Soccer Football - AFC Champions League - Group H - Sydney FC v Shanghai SIPG - Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar - November 19, 2020 Sydney FC coach Steve Corica REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari/File photo
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Steve Corica has been confirmed as the first coach of the new Auckland-based A-League team six weeks after being sacked by five-times champions Sydney FC.
Corica won back-to-back championships with Sydney FC in 2019-20 but departed last month after a poor start to the season.
He will work with the Auckland team's recently appointed director of football Terry McFlynn, a former Sydney FC team mate, to build the club's roster before they join the Australian top flight from the 2024/25 season.
The team's billionaire owner Bill Foley said Corica was a "proven winner" as a player and a head coach.
"His philosophy is aligned with what we want to achieve at the club, to be successful and to entertain the fan," Foley said in a statement.
Auckland will join fellow New Zealanders Wellington Phoenix, the first time the nation has had two teams in the A-League.
Wellington top the table eight games into the season.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Michael Perry)
