Melbourne Victory sack Arthur Diles

News Corp football journalist Marco Monteverde reported on Monday evening that Victory chairman John Dovaston and football director John Didulica are in advanced talks with former Macarthur FC head coach Ante Milicic. They want him to leave his role as manager of Chinas national womens team to take charge at AAMI Park from the 2026/27 season.

Diles guided Victory to the 2024/25 A League Grand Final where they lost 1 0 to cross town rivals Melbourne City. This season they were knocked out by eventual Grand Finalists Sydney FC in the elimination final.

He had stepped up from being assistant coach to interim head during the 2024/25 campaign after Patrick Kisnorbo left suddenly. Kisnorbo would go on to beat Diles in his last match as Victory coach.

Diles finished with a 40 percent win rate across 50 A League matches. The club also suffered an early exit from the 2025/26 Australia Cup after losing 4 3 to NPL WA side Olympic Kingsway in July 2025.

An elimination final exit would likely have been seen as a failure by the Victory board despite the contribution of Spanish World Cup winner Juan Mata. Diles struggled to find a reliable goal scoring striker.

Monteverde said a surprised Diles learned of his dismissal only after joining player retention talks which he had been considering for the past two weeks since the teams finals exit.