FIFA will require every team participating in its women's tournaments to have a female head coach or assistant after passing groundbreaking regulations at its council meeting today.
The measure comes into effect from the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in September, and will be enforced at the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year, as well as at the second edition of the Women’s Champions Cup – won by Arsenal in 2026 – and the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup in two years’ time.
FIFA hopes the new rule will address what remains a lack of female coaches despite the rapid growth of the women’s game.
"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," said Jill Ellis, FIFA’s chief football officer and the former United States national team head coach.
"The new FIFA regulations, combined with targeted development programmes, mark an important investment in both the current and future generation of female coaches."
The new rules, which apply to all youth and senior tournaments, national team competitions and club competitions, will also mandate at least two female staff on the bench, which can include the mandatory coach.
Teams will also be required to have one woman on their medical staff.
Last summer’s women’s Euros set a new competition record with seven female head coaches, a number still representing less than half of the teams in the tournament.
Twelve of the 32 head coaches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia were women. Republic of Ireland were represented by Vera Pauw and she was succeeded by Carla Ward.
Female coaches currently head just two of the Premier Division clubs in Ireland and a handful of assistants are part of the coaching teams around the league.
FIFA hopes the new rules will complement existing offerings, including its coach scholarship programme, which has supported 795 female coaches across 73 member associations, and the Elite Performance Coach Mentorship programme, which for three years has paired 20 experienced and emerging coaches.
The FIFA Council also confirmed hosts for the 2031 and 2035 editions of the Women’s World Cups will be confirmed at an extraordinary congress later this year in a standalone event rather than the 30 April meeting in Vancouver.
Last April, FIFA confirmed the UK was the sole bidder to host the 2035 edition. The four home nations’ Football Associations submitted their bid in November.
It would be the largest single-sport event ever staged in the UK. The proposal includes 22 proposed stadiums, with 16 in England, three in Wales, two in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland across 16 host cities.
