Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier women's competition, A-League Women. The team was established in 2008, with the founding of the new league.[1][2]
After Australia reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time, head coach Tom Sermanni felt the establishment of a professional league was vital for continuing the development of players.[3] Perth Glory was one of eight teams included in the establishment of the league the following year by Football Federation Australia.[4]
During the team's inaugural season, the women's team was managed by Nicola Williams who improved to be a top–four performing side in the second half of the season.[6][7] In 2010, Jamie Harnwell was named head coach and led the team to second and first place finishes and a first-time trip to the finals.[8] In July 2015, former A-League striker Bobby Despotovski was named head coach with former Matilda and Perth Glory captain Collette McCallum as assistant coach.[9] After five years as a coach, Despotovski stepped down in November 2020[10] and was replaced by Alexander Epakis a few weeks later.[11]
