FIFA requires women’s teams to have female coaches on the bench

At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, 12 of the 32 head coaches were female, including England coach Sarina Wegman.

Jill Ellis, FIFA’s head of football, said: “There are simply not enough women in coaching today. We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities and increasing the visibility of women on our sidelines.”

“The new FIFA regulations, coupled with targeted development programs, represent an important investment in the current and future generation of female coaches.”

FIFA hopes that these new regulations will see a rapid increase in female representation, including at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Among the most prominent coaches is London-born Emma Hayes, who is joined by assistant Denise Reidy in the United States.

In 2024, Hayes told BBC Sport that the shortage of female coaches in English football was a “huge problem” and urged the game’s officials to “come up with more creative ways” to address it.

Other English female coaches at international level include Gemma Grainger in Norway, Casey Stoney in Canada, and Carla Ward in the Republic of Ireland.

Canadian Ryan Wilkinson led Wales to their first major tournament at Euro 2025 last summer, while Dutchman Wiegman led England to two successive European titles and was named FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year on four occasions.

Wegman was the only coach in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Speaking at the time, she said: “Of course what we hope is to have more female coaches at the top level and for the balance to improve from what it is now.

“Males are welcome too, but if the balance is better than we hope, it will inspire more women to take part in training.”