KANSAS CITY, Mo. — 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 officially hired as coach of the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League on Monday, taking over a team that reached the title 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.
“Kansas City is home,” Andonovski, a two-time NWSL coach of they year, said in a statement. “This club is very ambitious, and they have an ownership group willing to do what it takes to meet their goals. … The fans here have always been passionate, and it has been so exciting to see them grow and make Kansas City one of the best atmospheres in the NWSL.”
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.
That disappointment came after Andonovski had led the Americans to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and the outcome of those two…
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