SATV Kathmandu Oct 30: Matt Ross has resigned as head coach of the Nepal national men’s football team, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) said. ANFA General Secretary Kiran Rai confirmed Ross informed the association of his resignation via WhatsApp two days ago.
Under Ross, Nepal played two Asia Cup qualifier matches against Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and a goalless friendly against Bangladesh.
The reason for his resignation has not been disclosed. During his tenure, Nepal played seven matches under his leadership.
The Australian, who was appointed head coach on March 4, has nearly 20 years of coaching experience with national teams and clubs abroad.
Ross succeeded Italian coach Vincenzo Alberto Annesse, whose year-long contract, with a brief extension, ended in October last year. ANFA had sought a new head coach with a vacancy announcement on September 16, 2024. Nabin Neupane looked after the team as the interim coach.
Ross began his coaching career with the U15/16 team of Football Northern Territory, a non-profit, in Darwin, Australia, from January 2007 to December 2011.
He then travelled to Germany where he spent over four years with different teams in Frankfurt. He worked as the head coach for Eintracht Frankfurt’s U20 and U17 women’s teams from 2013 to 2015 alongside a video analyst for the senior team. He was then promoted to assistant coach and then head coach in July 2015 and December 2015, respectively.
Frankfurt was the winner of the German Cup 2014 and UEFA Champions League 2015 with Ross as the video analyst while his team was a semi-finalist at the UEFA Women’s Champions League when he took the helm as the head coach (December 2015 to September 2017).
Ross then spent a year with Vittsjö GIK at the Swedish Women’s Premier League before becoming the head coach for the Chinese U15 women’s team from December 2018 to November 2019. He also spent three years as the assistant coach of the South Korean women’s team (2020 to 2023) before heading to the Gulf.
After a year (2023 to 2024) as the head coach of the U19 men’s team of Al Qadsiah FC, Ross was the assistant coach for the first team of United FC, a club in the UAE First Division, before coming to Nepal.
