Newly appointed Chinese women's football team head coach Ante Milicic said that
The Australian made his public debut at a press conference on Thursday during an eight-day training camp in Xianghe, Hebei Province, after the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced his appointment on May 11.
Milicic admits that the priority now is for the players and coaching team to get to know each other and develop a clear understanding.
"The short-term goal is to first get a good understanding of the girls, where they are playing, and at what level, but also for them to get to know me and my staff. This way, we can work together, keep improving, and maintain good communication," Milicic told Xinhua in an exclusive interview prior to the press conference.
"And then if you look at the long term, we have to be ready for the Asian Cup. We need to put ourselves in a position where we have a clear way of playing. So when the Chinese public sees the Chinese women's national team playing, they know what to expect. That's my job, to bring a modern way of playing to this team," he added.
The Chinese women's football team dropped to 19th in FIFA's world ranking last December - an all-time low - after failing to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games and losing to the United States in back-to-back friendlies.
"The ranking is something I can't control at the moment, but what I can control is the work we will do from the start of this camp, moving forward to improve it," Milicic said at the press conference, noting that China now sits fourth in Asia behind Japan, DPR Korea, and Australia.
"I think part of that adjustment is to be proactive as a football team. This means we need to have more possession of the ball and utilize our technical players," Milicic added.
"Spending only seven or eight days together before the Australian game makes it difficult to see too much progress. However, we are working hard every day on the training field and in the video rooms."
The team will travel to Australia after the training camp for an invitational tournament running from May 27 to June 5, with seven overseas players, including star forward Wang Shuang, included in Milicic's 27-player squad.
Milicic previously served as head coach of Australia's women's national team, leading the squad to the round of 16 at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. The 50-year-old has also served as an assistant coach for Australia's men's team under both Ange Postecoglou and Bert van Marwijk. In 2015, he was a member of the coaching staff that helped the Socceroos win the AFC Asian Cup.
Succeeding Shui Qingxia, who led China to win the Asian Cup after a 16-year wait but suffered early exits at the Women's World Cup and the Paris Olympic Asian qualifiers, Milicic is expected to prepare the Steel Roses for the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup and the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.
