FIFA passes landmark order for female football coaches, sets new compulsory rule for women's tournaments; details inside

In a landmark decision on Thursday, FIFA has made it compulsory for all teams to have at least one female coaching staff at its women's tournaments. The development comes as a big boon to all the female coaches around the world as far as the opportunities at the top level is concerned.

In its ruling, the FIFA made it mandatory that all the teams must have a head coach or assistant coach. For the unknown, just 10 of 32 teams at the 2023 Women's World Cup had a female head coach, including Sarina Wiegman of England, who finished runners-up in the competition.

According to a BBC report, the decision was taken in a FIFA Council meeting, which also discussed the female coaching representation in long term. The FIFA rule applies to all youth and senior competitions at both club and national levels.

FIFA's Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis said the new FIFA ruling will expand new opportunities for women coaches in football. "We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities, and increasing the visibility for women on our sidelines," Ellis said.

When will this new FIFA ruling start?

The new FIFA ruling will come into effect from the U17 Women's World Cup in Morocco and U20 Women's Champions Cup this year. FIFA's policy will aim to spread globally what European football body UEFA has done where the women's game is more developed.

Though just seven of 16 teams at the Women's European Championship had a female head coach, all that appointed a man as head coach had to have a female assistant coach. Wiegman guided England to retain its European title, which was her own third in a row and an eighth straight for female head coaches in the competition dating back to 1997.

Notable female coaches in world

Besides Wiegman, London-born Emma Hayes is another big name in women coaching. Hayes is the head coach of the USA senior women's football team and is joined by assistant Denise Reddy. Norway's Gemma Grainger, Canada's Casey Stoney and Republic of Ireland's Carla Ward are some of the top names in world football.

At Euro 2025, Rhian Wilkinson guided Canada to their first major tournament triumph. Elsewhere, under Wiegman, England won two consecutive European titles. The Ducthwomen was also named FIFA Best Women's Coach of the Year four times.

Hayes in 2024 had stated that the lack of female coaches in English football is a "massive issue" and urged the administrators to address the issue, as reported by BBC.