by Chloe Reynolds (29/5/26)
Above: Dario Vidosic preparing his team for the FA Cup Final against Manchester City. Photo: BHAFA Women on X
Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Dario Vidosic spoke to the media ahead of Brighton’s trip to Wembley. This is the first time that Brighton and Hove Albion will be in the FA cup final, they beat Liverpool in dramatic fashion in the semi-final.
Vidosic confirmed that there are no new fresh injury concerns ahead of the final; “Everyone else is trained well and have been, you know, right at it, so we get to go into Wembley with basically a full compliment”
23-year-old Maise Symonds will be leading the team out on Sunday, and despite being so young has captained this Brighton side all season and Vidosic has nothing but praise for the youngster. “It speaks volumes about Mais (Maise Symonds), I think, even when I first met her, for quite a young player, she was very, very mature. I knew, I said immediately, she will be the captain. So, she naturally always had that presence, that feeling within the group that she, you know, even at a young age, she understands the moments, what’s required, and she’s learning as well.
“So, we have to, we also can’t forget she’s played 100 games for the club already. You know, 100 games is a great achievement. But to do it at such a young age, and to play such a pivotal role as well, just speaks volumes about her as a footballer, and also as a character.
“So, we’re all really proud that she’ll be the one to lead us out, and I think I need to walk in front, but if I could, I’d let her walk in front because she deserves to be at the front to lead this club out at Wembley. But, I mean, I know the girls will all be right behind us. She’ll be there as well, and, you know, we’re looking forward to that”
Vidosic also reflected on the tough season, especially the first half; “You know, not to take anything away from the first half of the season. I thought there were large periods where we were quite good. We had to adapt a lot due to injuries; we weren’t really able to field the same 11 in consecutive weeks. I think I don’t know once in that in that 1st period.
“So, that made things a little bit tougher. But, you know, we were always there. The squad was always there. They were fighting, results would just slip away or a few little moments would make it a little bit tougher, but, you know, I think the whole season bar, I think maybe one game with Chelsea. I’ve been very, very proud of them in, you know, they’ve risen to every challenge. They’ve accepted every challenge head on, and in the second part, once the cup did begin, we spoke about that and we always do about that chance to make history.
“We were unable to on the final day of the of the season to become the best team in terms of points tally for the club. I thought we were again close. But, you know, this is another opportunity for us to be that, to bring that major trophy back, for the fans, for the club, for the, for the team. We’re looking forward now to this, to this game on Sunday.
It’s also been a tough season personally for Vidosic, who lost his father Rado at the start of the year and he reflected on what he thought his father would make of them making it to this historic final and the lessons he learned from him; “I always think about that every day and those quiet moments and sometimes those crazier moments where it just sort of sometimes will hit you, sometimes it’s good memories, sometimes it’s not so good memories not that long ago, but, you know, I try to carry everything he’s taught me in life and how he, worked and, you know, I took some, you know, a lot of lessons.
“I am the person I am today because of my father and my mother, but especially with dad in football sense. I wanted to be like him when he was a player, and I was playing on the backfields as a junior running around, following him everywhere, and it was a similar thing when he was a coach, I was wanting to follow in those footsteps as well. So, I know he’ll be there. I know he’ll be watching, he won’t miss. He won’t miss that game, and hopefully, we can, again, make him proud from above.
The Australian coach ended with that he wants to play the Brighton way and for his players to go out and have fun; “We want to go there. We want to be, we want to be us. I think that’s the most important thing, just, there’s no pressure that we need to do something different. We need to do that. You know, what got us there will help us to play this game and help us to achieve what we’re setting out to achieve. We know we’ve got a very tough opponent in front of us. We know that we’re going to have to play a very good game in every single phase. We know we’ve got players; they have players that can turn a game very, very quickly with the individual quality that they have. But we know we also possess some weapons and how we are as a unit, as a team, that we can also cause a lot of problems. So, you know, it shapes up, I think it’s two excellent teams that are now facing off in the final and for the fans of both sets and for the neutral, it’ll shape up to be a fantastic watch.”
The FA Cup final will take place between Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion on May 31 at Wembley Stadium. Kick of is at 3pm
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