Women’s FA Cup Final: Brighton coach Dario Vidosic hopes to pay tribute to his late father at Wembley

Dario, 39, was born in Croatia – his parents’ home country – when it was part of Yugoslavia, but moved to Australia a year later when Radu played for the Queensland Lions.

He followed his father’s path, becoming a player and representing Australia, before moving into coaching.

In response to a question about the role of football in his life, Dario added: “Since he was young, he was probably with my father. Everything was with him. When he was playing, I would watch him.”

“A lot of the time I was in the backfields with the kids. We were in a Croatian community club, so we were always together.

“We would play early in the day with the juniors and then head to wherever the first team was playing. Those are all my memories, just following my dad everywhere.

“It was something I loved doing. My mom and dad sacrificed so much to help me travel. I never felt like I missed out.”

For Dario, the transition into coaching was “natural” and he asked to join Radu as an assistant at Melbourne City to learn the ropes of the game.

In 2022, his father moved to the men’s team, so Dario took charge of the women’s team before joining Brighton two years later.

During his time in the WSL, he impressed by helping Albion close the gap on the top four.

“[My dad] He influenced what we do and some of the ideas we were working on together, even when I was his assistant [in Melbourne]“Dario said.

“I try to live day by day, try to improve myself, try to improve the team and give them everything I can.

“Now I enjoy it [in a different way]. I went to my son’s training this week. It was a beautiful afternoon.

“It’s a breakaway moment even though you don’t break away from football completely. Family gives you this nice perspective away from the game.”