Graham Arnold
Graham James Arnold is an Australian professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of the Iraq national team. Arnold was first appointed to work as a head coach of the Australian men's national soccer team in 2000. After head coach Frank Farina was sacked in 2005, Arnold worked with Guus Hiddink for the 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign, in which they made the second round of the finals. After Hiddink left, he became interim coach of the Socceroos. Arnold went on to qualify Australia's U23 men's national soccer team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Arnold then went on to assist Pim Verbeek for qualification of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Arnold's next move was to take the manager role at struggling A-League club the Central Coast Mariners between 2010 and 2013, where he guided the club to a Premiership and a Championship. He is a member of the Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame. Arnold went on to win two Premierships, one Championship and an FFA Cup with Sydney FC.
In 2018, Arnold replaced Bert van Marwijk as Australian coach after the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Under Arnold, Australia qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, during which Australia achieved their most successful World Cup campaign: after recording multiple group stage wins for the first time, with their only group stage loss being to eventual runners-up France, Australia qualified for the Round of 16 for the second time in their history, where they narrowly lost to eventual champions Argentina. He resigned from the role in September 2024. He was appointed head coach of the Iraq national team.
Arnold holds a number of A-League records: he has managed the fourth most games of any manager in the A-League, he has achieved the third most wins in the competition's history, he has the third-best career winning percentage of any A-League manager with 30+ games managed, he has the best career unbeaten percentage of any A-League manager, and he is one of just three managers to have won multiple A-League championships. Arnold also holds the records for most games coached, and most games won, as manager of Australia.
Early life and education life
Graham James Arnold was born in Sydney, New South Wales.Club career
Arnold was a striker who started his career at Gwawley Bay in 1969. He played for them and Sutherland representative teams concurrently until 1979 when he moved to Canterbury-Marrickville in the New South Wales Premier League. He then moved to Sydney Croatia in Australia's now defunct National Soccer League, where he was both the league's top goal scorer and player of the year in 1986. This was followed by a move overseas, where he made a name for himself in the Netherlands, playing for Roda JC Kerkrade and NAC Breda. He also spent time in Belgium with R.F.C. de Liège and R. Charleroi S.C. He went on to play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Japan towards the end of his career, before finally returning home to play for the Northern Spirit FC.International career
Graham Arnold has represented Australia's senior national team 56 times in 'A' international matches, scoring 19 goals. He was given his full debut by Frank Arok in a World Cup Qualifier against Taiwan at Adelaide's Hindmarsh Stadium on 23 October 1985. He scored on his debut as the "Socceroos" went on to record a 7–0 victory. His international playing career came to a sad end on 29 November 1997 in a World Cup Qualifier against Iran at the MCG when the score ended 2–2 and Australia was eliminated on the away goals rule after leading 2–0.Managerial career
Arnold had a cameo role as a coach very early on in his career. He was coach for 2 games while he was a player at Sydney Croatia during the 1989/90 season. However, his proper coaching career started in 1998, when he was appointed player/manager of the Northern Spirit FC. He was the coach for 2 seasons, making the playoffs in their debut season.Australia
He was then appointed to the position of Australian assistant coach in 2000, becoming interim coach in July 2006.On 6 September 2006 Australia was defeated 2–0 in an Asian Cup qualifying game against Kuwait. The FFA confirmed Arnold would remain head coach through to the end of 2007 Asian Cup campaign.
Australia started their Asian Cup campaign drawing with Oman in its opening group stage game in Bangkok. On 13 July 2007 Australia were beaten 3–1 by the eventual winners Iraq in the 2007 Asian Cup. Australia lost to Japan in penalty shootout in the Quarter Finals and Arnold then continued in the role as manager of the Australian U-23 side, qualifying through to the 2008 Olympics.
He was also linked with the manager's position at Bolton Wanderers and Norwich City in England but lost out to Gary Megson and Glenn Roeder respectively. With the appointment of Dutchman Pim Verbeek as the Australian manager, Arnold along with Henk Duut served as his assistant to the national side during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Central Coast Mariners
On 9 February 2010, it was announced that Arnold will take on the position of head coach for the Central Coast Mariners until the end of the 2012–2013 season. Arnold is recognised as one of the A-League's greatest ever managers, in part due to his contribution to the Central Coast Mariners Football Club between 2010 and 2013. At the conclusion of the 2011–12 A-League season he rejected a lucrative contract from Sydney FC and decided to stay on with the Mariners signing a one-year extension to his original contract with the club. In his three full seasons with the Mariners, Arnold guided the club to two A-League Grand Finals, as well as the 2011–12 A-League Premiership. On 21 April 2013, he guided the Mariners to a 2–0 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers to win the A-League Championship for the first time in the club's history. This success in Australia's top flight ensured that the Mariners secured three successive qualifications for the AFC Champions League in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 2013, Arnold guided the Mariners to the knockout phase of Asia's premier club competition, in part thanks to a stunning 1–0 win away to Suwon Bluewings in Suwon, Korea Republic just 48 hours after their 2013 A-League Grand Final victory in Sydney, Australia.Arnold is also recognised for having developed many young Australian talents during his time with the Mariners. Australian internationals Tom Rogic, Trent Sainsbury, Mathew Ryan, Mitchell Duke, Mustafa Amini, Bernie Ibini, and Oliver Bozanic all developed their game under Arnold at the Mariners, and went on to enjoy great careers abroad. Some of Arnold's tenure at the Central Coast Mariners is highlighted in the 2013 fly-on-the-wall sports documentary . The documentary charts the team's 2013 A-League Grand Final winning season, showcasing the culture and unity of the club under Arnold, as well as other characters and contributors at the club.
Vegalta Sendai
In the month of November 2013 Graham was a target for a few clubs in Asia, especially Vegalta Sendai in Japan's J1 League. Although interest again raised from the Australian Football Federation to make Graham the national team coach, he always wanted to stay in club football over the national team setup and within weeks agreed terms with Sendai to be the first Australian coach to coach at the highest level in Japanese football. Graham recruited his assistant from the Central Coast Mariners Andrew Clark to join him in Japan. On 9 April 2014, it was announced by Vegalta Sendai that Arnold had mutually terminated his contract.Sydney FC
2014–15 season
Arnold was appointed as the new head coach of Sydney FC on 8 May 2014. In his first season with the Sky Blues, they were runners-up in the 2014–15 A-League season, finishing second behind Melbourne Victory, and losing the 2015 A-League Grand Final to them.2015–16 season
After the successful 2014–15 season, they saw an unsuccessful 2015–16 A-League season, finishing in 7th place and missing out on the Finals Series. He was, however, able to lead the team to a top place finish in Group H for their 2016 AFC Champions League campaign. They were eventually knocked out by Chinese team Shandong Luneng 3–3 on aggregate in the Round of 16.2016–17 season
Arnold started his revamp of the squad by releasing 13 players in the pre-season. To solve the teams goalscoring issues, he bought in Brazilian striker Bobô as their new marquee to play alongside former teammate Filip Hološko under the new 2 marquee rule. In addition to this, he also brought in 5 Australian players, including Bernie Ibini on loan, Socceroo Alex Wilkinson and Danny Vukovic from rival club Melbourne Victory. The season started off with a bang, with Sydney FC defeating their rivals Western Sydney Wanderers 4–0 in round 1. He led the team to a runners-up finish after being defeated 1–0 in the FFA Cup Final by Melbourne City.Into the January transfer window, fan favourite Matthew Jurman joined K-League club Suwon Samsung Bluewings, while keeper Vedran Janjetović swapped with Andrew Redmayne to cross city rivals, Western Sydney Wanderers after a dispute about not playing after being displaced by Vukovic. To replace Jurman, Dutch defender Jordy Buijs signed. The team was able to go on undefeated for 19 games in the league before eventually being defeated 1–0 in a controversial game against the Wanderers. This defeat only made the team stronger, as they went the remainder of the season undefeated, gaining 19 points out of a possible 21 for the remaining 7 games. His team was eventually crowned premiers after Melbourne Victory was unable to defeat Brisbane Roar, while Sydney had 4 games remaining. Arnold's 3rd season with Sydney proved fruitful, in addition to winning the premiership, the squad had broken multiple records, including the most points in a single season, breaking Brisbane Roar's 2010–11 season of 65 points in 3 fewer games with 66 points, as well as being the only top-flight football team in Australia to stay outright 1st throughout the whole season. Arnold was also named Coach of the Year at the Dolan Warren Gala Night. He ended the season with a 1–1 in the Grand Final, winning 4–2 on penalties against Melbourne Victory, becoming the first manager to win the championship with more than one club.