On 19 January 2019 Football Federation Australia (FFA) made the decision to terminate the contract of the Matildas head coach, Alen Stajcic.
Since that time there has been considerable commentary and speculation about why Alen Stajcic’s contract was terminated.
FFA by this statement wishes to make clear that Alen Stajcic’s contract was not terminated on the basis that he had breached his contract or had engaged in any misconduct. Any inference that has been drawn about these being reasons for Alen’s contract termination is wrong.
Alen’s contract was terminated by FFA exercising its contractual right of termination by making a preagreed payment in lieu of notice. FFA’s decision to do this was reached simply because its Board formed the view, following a process undertaken by management, that the Matildas would benefit from a new coach for the FIFA World Cup in France.
FFA acknowledges that some of the speculation about the termination of Alen’s contract was caused by statements made by one of its directors, Heather Reid.
These statements were not made on behalf of FFA and did not reflect the decision of the Board or the reasons why it made that decision. Heather has withdrawn those comments and issued an apology to Alen for having made them.
