Melbourne Victory and Football Federation Victoria (FFV), which is working collaboratively with Victory’s Westfield W-League team, today announced the appointment of highly credentialed Matt Shepherd as Coach for the inaugural Westfield W-League season.
Melbourne Victory and Football Federation Victoria (FFV), which is working collaboratively with Victory-s Westfield W-League team, today announced the appointment of highly credentialed Matt Shepherd as Coach for the inaugural Westfield W-League season.
Shepherd, who played professionally for Bolton Wanderers in England, has been working with Football Federation Victoria as Head Coach of the National Training Centre (NTC) squad, which caters for the best female junior players in the state.
Melbourne Victory CEO Geoff Miles said Shepherd-s appointment was a positive step in ensuring the very first Victory women-s side was able to flourish as quickly as possible.
”We-re delighted to have Matt working with us as our first Westfield W-League coach,” Miles said.
”He is very highly regarded within the industry and we think he is the perfect fit to lead the team. His experience in working with FFV as Head Coach of the National Training Centre squad will hold him in very good stead and gives him a head start with future recruiting.”
Shepherd started coaching in 1990, while he was still a player in Australia and completed his English Preliminary License during his stint with Bolton.
Upon returning to Australia in 1993, Shepherd continued to play football semi-professionally and completed a Bachelor of Sport Science, majoring in coaching, with honors in 1998.
Shepherd also finished the Level 3 License, coached the University of NSW Women’s team to silver at the National Championships and received the Graduate Diploma of Education, majoring in Personal Development, Health and Physical Education, from the University of Technology in Sydney.
In February 2004, he joined the Saskatchewan Soccer Association as its Director of Coaching and Player Development, where he completed his Canadian A License and led the NTC program for the province.
Shepherd said he was determined to embrace the culture created by Victory-s Hyundai A-League side in the Westfield W-League.
”It-s an exciting opportunity for everyone with the creation of the Westfield W-League and we-re keen to capitalise on it straight away,” Shepherd said.
”There is an abundance of talent in women-s football in this country and having a national competition is a great way to showcase it.”
”We-re looking forward to enjoying success with Melbourne Victory.”
