The reshaping of the United States Women’s National Team will have a distinct Kansas City flavor.
Last week, U.S. Soccer announced that Vlatko Andonovski was hired as the next head coach for the women’s program. On Monday, Nov. 4, he added his first assistant coach in Milan Ivanovic.
Both of the new coaches attended college at Park University in Parkville and spent years coaching and playing soccer in the Kansas City metro area.
He is the ninth head coach and the third youngest to take the helm at the age of 43.
Vlatko Andonvoski
Andonovski will be making his coaching debut for the USWNT on Thursday, Nov. 7 in Columbus, Ohio when USA plays Sweden. Then, on Sunday, Nov. 10, USA will play Costa Rica in Jacksonville, Fla.
Early next year USA will take part in the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament.
USA won the last two World Cups under former coach Jill Ellis and will aim for gold at the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo, Japan.
“First, I want to sincerely thank U.S. Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro, our Women’s National Team General Manager Kate Markgraf and U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Earnie Stewart for this opportunity,” said Andonovski, who lives in Kansas City with his wife Biljana and their three children, Dragana, Luke and Daria. “It’s a huge honor and I’m very excited to get started with this group of players and staff as we work towards continued success for this program. All of the talented coaches and players that have come before have built a legendary tradition of excellence and I’m committed to working very hard to continue to move this program forward.”
Andonovski had a 72-50-43 record coaching in the National Women’s Soccer League, the most games coached in the league and the second most wins. He coached FC Kansas City and most recently Reign FC.
FC Kansas City took second in 2013 and he was named the coach of that year. He guided the women’s team to titles the next two years. He joined the Reign FC last year and guided the Tacoma, Washington team to the postseason after a three-year drought.
This year, Reign FC finished despite dealing with injuries.
He was named the coach of the year for the NWSL for the second time. He garnered 52.7 percent of the votes, almost double that of North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley, who had 27.1 percent.
He is bringing Ivanovic to the squad after working with him for the past four years, two with FC Kansas City and two with Reign FC.
Ivanovic played for Andonovski for six years with the Kansas City Comets from 2012-2018.
He came to the United States in 2009 to play soccer at Park University, where he earned a degree in international business.
Ivanovic, a native of Serbia, started his coaching career with Futura FC in Kansas City.
He went back to Serbia to play professional soccer after three years at Park before returning to play for the Comets.
A native of North Macedonia, which gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Andonovski is also a former professional player.
He came to the United States in 2000 when he signed with the Wichita Wings of the National Professional Soccer League and later played with the Kansas City Comets, California Cougars and Philadelphia Kixx of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
He was a two-time MISL All-Star and was named the defender of the year in 2002 while playing for the Comets.
“It was my playing career that made me decide to stay,” Andonovski said in a story on reignfc.com. “I enjoyed playing here. After playing for seven or eight years, it just felt like home. I felt comfortable. I loved the environment and the community I lived in. Everything about it was so nice that I knew that this is where I want to spend the rest of my life. Coaching was something that I always wanted to do. It was at that point that I knew that I wanted to move into coaching in the U.S.”
Andonovski coached the Kansas City Comets, which plays in Independence, going 58-15 in three seasons from 2014 to 2017. Then, he took the job with Reign FC. His coaching career started in youth leagues and he served as the Sporting Blue Valley elite club director.
His daughter, Dragana, is a standout soccer player at Park Hill and was a key starter on the team’s 2017 title run. She has committed to play soccer at Missouri State.
He graduated from Park in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration/management and earned a master’s degree in coaching education from Ohio University last year.