Ante Milicic has left his position as the head coach of the Australia national women’s football team to honour the contract which he had signed with the new Australian club Macarthur FC.

Milicic had signed a contract last year with Macarthur on a three-year deal that was supposed to start after the 2020 Olympic Games.

But with the Tokyo Games postponed to next year, Milicic had little choice but to leave his current position with the Matildas.

“In an ideal world, we would have been in Japan right now just days away from the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” said Milicic, who had led the Matildas into the round of 16 at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

“Truth be told, I have simply chosen to honour the commitment I made to Macarthur over a year ago.”

Added James Johnson, the Chief Executive Officer of Football Federation Australia (FFA) in a statement: “the FFA respect Ante’s decision to honour his contract with Macarthur FC. We would have loved Ante to remain in the role for the Olympic Games in Tokyo and beyond, However FFA and Ante agree that overseeing two elite teams is not a workable solution, with both programs deserving of, and requiring, complete focus.” 

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