Trevor Morgan appointed National Technical Director, Ron Smith takes role as Technical Consultant

Football Federation Australia (FFA) today announced that Trevor Morgan has been appointed as the National Technical Director on an interim basis, and will be supported by Ron Smith, who has taken the role of Technical Consultant.

Morgan’s responsibilities will include the establishment of a national football calendar, a review of the national football curriculum, pathways, competitions, coach development and participation, and he will also continue in his role as Head Coach of the Joeys (Australia’s U-17 men’s national team).

FFA Chief Executive James Johnson said he was delighted that Morgan had agreed to take on the dual role at such a critical time for Australian football, “The appointments of Trevor and Ron come at a dynamic time for Australian football. In our recently published XI Principles for the future of Australian football (XI Principles), we advanced what we believe to be a bold and courageous fifteen-year vision for Australian football.

“The feedback we received from our consultations and public surveys on the XI Principles have told us that the Australian football community is excited by this vision. Trevor and Ron will play a key role in helping us establish the technical platform and build the much-needed football acumen in FFA that is required for Australian football to grow.”

Morgan has spent the past 2 years as Joeys Head Coach, leading the team to the knockout stages of the FIFA U17 World Cup in Brazil in 2019, and will continue in that role until next year’s FIFA U17 World Cup to be held in Peru.

Johnson added “Trevor is one of a new generation of Australia’s brightest coaching talents and brings a wealth of football knowledge to his new role, and in Ron Smith, we have the perfect complement. Ron has more than 30 years’ experience in technical delivery, coach education and training, and the pair will create a formidable partnership.

“Both Trevor and Ron have been involved in Australian football over many years, and it’s great to see the retention of internal talent during such turbulent times. We have a wonderful pool of coaches and technical talent within the Australian football ecosystem, and we want to do more to promote this talent.

“We identified the importance of developing our coaches alongside player development within the XI Principles and, following the announcement of the recent Memorandum of Understanding between FFA and Football Coaches Australia last week, we are excited to take another significant step towards this objective by tapping into our domestic pool of talent and providing an opportunity for an Australian coach to take this next step in their career.”

/Public Release. View in full here.