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London: Multiple A-League title-winning coach Rado Vidosic, one of the most widely-respected figures in Australian soccer, has died after a short battle with cancer.
His son, Dario, revealed the news in post on Instagram on Monday night (AEDT). Rado Vidosic was 64.
“I am heartbroken to share that my father has passed away after a battle with cancer,” Dario wrote. “I will carry your wisdom in my steps and your strength in my heart. Forever my hero. Love you Tata.”
Vidosic had been serving as the head of coaching for women and girls at Brighton & Hove Albion for the past year, having followed Dario – the head coach of their Women’s Super League team – to the English club after his appointment in mid-2024.
Brighton last week announced Dario would be taking leave from coaching for private family reasons.
A warm, personable figure, few coaches have made a broader contribution to the Australian game than Vidosic, who served in a variety of roles with five different A-League clubs, worked with men, women, boys and girls’ teams, and won trophies both as an assistant and a head coach in his own right.
Rado Vidosic has passed away at 64.Credit: Getty
Born in Osijek in the former Yugoslavia (now Croatia), Vidosic moved to Australia in 1988 with a one-year-old Dario to play for the Queensland Lions in the National Soccer League.
Like so many other foreigners who came to play in Australia, he never left – migrating permanently and commencing what would become a decades-long contribution to the sport and, through it, the country.
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After a period of coaching with schools and local clubs in south-east Queensland, he served as an assistant coach at Brisbane Roar from the A-League’s first season, working under Miron Bleiberg, Frank Farina and then Ange Postecoglou, with whom he won back-to-back grand finals in 2011 and 2012 in the club’s famous ‘Roarcelona’ era.
When Postecoglou left to coach Melbourne Victory in 2012, Vidosic succeeded him as the Roar’s head coach.
He later worked as an assistant at Sydney FC, Victory and Wellington Phoenix, before becoming the technical director and head coach of Melbourne City’s women’s team, with whom he won the premiership-championship double in the 2019-20 season.
After that, Vidosic replaced Patrick Kisnorbo as head coach of City’s A-League Men’s side, guiding them to the 2022-23 premiership and a grand final appearance.
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