FIFA plans to implement sweeping new rules for the 2027 World Cup that will require women’s national soccer teams to have a female head coach or assistant. The new rules, approved by the FIFA Executive Board on Thursday afternoon, mean each team competing in FIFA competitions must have at least two female members of staff on the bench, one of whom must be the head coach or an assistant.
The new regulations will start with the Under-20 World Cup in Poland in September and will be introduced at the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. This also applies to FIFA’s club competitions, the Club World Cup and the Champions Cup.
These rules will be specified in the participation rules for the competition after qualifying. FIFA has introduced a similar policy from 2020-21, following in the footsteps of UEFA.
Football’s governing body says the initiative is part of a wider strategy to ensure the number of women in leadership roles increases as women’s football grows. England’s Sarina Wiegman was one of only 12 female head coaches at the 2023 World Cup.
Seven of these 12 teams are now coached by men, and four teams previously coached by men are now coached by women, including America’s Emma Hayes. Argentina, Colombia, France, Haiti, Morocco and the Philippines all participated in the tournament but did not have female coaching staffs.
Jill Ellis, FIFA’s Chief Football Officer, said: “There are simply not enough women in leadership positions today. We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities and increasing the visibility of women on the sidelines.”
“FIFA’s new regulations, combined with targeted development programs, represent an important investment in current and future generations of female coaches.”
At the UEFA conference in Brussels last month, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said: “Of course we need more women in important positions in football. I’m the proud father of four daughters, and we need to create job opportunities for all women, but of course we can only learn from women.”
“So, of course, we should support more women in football positions and we should support more women in general. Maybe, in fact, we need more women coaches in the women’s team as well. That’s another discussion that we’ll have to have at some stage, because we know we have good coaches.”
As part of its Women’s Football Strategy, FIFA has announced that since 2021 it has supported 795 female coaches in 73 federations through coach education scholarships.
