Football Federation Australia (FFA) has today confirmed the start of the formal recruitment process for a new Technical Director, who will oversee Elite Youth Player Development and Coach Education strategies in elite youth coaching.

The successful candidate will replace Han Berger, who has held the position since 2008 and will leave the job after the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The role reports to the FFA Head of National Performance and National Teams, Luke Casserly.

FFA CEO David Gallop said a review of the National Teams and Technical department conducted by Luke Casserly has identified youth technical development as a key area for improvement for Australian football.

"The new structure will see a Technical Director with particular focus and responsibility for elite player development up to 16 years of age for males and females and coach education for those working in these age groups," said Gallop.

"From 17 years of age onwards, the National Teams will have the primary role in close consultation with the Technical Department of developing elite players who will ultimately represent the Socceroos and Matildas.

"This will broaden the scope of Ange Postecoglou's role as Head Coach of the Socceroos and the same will apply for the long-term Matildas Head Coach.

"This structure gives us a lot of confidence that Australia will produce generations of elite youth players with the right technical development."

Gallop hailed the achievements of outgoing Technical Director Berger in delivering a world-class National Curriculum for youth development in Australia.

“The National Curriculum is a hugely important piece of work, both on the philosophy and practical coaching of football. This provides a very solid platform for the new Technical Director,” said Gallop.

"Han created an outstanding legacy for Australian football through his mentoring of the National Youth Teams players and coaches, the creation of an integrated National Talented Player Pathway and the restructuring of Coach Education.”

FFA seeks to develop a football culture ingrained with unique Australian characteristics. The goal is to produce technically gifted Australian players from an elite player pathway, based on world’s best practice.

FFA has appointed Sports Recruitment International (SRI) to manage a global search.

“Our commitment to find the best candidate is demonstrated by hiring SRI, which has an exceptional track record in sports recruitment,” said Gallop.

SRI’s Global Performance practice has managed the recruitment of Technical and High Performance roles for a number of International Federations & Associations, both in Australia and overseas.

The search will be headed by Alistair Milner, who leads SRI’s Global Performance practice in conjunction with Jonathan Harris, the Managing Partner for Australia. “We feel very privileged to be engaged by FFA on this critical, senior appointment and look forward to helping them identify individuals with the expertise, vision and delivery to continue the development of the game,” said Harris.

Further details about both opportunities can be found on http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/insideffa/jobs and www.sportsrecruitment.com

For further information contact Alistair Milner on + 44 207 092 6966 or amilner@sportsrecruitment.com