Arthur Diles (born 22 April 1982) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

manager and former player. He is the current manager of

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

in the

A-League Men A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as ...

Early and personal life

Diles was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. His parents were born in Greece, with his father being from

Pylos Pylos (, ; ), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of ...

and his mother from

Kiato Kiato () is a town in the northern part of Corinthia in the Peloponnese, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of Sikyona. Kiato is situated on the Gulf of Corinth, near the mouth of the river Asopos. It has much tourist activity mainly in ...

. As of 2020, he was married and had twin 8-year-old sons.

Playing career

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, Diles began playing in the academy of

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

. He also played in Australia for

Sydney United Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

and

Parramatta Power Parramatta Power Soccer Club were a professional association football club who were based in the Western Sydney city of Parramatta. They played in the National Soccer League (Australia), National Soccer League from season National Soccer League ...

, as well as spells in Europe with

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

in English non-league football, and K.V. Mechelen in Belgium. He retired at age 25 due to the decline of the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

in Australia, and a prospective employer in Europe going bankrupt.

Managerial career

Diles began coaching at the academy of

AEK Athens F.C. A.E.K. Football Club (), known simply as A.E.K. (; ) in Greece and AEK Athens internationally, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica, Greece. Established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the ...

in Greece before taking the under-14 team of the

New South Wales Institute of Sport The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is a high-performance-sports training institute in New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales government agency provides coaching, performance support, and daily training environments to help t ...

, leading them to a national title in 2013. As technical director of Sydney Olympic, a team based in the Greek Australian community, he signed former

Greece international The Hellas International or Greece International in badminton is an international open held in Athens, Greece since 2000 and are thereby one of the most recent international championships in Europe. In 2005, the tournament then upgraded to two star ...

defender

Sotirios Kyrgiakos Sotirios Kyrgiakos (, born 23 July 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Club career Kyrgiakos made his first football steps with a local team, Thyella Megalochoriou. It did not take long for him to ...

. At

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

, Diles won titles with the under-18 and under-20 teams before becoming manager of the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in the

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a men's national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state- ...

and assistant manager of the first team. In September 2020, Diles returned to Greece as assistant manager of

Xanthi F.C. Xanthi Football Club () is a Greek Association football, football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace. They play their home matches at Skoda Xanthi Arena Founded in 1967, Xanthi is well set up in terms of their financial support and youth set ...

after its purchase by Sydney Olympic director Bill Papas; former Australia international

Tony Popovic Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is currently head coach of the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national football team. He guided the team to qualify for the 202 ...

became the manager. In June 2021, Diles returned to Australia, being named as assistant to

Arthur Papas Arthur Papastamatis (born 12 February 1980) also known as Arthur Papas, is an Australians, Australian professional association football, soccer manager who is the manager of J1 League club Cerezo Osaka. Background & Education Papas began lear ...

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

. In July 2023, he moved into the same role at

, to Popovic and then

Patrick Kisnorbo Patrick Fabio Maxime Kisnorbo (born 24 March 1981) is an Australian professional football manager and former player who was last serving as the head coach of J1 League club Yokohama F. Marinos. As a player, Kisnorbo was a primarily a centre-ba ...

. On 16 December 2024, Kisnorbo quit the Victory five days before the

local derby A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, affecting participants, management, and supporters all to varying degrees. One of the first known sports rivalries occurred in the Roman Empire between the Blues and th ...

against Melbourne City, leaving Diles in temporary charge. His debut was a 1–1 home draw with an equaliser by

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Roderick Miranda Roderick Jefferson Gonçalves Miranda (born 30 March 1991), known as Roderick, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Melbourne Victory in the A-League Men, where he also serves as captain. Having started his pr ...

. On 24 January 2025, he obtained his first win in his seventh game, winning

The Big Blue ''The Big Blue'' (released in some countries under the French title ''Le Grand Bleu'') is a 1988 drama film directed by Luc Besson. Inspired by the '' Cinéma du look'' movement, the film is a heavily fictionalized and dramatized story of the ...

2–0 over

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, currently known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the suburb of East Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victor ...

; a week later he was hired on a permanent basis until the end of the season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diles, Arthur 1982 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Men's association football defenders Australian men's soccer players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Parramatta Power SC players Crawley Town F.C. players K.V. Mechelen players National Soccer League (Australia) players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Australian soccer managers AEK Athens F.C. non-playing staff Western Sydney Wanderers FC non-playing staff Xanthi F.C. non-playing staff Melbourne Victory FC managers National Premier Leagues managers A-League Men managers Australian people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent