Stefano Mautone (born 10 August 1970) is an Australian

association football 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 ...

coach with

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

. Mautone was initially recruited by Melbourne Victory to assume responsibility for training their goalkeepers

Michael Theoklitos Michael Theo ( Theoklitos) (born 11 February 1981) is an Australian goalkeeper who is the goalkeeping coach at A-League club Western United FC. Career Early career Theoklitos began his football journey through the junior ranks at now defunct ...

and

Eugene Galekovic Eugen Josip Galekovic ( ; , ; born 12 June 1981) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the current goalkeeper and assistant coach for Adelaide United. Having played over 250 games in the A-League, 238 ...

. He has been responsible for training and developing former Melbourne Victory goalkeepers

Michael Petkovic Michael Petkovic (born 16 July 1976) is an Australian former goalkeeper. Club career Petkovic is of Croatian origin and is the brother of former Perth Glory goalkeeper Jason Petkovic. South Melbourne Petkovic started off his career with S ...

, Sebastian Mattei, Michael Theoklitos, Eugene Galekovic,

Glen Moss Glen Robert Moss (born 19 January 1983) is a New Zealand former football goalkeeper who is goalkeeping coach for Macarthur FC. He played for New Zealand at international level. A foundational member of both the New Zealand Knights and Welling ...

and

Mitch Langerak Mitchell James Langerak ( ; born 22 August 1988) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Melbourne Victory. Club career Melbourne Victory Langerak signed his first professional contract in February 2007, with A-Le ...

whilst they were respectively playing at the Victory. In 2008–09 and 2009–10 season, Mautone was assistant coach with Melbourne Victory's National Youth League team, working alongside Mehmet Durakovic. Mautone has recently relinquished this position to concentrate on the Victo

Club career

After completing a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport, Steve's professional career began quietly in 1989, when as an 18-year-old he made eight appearances for

Blacktown City Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

in 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 ...

as an understudy to Bill Londos. He made the switch to

Parramatta Eagles Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian Association football, soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales, South Granville, New South Wales. The club was e ...

the following season, serving another apprenticeship to Alex McPherson. Mautone returned to regional Victoria in 1992, taking up a contract with

Morwell Falcons Falcons 2000 Soccer Club (formerly Morwell Falcons, Gippsland Falcons and Eastern Pride) is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the regional Victorian city of Morwell in Latrobe Valley, Gippsland. The club currently participates i ...

, firstly in the

Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

in 1992, and ultimately securing the first team spot in the senior squad for the club's inaugural season in the

. In two seasons with the Gippsland-based club, Mautone proved outstanding, not missing a single league game, and his performances led to a move to Victorian rivals

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

. The following season Mautone signed for the newly formed

Canberra Cosmos Canberra Cosmos Football Club was an Australian soccer club based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. It participated in the National Soccer League from the 1995/96 season until the end of the 2000/01 season, after which it folded, prima ...

, where he played 20 of 24 league games before a move to England with London-based

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

beckoned. Following a loan spell with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

, he made his League debut for the Hammers in September 1996, keeping a clean sheet against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

. He was then loaned out to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, where he became a fans favourite, eventually signing for the club in March 1997 in a deal worth £250,000. He made 34 appearances in all competitions for Reading before eventually being released from his contract. Mautone spent the 1999–2000 season making a handful of appearances at various clubs, including

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

and Gillingham. He eventually moved to non-league Slough Town where he spent a couple of seasons and made over 50 appearances before eventually returning to Australia to pursue his coaching career.

Coaching career

Mautone served as goalkeeping coach of

for nine years, before departing on 22 May 2015 in order to spend more time with his young family.

References

External links

Melbourne Victory profile

Gillingham FC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mautone, Steve 1970 births Living people People from Myrtleford Australian men's soccer players Soccer players from Sydney Men's association football goalkeepers Premier League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Blacktown City FC players Parramatta FC players Falcons 2000 SC players South Melbourne FC players West Ham United F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Reading F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Slough Town F.C. players Melbourne Victory FC players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England