The former technical director of Football NSW had been linked with the job at Gold Coast Galaxy until the franchise's bid for next season was rejected by FFA.

Culina's Sydney caught the eye in last season's Asian Champions League group stages with a surprisingly competitive campaign despite a difficult lead in.

Culina took over from Terry Butcher just three weeks before the side's first ACL match against China's Shanghai Shenhua.

Butcher had been sacked following season two of the A-League where the side exited at the minor semi stage.

Culina inherited a squad down on confidence that had been playing an ugly brand of football under the former English international.

However, he managed to transform the side and in his first match against the Chinese side conjured up an impressive 2-1 away win in the club's ACL debut.

This was followed by a 2-2 draw at home to eventual ACL champions Urawa Red Diamonds in one of the most entertaining games of the group.

Sydney went on to push the J-League powerhouse and were only knocked out on the final match day in May after a gutsy 0-0 draw away to Urawa in Saitama.

Culina was sacked midway through last season's A-League shortly after Andrew Kemeny was appointed club chairman. He subsequently appointed John Kosmina as coach.

Sydney was knocked out of the finals by Queensland Roar at the minor semi final stage last month.