As women’s football continues to grow at a rapid pace, the demand for high quality coaches has never been greater. One of the biggest opportunities to deal with the coaching shortage within the women’s game lies with current and former players themselves, who have the chance to turn their playing experience into coaching expertise.
For players, this can provide a clear career pathway whilst acting as role models for the next generation of young,aspiring footballers. This is especially important for players who may struggle to find employment following the conclusion of their playing career. This can also help to address the lack of female representation within coaching, as only 4 of the twelve Women’s Super League teams currently have a female manager. Additionally, FIFA research has shown that of 901,000 registered coaches worldwide, only 5% are women.
Former players can bring their tactical understanding and positional awareness to their coaching methods, which could help to further raise the standards of the women’s game and increase tactical diversity. The need for more female coaches has been recognised by women’s football organisations, as the FA, UEFA and the PFA all offer coaching programmes. In particular, the coaching pathway partnership between the FA, the PFA and UEFA is described as:
“An exciting step forward for the women’s game and a testament to the collective progress being made in creating pathways for the next generation of coaches and managers.”
One current player who is already undertaking her UEFA A licence is Arsenal Captain and former Scotland international Kim Little.The experienced midfielder is taking part in the programme which is the first ever all-female cohort for the UEFA A licence course. Little’s former Arsenal teammate, Jen Beattie, described her on BBC’s Women’s Football Weekly, saying:
“She leads by example, she doesn’t overly talk negative, but she’s solution-focused.”
Former England international Ellen White added:
“She’s a phenomenal leader.”
This demonstrates the various attributes possessed by Little, which could make her into an incredible coach once her playing career comes to an end. Although often an unsung hero, the Arsenal midfielder is a legend within women’s football, whose tactical insight and footballing knowledge could help to produce a new generation of world-class players. Many other current and former players are also undertaking this trailblazing UEFA A programme, including Steph Houghton, Vivianne Miedema and Aoife Mannion.
These programmes are helping to gradually increase the numbers of top-level female coaches, with 7 female coaches at the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euros compared to just 3 in 2013. However, there is still a shortage of these coaches which demonstrates the importance of current and former players completing their coaching badges to help fill these gaps. In turn, this will make women’s football more sustainable due to a reduced dependence on male-dominated coaching pipelines. As a result, this will help to preserve the future of women’s football for future generations whilst also raising the standards for coaching and training across all levels of the women’s game.
https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2024/May/24/UEFA-Pro-Licence-for-women
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cjdxdl303x3o
