Today’s announcement of Joe Montemurro as CommBank Matildas head coach tracks the journey of one of Melbourne‘s brightest junior prospects to an internationally renowned football manager.
Montemurro, who counts Olympique Lyonnais, Juventus, Arsenal and Melbourne City in a long list of successful coaching stints, returns to Australia as one of football’s most respected figures.
A promising junior with Brunswick Juventus, Joe Montemurro represented Victoria at youth level, sharing the pitch with some of the finest in his generation, including John Markovski, John Anastasiadis and Andrew Marth, all of whom would go on to have glittering careers both home and abroad.
As a player, Montemurro’s early promise at Juventus was followed by an obscure career overseas. He was spotted by Swiss club Neuchâtel Xamax before a move to Italy’s Serie C and ultimately a few seasons with US Opitergina in the Italian non-professional Leagues.
Returning to Melbourne, Montemurro found a home in the lower tiers of the Victorian football pyramid, with several of the Italian backed clubs that amalgamated to form what is now Essendon Royals, ultimately concluding his playing career at the Furlan Club with Thornbury United.
Montemurro’s early foray into coaching was a constant work in progress. He held Assistant and Youth Team positions with Green Gully, Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne before he landed the Head Coach role at Sunshine George Cross in 2006, relieving Chris Taylor of his position after the club sat at the bottom of the Premier League table. While he helped the Georgies avoid relegation, he resigned just nine games into the 2007 season.
Second tier Coburg United (now Hume City) pounced and he took the fledgling club to promotion, finishing second to Frankston Pines but he departed midway through the club’s maiden Premier League campaign. A return to South Melbourne as Youth and Assistant Senior Coach suggested a career in the Victorian Leagues was on the offing once more, before a move abroad to Port Moresby in 2013.
Few would have predicated a move to Women’s football, but Montemurro’s appointment to the NTC program in 2014 was the beginning of a long apprenticeship in Australia, which witnessed a move to Melbourne Victory in the same year, the club finishing runners-up in the league for the first time before exiting in the finals to Canberra United.
Montemurro departed for Melbourne City the following season, returning to Youth football before he was appointed as Head Coach of its inaugural W-League side, which won the double and were unbeaten under his tutelage. A move back into Senior Men’s football beckoned before the lure of one of the world’s leading international clubs arrived in the form of Arsenal in the English Women’s Super League.
Success came swiftly, and the little-known Aussie soon stamped his reputation as one of the finest club coaches on the European continent, winning the Super League in 2018-19 and finishing third the following two seasons. He returned to Italy at the helm of Juventus, winning the Serie A and Coppa Italia at his first attempt. His reward for success at multiple clubs arrived in a move to one of the finest club teams in European football, Olympique Lyonnais, where he claimed the Championship in his swansong at the club before national duty came calling.
Joe Montemurro becomes the first Victorian to lead the Australian Women’s National Team and will be keen for success on home soil as the CommBank Matildas take on Asia’s best at the 2026 AFC Asian Cup.