FIFA has taken a structural step in women’s football by approving a regulation that will require every team competing in its women’s tournaments to have a woman as head coach and/or at least one female assistant coach, while also ensuring the presence of one woman on the medical staff and at least two female officials on the bench. The measure, approved by the FIFA Council on Thursday, will come into force this year at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, then at the Under-17 Women’s World Cup and the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup in 2027, and it will also apply at the Women’s World Cup in Brazil in 2027.

The decision does not need to be framed as a symbolic gesture to carry weight. Its real significance lies in the fact that it can accelerate the professionalization of women’s football, create more room for female coaches who are already qualified, and force federations to stop postponing a change that, in many cases, still depended more on internal willingness than on a competitive requirement. Emma Hayes, head coach of the United States women’s national team, described it in comments to ‘USA Today Sports’ as “a great development for the women’s game” and added that she can think of “so many female coaches across the women’s game that deserve the opportunity to lead or be a part of a high-level coaching staff”.

“There are simply not enough women in coaching”

The new regulation also arrives at a time when the growth of women’s football has still not been matched to the same extent on the sidelines. At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, only 12 of the 32 national teams were coached by a woman, a figure that still highlights the gap between the game’s expansion and women’s actual presence in technical and leadership positions. FIFA Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis summed it up clearly when presenting the measure: “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.”

In that context, the rule can also help give visibility and momentum to women who already have the training, experience, and top-level knowledge required for these roles. Spain is a strong example of that. Sonia Bermúdez, a former international player and now head coach of the senior national team, represents one of those profiles that has already come through a significant part of the competitive and coaching pathway before taking on the top job with a national side. FIFA’s measure does not create those coaches from scratch, but it can force federations to look more decisively toward a pool of talent that, in many countries, already exists and is ready to take on a bigger role.

Spain and England start from a stronger structure than other federations

That possibility, however, is not distributed evenly. Some national teams will find it easier to adapt because they have spent years building a stronger structure, with more developed domestic leagues, a larger number of former players, and a broader coaching ecosystem. Spain belongs in that group, and so does England, with a more advanced track record in consolidating its women’s game and with visible figures on the bench, starting with Sarina Wiegman. Around that landscape, other English coaches have also emerged on the international stage, including Gemma Grainger in Norway, Casey Stoney in Canada, and Carla Ward in the Republic of Ireland.

Australia offers another useful example for measuring the starting point of some federations. The national team coached by Joe Montemurro already has Emily Husband as an assistant and Leanne Hall within the coaching staff, a setup that fits quite naturally into the new framework approved by FIFA. But the country has also seen several of its most prominent female coaches continue their careers abroad, such as Leah Blayney, now in Japan, Melissa Andreatta in charge of Scotland, and Tanya Oxtoby in England, which shows that even more advanced systems still have room to strengthen that professional base at home.

Scholarships and mentoring will matter more in countries with less tradition

This is where the second part of FIFA’s plan becomes especially important. The regulatory requirement comes together with mentoring programs, coaching scholarships, and coach development structures, an investment that does not carry the same meaning in every context. For a strong federation, with an established league and a deeper technical base, those resources can help expand and refine an existing pathway. For a smaller country, or one with less tradition, fewer licenses, and a lower number of players and coaches, that support can become the route that makes it possible to build qualified profiles and sustain the change the regulation now requires.

Since 2021, FIFA has supported 795 female coaches from 73 federations through its education scholarship program, while its elite women’s coach mentoring program and other development lines aim to expand that network across different continents. Ellis herself linked Thursday’s decision to that long-term strategy when she said that “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 framework will begin to apply in Poland this year, but its real dimension will also be measured by which federations arrive in Brazil in 2027 with more women on the bench because of structural conviction and not only because of regulatory obligation.