A former NSW Premier League player and Captain with Bonnyrigg, Bankstown and Sutherland, Alen represented NSW at the youth level and played for several clubs within the National Youth League and Winter Super League.
Coaching career
Alen Stajcic had been the head coach of the NSWIS Women's Football Program from 2002–2013. Widely considered as the one of the best football nurseries in Australia, the program produced over 30 senior Internationals in that 10-year period. He was also the head coach of the Women's National Soccer League side, the NSW Sapphires, which he guided to a premiership in the 2003/04 season. He started as head coach of HSHS in the foundation year and has gone on to win many titles and good performances. In 2006, he was the assistant coach for the Young Matilda's while they were competing at the FIFA U/20's Women's Championships in Russia. Unfortunately they bowed out in the group stage, missing the next round by 1 point to Brazil and Russia. As of 05/03/07 Stajcic became the Young Matildas Coach. In 2008, Stajcic became the inaugural Sydney FC Women's head coach, until 2014. They qualified for the semi finals in all 6 seasons, winning 2 grand finals and 2 premierships along the way. In 2013, Sydney FC beat Japanese powerhouse NTV Beleza and Sth American Champions Colo Colo to claim 3rd place the IWCC in Japan.
Matildas
As of September 2014, Stajcic was appointed full-time head coach of the Australian Women's National Football team, the Matildas. In the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada, they became the 1st Senior Australian Football Team to win a knockout match in a World Cup when they defeated Brazil 1–0 in the Round of 16 before losing 1–0 to Japan in the quarter finals. Earlier in 2014, Stajcic had led the Matildas in an Interim capacity, to a Silver Medal at the Asian Championships. Currently, Stajcic stands as the only Australian-born head coach to win a match at a FIFA World Cup. In March 2016, the Matildas qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in 12 years. Along the way eliminating World Cup finalists Japan. The Matildas topped the Asian Qualifying group and were undefeated in the tournament. The Matildas subsequently attained their highest-ever FIFA Ranking of 5. At the 2016 Rio Olympics Australia were grouped with Canada, Germany and Zimbabwe. Australia progressed through to the Quarter Finals, where they were beaten 7–6 on penalties by Hosts Brazil after a 0–0 draw. Despite qualifying for the 2019 Women's World Cup, Stajcic was sacked from his position by Football Federation Australia for reasons that were not made clear by the FFA at the time of the sacking, with FFA board member Heather Reid making cryptic remarks about how people "would be shocked" if they knew the reasons. Stajcic took legal action against the FFA for the sacking and the veil of secrecy behind it, and in May 2019 this legal action lead to a settlement with a significant cash settlement accounting for the loss of potential World Cup bonuses & reputation damage. Heather Reid said in a statement following the settlement, "I apologise unreservedly for the damage, distress and hurt that I have caused to Alen Stajcic as a professional football coach.
Central Coast Mariners
Following the sacking of Mike Mulvey from Central Coast Mariners, on 12 March 2019 Stajcic was appointed as the caretaker manager for the club. On 2 May 2019, Stajcic was appointed head coach on a 3-year contract until the end of the 2021–22 A-League season.
