Melbourne Victory have appointed Paulo Cardoso as the club's Academy Director following a global search for the right candidate.
Cardosoย has spent more than two decades in the world of football, having experience as a coach, technical director, professional scout and player development expert.
The appointment of the Portugal-born Cardoso signifies the club's ambitions to develop an elite football academy, and Victory CEO Ian Robson was excited for Cardozo to join the club.
"Paulo's appointment as Academy Director is a crucial step for Melbourne Victory as we continue to develop plans for our football academy," Robson said.
"Paulo has incredible experience in player development, scouting and coaching all over the world, over a sustained period of time.
"He has excellent leadership skills, a proven ability to recruit and develop players to a world-class standard, and a football network which extends to over 40 countries.
"These are all attributes that are important to the success of our academy, which we see as critical to the further growth and prosperity of Melbourne Victory."
Cardoso was quite pleased to join the Victory in the directing role, and has a history of recruiting and developing world-class players, with Cristiano Ronaldo topping the list.
"I'm excited about this opportunity to join Melbourne Victory and I'm looking forward helping the club establish its football academy," Cardoso said.
"Through my experience in developing footballers overseas, I understand the importance of clubs having an elite pathway for player development.
"I'm looking forward to working with the key football staff, current youth team coaches and, more broadly, key club executives and external stakeholders to start to bring the project together."
Melbourne Victory currently run a senior and U20 team in the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria competition and also have teams represented in the Foxtel National Youth League and Westfield W-League.
