Former U.S. women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski is getting a fresh start in a familiar place.
The 47-year-old Andonovski was hired as coach of the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League on Monday, taking over a team that reached the championship game a year ago but finished 11th out of 12 teams this season. The Current are the replacement for FC Kansas City, which Andonovski led to two NWSL titles before it folded.
The Current fired Matt Potter in April and recently announced that interim coach Caroline Sjoblom would not be retained.
“I’m coming back home, coming back to Kansas City,” Andonovski said, “but more importantly to me, I’m coming back to an organization that has a clear vision of what this team is going to look like, and the clear vision of the path of where this team needs to go, and I’m excited and humbled by this opportunity to be part of an organization like this.”
Andonovski, a native of North Macedonia, played for several teams in Europe before moving to the U.S. to play indoor soccer, and eventually embark on a coaching career. He was the first coach of FC Kansas City, leading the club from 2013-17 with back-to-back titles in 2014 and ‘15, before spending the 2018 and ’19 seasons with Reign FC.
Andonovski is best known for his work with the national team, though, and not necessarily for good reasons.
The four-time World Cup champions struggled throughout the tournament this past summer, barely making it into the knockout stage. They wound up playing to a scoreless draw against Sweden in the round of 16, losing in a penalty shootout for their earliest exit ever, and finished with only four goals over the course of the entire tournament.
The U.S., which predecessor Jill Ellis led to back-to-back World Cup titles, had never finished worse than third.
“Any time you lose a game, emotionally you get hit,” Andonovski said, “but when you lose a big game, you get hit even more. I mean, it’s no secret it was tough for me, and I went through a tough time.”
That disappointment came after Andonovski had led the Americans to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and the outcome of those two tournaments perhaps harshly colored a tenure in which he went 51-5-9 in all matches.
It didn’t help Andonovski’s cause that the national team was in the midst of a generational shift toward younger players, and many of them happened to be dealing with injuries. Mallory Swanson hurt her knee in April, Catarina Macario was not ready for the World Cup after tearing her ACL last year, and veteran Becky Sauerbrunn also was sidelined by a foot injury.
“Coaching the national team was a great opportunity individually for me,” Andonovski said. “I’m not going to go into the team but selfishly, it was a great growth opportunity for me. When you’re surrounded with staff I was surrounded with, some of the best players in the world, you have no choice but to better yourself on a daily basis.”
Andonovski said he thought about taking some time off after his stint with the national team, and he fielded some offers to be an assistant with MLS clubs. But once he talked to the Current’s ownership, he was energized about the fresh start.
Now, he takes over a club that went 8-12-2 and failed to make the NWSL playoffs this season, but that has a lot going for it on and off the pitch. The club is set to open its own stadium in downtown Kansas City next season, and is led by ambitious owners that include Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“We’ve talked many times about our goal to be the best women’s football club in the world,” co-owner Angie Long said, “and everything we do has that vision in mind. For me though, it’s even more exciting when the best in the world is in your own back yard and the perfect fit for your club. This is another step and investment in being the best football club in the world.”
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