FIFA mandates female head or assistant coach for all women's teams

FIFA has passed new regulations requiring every women's national and club team to have either a female head coach or assistant coach on the bench, effective immediately across all FIFA competitions.

The decision was taken at Thursday's FIFA Council meeting. Each women's team will be required to include at least two women as staff members on the bench, with one of them serving as either the head coach or assistant coach.

The first tournament to be governed by the new rule will be the Under-20 Women's World Cup in Poland in September. The regulations will also apply to the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, the second edition of the Women's Champions Cup, and the inaugural Women's Club World Cup in two years' time.

Jill Ellis, FIFA's chief football officer, said in a statement: "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 for women on our sidelines."

The new regulations come after data from the 2023 Women's World Cup showed that only 12 of the 32 head coaches were female. Among the female head coaches at that tournament was England manager Sarina Wiegman. Other high-profile female coaches include Emma Hayes, who manages the United States women's national team alongside assistant Denise Reddy.

In 2024, Hayes told BBC Sport that a lack of female coaches in English football is "a massive issue" and urged football administrators to "come up with more creative ways" to address the problem.

Ellis stated that the new FIFA regulations, combined with targeted development programmes, represent "an important investment in the current and future generation of female coaches."