It's official: Vlatko Andonovski is the new US women's national team head coach.
The news was announced by U.S. Soccer Monday afternoon in New York City, as Andonovski takes over arguably the highest-profile job in women's soccer.
The 43-year-old takes over for Jill Ellis, who stepped away from the USWNT after winning two consecutive World Cups, most recently the 2019 edition.
Andonovski is familiar to NWSL fans, as he's found considerable success in the women's top flight. He led FC Kansas City to back-to-back NWSL Championships in 2014 and 2015, and moved to Reign FC in 2018. With Reign managing to reach the NWSL Playoffs this season despite missing a slew of players due to the World Cup and a larger-than-usual injury list, Andonovski was voted 2019 NWSL Coach of the Year, his second such honor in his career.
Born in Skopje, North Macedonia, then part of Yugoslavia, Andonovski played professionally in Europe as a defender before moving to the United States and settling in the Kansas City area.
Remarkably, his stint coaching men's indoor soccer led to his entry into women's soccer, as he managed the Kansas City Comets 2013-16, first getting the FC Kansas City job through a shared ownership group. Andonovski, known as one of the best prepared and most informed coaches in his time in the NWSL, said when he was first hired to lead the NWSL outfit, “I have followed (women’s pro soccer) as much as I could, but as soon as the ownership group started the conversation about joining the league I got a little more into it and did a lot of research.”
The USWNT will next look to win the second-biggest title on the women's soccer docket, Olympic gold, at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
