Despite near-perfect records, only 12 out of 32 FIFA World Cup teams are led by a woman coach

Just 12 out of 32 teams in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup are headed by female coaches, despite statistics showing the success of women leading women in sport.

For 23 years, all but one of the winning teams of the three major women’s soccer tournaments – the Women’s World Cup, the Women’s Euros and the Olympics – were coached by women, with the exception of Norio Sasaki leading Japan to a World Cup win in 2011.

The number of female coaches in this year’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, has marginally increased from the number in 2015, but remains the same number as the 2019 World Cup, hosted by France.

Co-host New Zealand’s national team has a female coach, Jitka Klimkova, a former soccer player from the Czech Republic.

The Australian Matildas is coached by Tony Gustavsson, who was appointed head coach in 2020. He is contracted to coach until 2024.

Female coaches are underrepresented in Australia’s W-League. In 2021, four out of 10 A-League Women’s teams were coached by women, which was the highest number in the 13 years of the league’s existence.

In the upcoming 2023-2024 season, set to kick off on October 13, just three teams have female coaches – Wellington Phoenix FC, Western Sydney Wanderers FC and the Newcastle Jets – according to the club websites.

Fit Education reported in 2022 that the number of female coaches in all Australian female sports is low, with one quarter of coaching roles taken by women.

Soccer, at all levels in Australia, was the worst offender, according to the organisation’s data. Out of 2,934 accredited coaches, just 137, or 4.66%, are women.

In April this year, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) announced it would commit $3.9 million to the Australian Institute of Sport’s Gen32 Coach Program.

Launched in July 2022, the extra funding aims to ensure better support for female coaches by providing more childcare support, flexible working arrangements and an extension of the paid apprenticeship from two to three years.

The Gen32 Coach Program aspires to double the number of female coaches in sport by the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, hosted by Brisbane.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.