Graham Arnold rolls off A-League assembly line ripe for Japan Graham Arnold is headed for new horizons. The head of the A-League has hailed Graham Arnold a "pioneer" of Australian coaching following the Central Coast coach's move to Japanese club Vegalta Sendai. The A-League-winning coach has agreed to terms to take the reins of Vegalta from January, and arrived in Japan on Thursday night to finalise the deal. He will become the first Australian coach to advance from the A-League to one of the dominant leagues in Asia or Europe. His career progression earned the praise of A-League boss Damien de Bohun, who believes Arnold will serve as a strong advertisement for the domestic game while coaching in the prestigious J-League. "I do see him as a pioneer and I think he will be a great ambassador for Australian football," de Bohun said. Graham has been a real statesman of Australian football. If you look at his involvement in the national team and the A-League over the last few years, his performances speak for himself. I've got to know Graham well and I've got a huge regard for him, a huge amount of time for what he's done as a coach. Arnold is the second high-profile A-League coach to part ways with their club in just three weeks after former Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou was appointed as the Socceroos coach for the next five years. Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic was also linked with a move away from his club after being nominated as a candidate for the Socceroos post as well as the vacant job at English Premier League club Crystal Palace. While de Bohun is intent on maintaining the high standard of domestic coaches, he is proud of the rising stature of local tacticians and the recognition they are receiving beyond the A-League. "I think it's part of the story that says the A-League is continuing to improve and the coaching is continuing to improve," de Bohun said. To see one of the A-League coaches get selected to be the new Socceroos coach and now, potentially, a second coach taking on a major international opportunity with a big club on the other side of the world is exciting for the league. Central Coast Mariners will unveil former assistant coach Phil Moss as their new head coach on Friday following the departure of Arnold. The loss of their coach of the past three years may be seen as a short-term blow for the Mariners' title defence but the promotion of Moss strengthens a recent trend of coaching succession in Australian football. Postecoglou's elevation from Melbourne Victory to the national team created an opportunity for former assistant Kevin Muscat to take over at the club. De Bohun attributes the rising stocks of local coaches and succession pathways to the coaching education structures put in place by FFA technical director Han Berger, as well as the self-educating and mentoring that takes place within coaching circles in Australia. "The one thing I've come to appreciate in my year-and-a-half in the job is that good coaches create good football and great coaches create great football," de Bohun said. The standard of coaching is going to be pivotal to how the Hyundai A-League will be in the future. We're pleased with how it's tracking but at the same time we're going to push very hard to keep improving it. They're highly competitive on the field but they're very collegial off the field. I think the mentoring of senior coaches to the others has started to kick in and they're very open about sharing their thoughts and philosophies, which helps.