Ange Postecoglou fulfils his 'impossible dream' with Tottenham's Europa League win

There is a dream that drives Ange Postecoglou and an insatiable desire to win that has seen him scale the heights of international football and established him as one of Australia's sporting greats.

In the middle of a family holiday in southern Greece, at the end of a seesawing season, the Tottenham Hotspur manager is in a thoughtful mood, basking in the afterglow of last month's stunning Europa League victory. 

''Something told me that this was going to be my destiny … this is what I was supposed to do," he tells Australian Story in an exclusive interview airing tonight. 

Despite the chorus of criticism he has endured following the Spurs' poor showing this season and rumours that he may be shown the exit door as early as this week, Postecoglou is defiant.

"I have no doubt that for me the mission when I joined the football club was to win a trophy," he says. 

With that done, he is now hungry for more. 

The impossible dream

Postecoglou moved to Australia from Greece when he was five — the son of a football-loving father who encouraged his son to pursue his lofty dreams. 

"The posters I had on my wall were all about the English First Division. It was where I wanted to see myself," he says.

But at that stage, international success seemed impossible. 

"A lot of people see Ange at the moment and see the massive profile globally, but humble beginnings," says Nick Deligiannis, who played park football alongside Postecoglou in the Melbourne suburbs as a teenager. 

A talented player, Postecoglou realised he would need to navigate "a narrow roadway" to make it to the top. 

After suffering a career-ending knee injury at the age of 27, he turned his hand to coaching. 

Hell-bent on winning 

Postecoglou had his first significant Australian coaching success in the A-League when Brisbane Roar won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.

Having established himself as "a serial winner" with the Roar, he was appointed a year later to Australia's top managerial job — coach of the national team, the Socceroos. 

Tasked with regenerating an ageing team that had often failed to fire, Postecoglou wasted no time blooding new players and stating his intention to take the team to the very top.

His strategy paid off and he led the Socceroos to their first Asian Cup win in 2015.

But Postecoglou wanted more. He had his sights set on the World Cup, the holy grail of football. And he wasn't happy with simply making the finals; he wanted the Socceroos to win. But it wasn't clear that those above shared his vision. 

A few days after guiding Australia through the group stages to a place in the 2018 World Cup finals, Postecoglou walked away, announcing his decision during an emotional press conference. 

"I think ultimately my biggest driver was winning and I just didn't see us winning a World Cup," he says, explaining his decision. 

In retrospect, it was a pivotal and career-defining moment. 

"That decision is probably bigger than any other decision in terms of where I am today," Postecoglou says. "Once I made that decision to cut that cord, it allowed me to go on with my career."

Making it in Japan and Europe 

Keen to get back to club football, Postecoglou headed to Japan to manage league club Yokohama F. Marinos. Here he enjoyed his new-found freedom and the positive reception to his attacking style of play.  

Postecoglou pursued his trademark coaching plan — rebuilding the team in his first season and winning a trophy in the second. 

After success in Japan, Postecoglou was headhunted by powerhouse Scottish team Celtic, where he had his first taste of the ferociously competitive European-based league. 

"When he arrived at Celtic, most of the reaction was, 'Who is this guy?'" says The Guardian's football podcaster Max Rushden. 

But Postecoglou ignored the doubters and steered the club through a stunning string of successes — two League Cup wins in 2022 and 2023 and a haul of other trophies along the way.

"If you have real success in Scotland, then Premier League clubs do look at you," says Rushden.  

The doors were flung open. The impossible dream was within sight. 

Dream comes true

In 2023, Tottenham Hotspur, a powerful but underperforming London club, announced the signing of Postecoglou in the hope he could manage them out of the doldrums.

It was the moment Postecoglou had dreamed of — the English Premier League and a huge step-up in terms of rewards and expectations. 

"The Premier League is the biggest league in the world," says his friend Nick Deligiannis. 

Spurs got off to a flying start in its first 10 games — eight wins, two draws and a place at the top of the hallowed Premier League table. 

Sports writers couldn't get enough of Postecoglou and Spurs fans, exhilarated by their team's initial success, were chanting his name in the stadium terraces.

Music megastar Robbie Williams joined in the chorus of approval, posting on social media a new version of his hit song Angels, recorded in celebration of the Australian coach. 

But a catastrophic mid-season match against Chelsea, including two red cards and injuries to key players, signalled a dramatic change in the team's fortunes and Spurs soon tumbled down the ladder. 

A massive injury toll that only worsened in the 2025 season fuelled the critics and calls for Postecoglou's sacking grew louder.  

"People are like, 'but it's not working, Ange, do something,'" says Rushden. "But he kept playing this kamikaze-type football."  

As Spurs careered towards its worst Premier League result ever, Postecoglou says he changed strategy. From then on, he poured all the team's energy into winning the Europa League, a second-tier but nonetheless important European club competition.

Should Tottenham clinch that trophy, they would gain automatic entry into next season's more prestigious UEFA Champions League and enjoy the significant financial benefits that would flow.

"That was when the laser focus came in," Postecoglou tells Australian Story. "Every decision I made was around, 'well, how do we navigate this to get to get to where we want to?'"  

But would the all-or-nothing strategy pay off? 

Under pressure

When Spurs fans arrived in Bilbao in mid-May in the lead up to the Europa League final against Manchester United, the excitement was palpable. It had been 17 years since the team's last trophy and 41 years since they had won in Europe. 

"There was a lot at stake for Ange because he put his reputation on the line," says Deligiannis, who sat in the stands with Postecoglou's wife Georgia, "kicking every ball with Ange".

Postecoglou says the interest in the final was phenomenal: "This was the one game on the planet that night."  

The match went right down to the wire. With Spurs grimly hanging on to a 1-0 lead in the final minutes of game time, Deligiannis says he leaned over to Georgia and remarked: "Have a look at Ange; I reckon he's the calmest person in the whole stadium."

But Postecoglou was certainly feeling the weight of the potentially history-making moment and when the referee announced seven minutes of extra time, the pressure was intense. 

"I can tell you that seven minutes did not feel like seven minutes," he says. "We're so close to achieving the impossible … every 60 seconds was consequential." 

When the final whistle was blown, Postecoglou was able to smile for the first time in a long time as family, friends and fans raced to join him in a wild celebration. 

He had just made history — the first Australian to win a major European club trophy.

Massive celebrations and a cryptic message 

"I told them, and they didn't believe," Postecoglou said as he addressed the tens of thousands of fans that turned out in London for what was surely the club's largest ever victory parade. 

"I'll leave you with this: all the best television series, season three is better than season two."

Despite his big win, Postecoglou's future with the club is uncertain, with rumours swirling that his contract as manager will end soon.

But the jubilation of the fans in the parade, who chanted his name, indicated they wanted 'Big Ange' to stay.

But what signal was Postecoglou sending out when he referred to a third season? 

"I didn't want us to just enjoy the moment," he tells Australian Story. "I also wanted us to think about what's next, you know — don't settle for this. We've got a taste of it now. My players have got a taste for it. The club's got a taste for it. Well, let's make sure we're back here again."  

According to sports journalist Richard Hinds, the Ange Postecoglou story "has redefined what's possible for Australian coaches. He has stepped into the realm of the great coaches." 

And the 59-year-old manager says he has more to give.  

"When we sat down 10 years ago and did the initial Australian Story, I think maybe even you guys thought that that was the culmination of what I was about to achieve," he says.  

"In 10 years' time, if we sit down again, I've got no doubt in my mind that there'll be more stories to tell."

Watch Australian Story's 'Game of his Life', 8:00pm, on ABCTV and ABC iview.

Athens camera and production: Adrian Wilson and Elias Clure.