Wellington Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano has completed his backroom team for the 2025-26 Isuzu UTE A-League.
Former Papua New Guinea international Reggie Davani has been appointed the Phoenix men’s team’s head analyst and second assistant coach.
He joins lead assistant Kelly Guimarães and goalkeeper coach Dylan Cope in Italiano’s coaching team and will work alongside assistant analysts Tyron Curtis and Sebastian Bayliss.
For the past 18 months Davani’s been at Central Coast Mariners, where he’s been their youth boys technical director.
Before that he worked at Football Queensland and coached at National Premier League (NPL) level. He has also served as the PNG men’s team’s assistant coach.
Italiano says Davani has all the attributes he was looking for from his head analyst and second assistant.
“First and foremost Reggie’s a good guy,” Italiano said. “Literally he is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and he’s also a good coach.
“For this sort of role I needed someone with experience, but at the same time I needed good character traits and also someone that’s willing to learn and prove himself in this environment.
“Reggie ticks all those boxes and because we have a younger squad he’ll be invaluable as he has experience developing young players and he enjoys it.”
It is believed Reggie Davani will be the first Papua New Guinean and Pacific Islander to coach professionally in the A-League.
“I feel privileged to be joining the Wellington Phoenix, a club which has contributed so much to football in New Zealand and Oceania,” Davani said.
“I’m at a point in my career where I was looking for this type of opportunity.
“I’ve gained all of my different experiences in the game, and I just feel that now is the perfect time to come into an A-League first team set-up.
“I want to thank Chiefy and the Phoenix for showing faith and having confidence in me, and I’m looking forward to making a positive contribution to the rich history of the club.”
Davani has vast experience identifying and developing players for both Football Queensland and the Mariners and sees similarities between Central Coast and the Nix in how they invest in youth.
“At the Mariners they’ve got a lot of young talent coming through the academy and into the first team environment.
“And when you see what’s happening at the Phoenix, and I watched the win over Wrexham and saw the young players there, that gets me really excited knowing that there’s a production line of young talent coming through and they’re all just itching to get an opportunity.
“If they work hard and have the right attitude and application about wanting to become a professional footballer there’s an opportunity here for them at the Nix.”
Davani will be familiar to some New Zealand football fans, especially in Auckland, having played for Metro FC, North Shore United, Auckland City and Bay Olympic from 2003 to 2007.
He believes he’s returning to Aotearoa at an exciting time for football in this country.
“One thing that really struck me is the passion for the game in New Zealand, but the game is much stronger now.
“You see how well the New Zealand teams have done in the league, the national teams are doing quite well and the talent that’s come through in the last 10 to 15 years especially.
“It’s a great time to come over to New Zealand and try and contribute to football in this country.”
Reggie Davani arrived in Wellington late last Friday and has been straight to work as the men continue their preparations for the upcoming season.
Phoenix men’s staff for the 2025-26 A-League:
Head coach – Giancarlo Italiano
Lead assistant coach – Kelly Guimarães
Goalkeeper coach – Dylan Cope
Head analyst and second assistant coach – Reggie Davani
Operations manager – Matthew Hastings
Head physical performance scientist – Weijie Lim
Head physiotherapist – Grayson Harwood
Equipment manager and assistant analyst – Sebastian Bayliss
Rehab physiotherapist – Jamie Hassett
Assistant analyst – Tyron Curtis
