Joe Montemurro

Playing career

Montemurro spent his entire junior playing career at Brunswick Juventus and made his first senior appearance for the club in 1986 in the National Soccer League as a 16-year-old. He was also a member of the Victorian State Youth team between 1986–88 which won two national titles.

In 1987, he was offered a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport in which he declined to remain at Brunswick Juventus. In 1988, he was spotted by Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax and offered the opportunity to remain in Europe. From there he passed onto Italian Serie C2 club Potenza before spending the bulk of his career at Treviso in Serie C2.

He returned to Australia in 1996 and resumed playing in the Victorian State leagues while embarking on his coaching education.

Coaching career

His first coaching positions commenced at his former junior club Brunswick Juventus. His first major role was as youth coach (U21) in the Victorian Premier league with Green Gully in which he took the team to the runner-up position in his first year.

In the 2002–03 season Montemurro took over the youth team at Melbourne Knights in the National Soccer League in which he guided the team to a Southern Division Championship. The team lost the playoff to become National Youth Champions. The demise of the National League came and the club offered Montemurro the senior position in the Victorian Premier League. He opted to continue his youth coaching at cross town rivals South Melbourne FC in which he guided the team to the runner-up position in 2005.

Mid 2006, with the team sitting clear at the top of the ladder, Montemurro was approached by Sunshine Georgies to take over the 1st team and save it from relegation. He succeeded and continued his position until mid 2007 and parted ways with the club. His next role was head coach of Coburg United (Hume City) in Victorian State League 1 in which he guided the club to its first ever promotion to top flight football in the club's 30-year history.

In 2010, he returned to South Melbourne as Youth coach and guided the team to a historic undefeated season as champions. He was promoted to assistant senior coach at South Melbourne in which VPL finals appearances and the quarter finals of the Singapore Cup were achievements during his involvement. He then took over new Franchise club Port Moresby FC in PNG in which he guided it to qualification to the OFC Champions league 2013.

In 2010, he completed his UEFA A license at Coverciano Italy via the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio). He also completed his UEFA Pro License at Coverciano in July 2014 and is a member of the Italian Coaches Association (AIAC). He also holds an AFC/FFA A License and completed the Master of Sports Coaching degree at the University of Queensland.^[1][2]

In 2014, he returned to Melbourne and was appointed National Training Centre head coach for women's football in Victoria. Montemurro was appointed head coach of the Melbourne Victory FC W-League on 16 May 2014 and guided it to the runner-up position after the home and away fixture, the highest finish in the club's history. The team lost the semi-final playoff on penalties to Canberra United.^[3]

After the 2014 season, Montemurro left Melbourne Victory to join Melbourne City taking up a position as the manager of their youth side.^[4] Following Melbourne City joining the Australian W-League, Montemurro was appointed as head coach of Melbourne City FC W-League.^[5] In its maiden season, the Melbourne City women's team was crowned 2015/16 W-league premiers. On 31 January 2016, Melbourne City W-league side completed the double by defeating Sydney FC 4–1 at AAMI Park in Melbourne. W-league history was created as the team went the entire season undefeated without dropping a single point, amassing 42 goals scored and 5 conceded. In the 2016/2017 W-League season, Melbourne City W-league repeated the championship double defeating Perth Glory 2–0 in Perth.

In June 2016, Montemurro's role at Melbourne City was expanded to include assisting John van 't Schip with the senior men's team.^[6]

His responsibilities changed in January 2017, becoming the Chief Assistant Coach of Melbourne City under new Manager Michael Valkanis, relinquishing his W-League coaching role as a result.^[7]

In November 2017, Montemurro left Melbourne City to take up the senior coaching role at Arsenal Women.^[1][8] On 14 March 2018, he won his first major trophy with the Arsenal Women's by beating Manchester City Women's 1–0 in the Continental (League) Cup Final. On 15 May 2018, he led Arsenal Women's to the FA Women's Cup final in front of 45,000 at Wembley, a record attendance for the Women's FA Cup final, in which they lost 3–1 to Chelsea.

In August 2018, in his first full preseason in charge of Arsenal Women's, the team were crowned champions of the prestigious preseason Toulouse International Ladies Cup beating UEFA Champions League quarter finalists Montpellier HSC and holding Paris Saint Germain to a 2–2 draw