How will the "Aloisi Brothers" spark new excitement in the Chinese Super League this time?

Written by Han Bing In the 2026 CSL season, Australians form the largest group of foreign head coaches. The Aloisi brothers coach Zhejiang FC (Ross Aloisi) and Chengdu Rongcheng (John Aloisi) respectively, marking the league’s first-ever brother duo as head coaches. Their derby will be one of the most anticipated events of the upcoming season.

The Aloisi brothers hail from Adelaide in southern Australia. Ross is three years older than John. Their ancestors were Italian immigrants from Calabria who crossed the ocean; their grandfather came to Australia alone initially before bringing the entire family over. Their father, Rocky, ran the family kitchenware business and also coached for many years in Adelaide and at Campbell Town clubs.

The Aloisi siblings number five, and the brothers’ passion for football comes from their father, Rocky. As children, they played football in their backyard, with John playing his first official match at age five. Their father coached them strictly and reviewed every game with them afterward.

Older brother Ross believes the family’s resilience has been passed down since their grandfather’s time.

“John is hardworking and never gives up. We owe that to our father. When we were kids, no matter what games we played with him, he never let us win. He always emphasized, ‘You must win, you must learn how to win,’” Ross said.

John said Ross was his childhood football mentor and motivation: “When he played for Australia’s U17 national team, I wanted to be just like him.”

In 1992, 16-year-old John ventured to Europe, and Ross joined him a year later in Belgium’s Antwerp. However, they went separate ways afterward until returning home to Australia in 2007. Unfortunately, during the 2007/08 season, they missed the chance to play a “brother derby” as players. In August, John, playing for Central Coast Mariners, was not in the squad against Wellington Phoenix, while Ross played the full match before retiring.

In 2015, John became head coach of Brisbane Roar and invited Ross to join as assistant coach. Some questioned nepotism, but John ignored the criticism, noting precedents like the Koeman brothers coaching Southampton in the Premier League. Within the Aloisi family, their father Rocky and uncle Tony have run the family business together for over 40 years, setting a strong example.

“Before our families moved to Brisbane, we shared an apartment downtown,” John said. They hadn’t lived together since he was 15, so reuniting felt special. “My brother always went to bed by 7:30 pm because I would come home and only talk about football...”

Ross handled cooking since he was the older brother. “I will always protect my brother. Though he’s tough, we rarely argue. We speak openly about disagreements and respect our differences.” Their family environment helped their coaching careers—during family dinners, their father Rocky would start tactical discussions involving everyone.

Back then, Brisbane Roar faced financial troubles, with suppliers suing and former owners demanding the club’s dissolution. During the last six games of their first season, the brothers worked from a café. The team lacked a dedicated training ground and had to practice on a university field. “We changed clothes at one place, drove to train somewhere else, then returned to shower before driving 15 minutes to meetings and video analysis,” Ross recalled.

Thanks to John’s excellent coaching and management, Brisbane Roar made the A-League finals two years in a row. The brothers worked together for three years, forming a legendary coaching duo in Australian football.

At the end of 2018, John resigned due to poor results, but Ross stayed on for another year before leaving.

For the next two and a half years, John worked as a football commentator on TV and often traveled to Europe to learn. This period was largely influenced by Australian coaching legend Ange Postecoglou—after leaving Melbourne Victory in 2013, John was unemployed for two years. Postecoglou, then Australia’s national team coach, frequently encouraged him, sharing his own comeback story and advising John to enter broadcasting to learn media skills.

In 2021, Western United hired John as head coach. Many doubted him since he had been unemployed for over two years and had never led a team to the A-League finals. Ross always supported his brother: “John’s motivation isn’t to prove doubters wrong; he simply loves the game purely and wants to be the best, like Muscat and Postecoglou.” Ross highly praises John’s tactics, saying he learned much from him, just as he did from Muscat.

The first “brother derby” between Ross and John as coaches took place on December 17, 2021, in the 4th round of the A-League regular season. John’s Western United won 1-0 at home against Adelaide United, where Ross was assistant coach.

Before the match, John said it wasn’t about brotherly ties: “The game is only about the teams, but it’s nice to see my brother sitting on the opposite bench.” Ross called it just another game: “John is a very smart tactician, but I know him well.”

They didn’t contact each other in the week leading up to the game: “No calls at all. My kids asked if I would visit Uncle John after the match, and I said no because someone would definitely be disappointed by a loss or frustrated by a draw, as both sides expected to win.” Their father Rocky stayed neutral, but Ross believed their parents from Adelaide would support the hometown team where he was assistant coach.

Ross didn’t expect that in both A-League “brother derbies,” he would be the disappointed party—except for the 2021/22 season match. In 2023, Ross returned as Brisbane Roar’s head coach, once placing second in the league, but on December 15, they lost 1-2 away to John’s Western United, who were last in the standings and on a six-game losing streak. That match eased the pressure on John.

Nine days after losing to John, Ross went to Shanghai to join Muscat again at Shanghai Port—Ross had been Muscat’s assistant at Yokohama F. Marinos. Now, Ross has the chance to challenge his former “boss,” which is equally intriguing.