ALW in 2022/23.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Njegosh back to Canberra United.”
Popovich was formerly the Technical Director and Head Coach at National Premier League side Monaro Panthers, Assistant Coach at Canberra Olympic in the same competition and was Head Coach for the ACT Schoolboys and the Canberra United Academy U15 and U18 representative teams.
As a player he represented the ACT at youth, school, and senior level, toured with the Australian Futsal Team to Brazil in 1995 and won several titles with Canberra Olympic. He also played in the National Soccer League with the Canberra Cosmos and the NSW Super League for both Canberra City and Inter Monaro.
FACT FILE
Date of Birth: 16 October 1968
Place of Birth: Canberra, ACT
Coaching Career: Junior Matildas, Canberra United, Canberra United Academy, Canberra Olympic, Monaro Panthers, ACT Schoolboys, Australian-Korean Football Foundation, Senior NTC, ACTAS
Playing Career: Canberra Cosmos, Canberra City, Inter Monaro, Canberra Olympic, Downer Olympic
International: Australia Futsal
