The Nepali men’s senior football team has a new foreign coach once again. Australian-born Matt Ross, 47, signed a one-year contract with the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) on March 2 and was introduced at the association’s office in Satdobato on Monday.

Ross succeeds Italian coach Vincenzo Alberto Annesse, whose year-long contract, with a brief extension, ended in October last year. ANFA had sought a new head coach with a vacancy announcement on September 16, 2024. Nabin Neupane looked after the team as the interim coach.

“Ross was selected out of 416 UEFA pro license holder coaches who applied for the post. A technical committee first shortlisted 20 coaches, before narrowing it down to five for the final selection,” said Suresh Shah, ANFA spokesperson.

Shah also informed that ANFA is not getting any budget or funds from the government or other agencies for the new coach. “ANFA will cover all of Ross’s benefits,” he added. However, he declined to disclose the coach’s salary and contract details.

“The salary and other terms have been agreed by mutual agreement between the ANFA and the coach. This is not the right time to disclose them,” Shah stressed.

Meanwhile, head coach Ross, who has spent over 20 years coaching worldwide, stated that he was more than happy to be a part of Nepal’s football scene.

“The passion for football in Nepal is unbelievable. From taxi drivers to people in restaurants and on the streets, the craze for football is unbelievable. And it was personified when I saw the crowd during the final between Nepal and Myanmar’s women’s team recently,” said Ross while speaking to journalists on Monday.

Ross believes he can harness the passion and atmosphere and channel it onto the field to elevate Nepali football.

“Now, I feel I am in the right place,” Ross said, adding that he was aiming for this post for around a year. “We keep updates on football in Asia. To have more than 400 applicants shows how demanding the post is. In my culture, it is like Christmas Day. I have been waiting for this my whole life.”

“It is a huge honour and privilege to be appointed head coach of Nepal. It is a special role in a special country,” he added.

Ross’ coaching life

Ross’s LinkedIn profile shows that he began his coaching career from the U15/16 team of Football Northern Territory, a non-profit, in Darwin, Australia, from January 2007 to December 2011.

He then travelled to Germany where he spent over four years with different teams in Frankfurt. He worked as the head coach for Eintracht Frankfurt’s U20 and U17 women’s teams from 2013 to 2015 alongside a video analyst for the senior team. He was then promoted to assistant coach and then head coach in July 2015 and December 2015, respectively.

Frankfurt was the winner of the German Cup 2014 and UEFA Champions League 2015 with Ross as the video analyst while his team was a semi-finalist at the UEFA Women’s Champions League when he took the helm as the head coach (December 2015 to September 2017).

Ross then spent a year with Vittsjö GIK at the Swedish Women’s Premier League before becoming the head coach for the Chinese U15 women’s team from December 2018 to November 2019. He also spent three years as the assistant coach of the South Korean women’s team (2020 to 2023) before heading for the Gulf.

After a year (2023 to 2024) as the head coach of the U19 men’s team of Al Qadsiah FC, Ross was the assistant coach for the first team of United FC, a club in the UAE First Division, before coming to Nepal.

“Sometimes there are male players and sometimes female. In the end, it is football,” Ross said when asked about the challenge of leading a men’s team after a long career in women’s football.

Big plans for Nepali football

It has been more than a month since Ross arrived in Nepal. He was first spotted at the Nepali Congress Sabhapati Cup on January 23 when Sankata FC defeated Church Boys United in the tournament opener.

“Ross was already in Nepal before his final appointment was confirmed. We were communicating with other shortlisted candidates over the phone. Eventually, Ross was picked after a proper evaluation by our technical team,” Shah told The Post.

And after spending a month in Nepal, Ross shared that he wanted to help not only the men’s team, but the nation’s overall footballing.

“It might feel like an overstatement, but I want to win the upcoming SAFF Championship and get as close as I can to the Asian Cup,” Ross shared.

In less than three weeks, Ross has to take the Nepali team to Singapore for a friendly on March 21 before the first leg of the Third Round of the Qualifiers for the 2027 Asian Cup. Nepal is in Group F with Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos in the Qualifiers, and will open the campaign with an away fixture with Malaysia on March 25 and then face Laos and Vietnam on June 10 and October 9, respectively. The teams will play each other again in the second leg and the top team in the group will play in the Asian Cup.

Informing that he was aware of Nepali footballers migrating to Australia among other foreign countries, Ross said, “I am in talks with clubs and agents in Australia to help Nepali footballers find a proper platform.”

“The doors to the national team are open. If you deserve, you will play,” Ross told Nepali footballers scattered throughout the globe. Yet he clarified that there were many more problems that needed to be resolved for this to happen.

“A long-term vision is required to develop football. Nepal needs to develop players as well as coaches. There should be teachers in schools to teach football. My main target is the men’s team, but I also plan to support underage and women’s teams of Nepal as much as I can,” said Ross.

He also praised women footballers, especially Preeti Rai, and argued that the Nepali women’s team had immense potential. “They need to play in bigger leagues,” he added.

When asked how he planned to achieve his long-term vision in Nepal, Ross replied, “I have a one-year contract now. But it can be extended if I show proper results, and it needs to be done with the men’s team. Thus, I will focus most on the men’s team and help other teams when free.”

Ross’ entry has also elated the ANFA officials as they see great possibilities. “We are still discussing the terms of Ross’ coaching staff. Meanwhile, we see him transform Nepali football soon,” said Shah.

Ross believes he is as pragmatic as José Mourinho. “...I think I am more like Mourinho because he wants to win…,” Ross argued.

The headline of the story has been charged for clarity.