Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian soccer manager and former player who most recently coached the Australia national team.
After head coach Frank Farina was sacked in 2005, Arnold worked with Guus Hiddink for the 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign, in which they made the second round of the finals.
Australia lost to Japan in penalty shootout in the Quarter Finals and Arnold then continued in the role as manager of the Australian U-23 side, qualifying through to the 2008 Olympics.
He was also linked with the manager's position at Bolton Wanderers and Norwich City in England but lost out to Gary Megson and Glenn Roeder respectively.
With the appointment of Dutchman Pim Verbeek as the Australian manager, Arnold along with Henk Duut served as his assistant to the national side during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
[12][13][14] Arnold is recognised as one of the A-League's greatest ever managers, in part due to his contribution to the Central Coast Mariners Football Club between 2010 and 2013.
On 21 April 2013, he guided the Mariners to a 2–0 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers to win the A-League Championship for the first time in the club's history.
Australian internationals Tom Rogic, Trent Sainsbury, Mathew Ryan, Mitchell Duke, Mustafa Amini, Bernie Ibini, and Oliver Bozanic all developed their game under Arnold at the Mariners, and went on to enjoy great careers abroad.
In addition to this, he also brought in 5 Australian players, including Bernie Ibini on loan, Socceroo Alex Wilkinson (two whom have worked with Arnold at the Central Coast) and Danny Vukovic from rival club Melbourne Victory.
Into the January transfer window, fan favourite Matthew Jurman joined K-League club Suwon Samsung Bluewings, while keeper Vedran Janjetović swapped with Andrew Redmayne to cross city rivals, Western Sydney Wanderers after a dispute about not playing after being displaced by Vukovic.
His team was eventually crowned premiers after Melbourne Victory was unable to defeat Brisbane Roar, while Sydney had 4 games remaining.
Arnold signed the likes of Milos Ninkovic, Bobo, Filip Holosko, Adrian Mierzejewski, and Marc Janko to the Sky Blues, each of whom made telling contributions to Sydney's success between 2014 and 2018 alongside a raft of key Australian players including Brandon O'Neill, Rhyan Grant, Andrew Redmayne, and Joshua Brillante.
On 8 March 2018, after a vigorous search, it was announced that he would replace Bert van Marwijk as Australian coach after the 2018 FIFA World Cup following his notable success with A-League club Sydney FC,[3] as well as also taking charge of the Olyroos.
Almost immediately after Australia's uninspired performance at the tournament reached its climax, Arnold officially took the reins in the box seat of the national team.
On the day prior to the match, Arnold announced that Socceroos veteran Mark Milligan would be appointed captain for an indefinite period.
In the second play-off against Peru, Arnold made a key decision prior to the penalty shoot-out, substituting goalkeeper captain Mathew Ryan for Andrew Redmayne.
[28][29] In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Arnold defied all odds and criticism aimed against him, leading Australia to the round of 16 for only the second time after 2006 when he was an assistant coach, following 1–0 wins over Tunisia and Denmark in the last two group stage matches, making him the first Australian-born manager to achieve this feat, as well as the first Australia manager to win multiple matches in the same FIFA World Cup tournament.
[33][34][35] In the third round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, Australia had a bad start, with the first game losing to Bahrain at home soil 0–1, followed by a scoreless draw against Indonesia.