The Football Association has launched a club placement programme aiming to help boost diversity among coaches in the women’s game.
The programme is in partnership with six Women’s National League clubs – Burnley, Ipswich, Lewes, Doncaster Rovers Belles, London Seaward and Norwich – and will offer female coaches from historically under-represented groups the chance to gain experience, the FA said.
A statement from the organisation added: “Through the hiring of women from Black, Asian, Mixed or other ethnic backgrounds and lower socio-economic backgrounds, this initiative will help address a lack of diversity amongst coaches in the women’s pyramid.
“The women’s club placement programme will form part of the FA’s ongoing commitment to increase the diversity of the coaching teams, to help ensure that it is reflective of the current game, and broader society, a key area of work identified in the recently announced ‘Reaching Higher’ FA strategy from 2024 to 2028.
“The programme has been successfully running in the men’s professional game for the last five years, growing year-on-year, and now the FA is extending the programme to include the women’s game, with the application process being open to female coaches who have or are currently undertaking a UEFA B Licence.”
The FA’s director of education Lucy Pearson said: “We’re delighted to be extending our successful club placement programme into the women’s game and providing six female coaches with a unique opportunity to develop their coaching skills, which we hope will help them compete for future coaching roles.
“This initiative is another step in our long-term commitment to provide high-quality learning opportunities to female coaches and for us to address the lack of coaches from historically under-represented groups across all areas of the women’s and girls’ game. We are committed to being proactive in this area to encourage and develop a diverse pipeline of coaching talent.
“We’re very grateful for the support of the selected FA Women’s National League clubs to invest their time into this programme. Having seen a number of professional clubs across the men’s game reap the rewards of the club placement programme over the years, we’re excited for the clubs to get involved and to see the selected coaches realise their potential.”