FIFA have announced the shortlist of the candidates for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016, which we are please to say it is filled with female coaches. And what a year it has been; with the Rio 2016 Women’s Tournament won by Silvia Neid and her German team, who fought hard in the final against Pia Sundhage and her Sweden Team, after they played a controversial game against Jill Ellis’s USA team to reach the final and a tremendous appearance and road to Rio by the South African Team led by Vera Pauw…we are glad we aren’t picking the winner!
Meet the nominated female coaches:
Jill Ellis USA
Jill Ellis was named the eighth head coach in U.S. Women’s National Team history on May 16, 2014. Just a little under 13 months later, she led the USA to the championship of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Ellis’ 2015 Women’s World Cup Team navigated the most difficult Women’s World Cup tournament to date as 24 teams competed to play the seven matches it would take to win the competition, all on artificial turf. The team won six of those games, five by shutout, while tying Sweden in group play and allowed just three total goals. Ellis and her staff made several key tactical adjustments in the knockout rounds to help the U.S. make the final, where it set numerous records in defeating Japan, 5-2, to win the USA’s first World Cup title in 16 years.
At the end of 2015, along with a slew of other honors, Ellis was named the CONCACAF Female Coach of the Year and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Soccer, marking the first time an American had been bestowed with that honor. She was also named the CONCACAF Female Coach of the Year. During 2015, the USA went 20-2-4 and also won the prestigious Algarve Cup in Portugal.
Ellis took the job as head coach of the National Team after serving as Development Director for the U.S. Women’s National Teams since January of 2011. She will continue to work with U.S. Soccer Women’s Technical Director April Heinrichs on the guidance of the USA’s youth national teams.
The appointment of Ellis and Heinrichs to the youth development positions in 2011 marked the first time U.S. Soccer had named full-time coaches to oversee the women’s youth national team program and the programs’ overall development.
Prior to becoming head coach of the U.S. WNT, Ellis twice served as interim head coach for the team. The first time was for a seven-game stint (5-0-2) in 2012 after Pia Sundhage left the program and before the hiring of Tom Sermanni, and then again in 2014 for two matches (1-0-1) after Sermanni was relieved of his duties and before she was officially named the head coach.
Prior to being named head coach, Ellis accrued extensive experience in the U.S. Women’s National Team programs having served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team under Sundhage and helped the team to a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. Ellis has served two stints as head coach of the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team, guiding the squad to the CONCACAF title in 2010 and to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany.
She joined the full Women’s National Team staff in January of 2008 after leaving her post with the U.S. U-20s, which she had led the since the start of 2007.
Ellis has also had two stints as the head coach of the U.S. Under-21 Women’s National Team, the second starting in the middle of 2005, after which she guided the team to the Nordic Cup in Sweden. She also coached the U-21s to the Nordic Cup title in Germany in 2000.
Ellis was also a scout for the USA at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and has served as an assistant coach with the U.S. U-21s and U.S. U-16 Girls’ National Teams.
Ellis joins U.S. Soccer full-time after a highly successful 12-year run as the head women’s soccer coach for the UCLA Bruins. Ellis led UCLA to eight NCAA Final Fours, including seven in a row from 2003-2009, and won six straight conference titles from 2003-2008. She finished her time in Westwood with a record of 229-45-14. Ellis, who was also head coach at the University of Illinois, has an all-time collegiate coaching record of 248-63-14.
She was the 2000 NSCAA National Coach of the Year after leading the Bruins to the NCAA Final in just her second season as head coach.
Ellis arrived in Westwood after heading the University of Illinois women’s soccer program for two years. In 1998, she brought the Fighting Illini to a 12-8 record and a first-ever Big-Ten Tournament berth. Prior to coaching at Illinois, Ellis served as an assistant coach at the University of Virginia for one year (1996-97), at Maryland for three years (1994-96) and at North Carolina State for another three years (1988-90). As an assistant coach at North Carolina State, Ellis helped the Wolfpack secure the 1988 ACC title and an NCAA Final Four appearance.
A forward during her playing days at the College of William & Mary from 1984-87, Ellis was a Third- Team All-American in 1987. In 1984, Ellis helped Braddock Road in Virginia to the Under-19 club national championship.
Ellis grew up in Portsmouth, England and came to the United States in 1981 at the age of 15. She also lived in Singapore for two years while her father helped to develop a national soccer program in that country. She earned her B.A. in English Literature and Composition from the College of William & Mary in 1988 and currently resides in Miami. She has a USSF “A” coaching license.
Silvia Neid
Silvia Neid’s name is synonymous with German footballing success and her biography reads like a seemingly endless succession of triumphs. She was involved in every single one of her country’s eight European titles and two FIFA Women’s World Cup victories as either a player, assistant coach to Tina Theune or head coach. Now Neid, who will pass the baton to former German international Steffi Jones after these Olympic Games in Rio, has crowned her time on the touchline with a gold medal.
Silvia had some act to follow when she took over as Germany coach in 2005, but in her very first tournament her team retained the FIFA Women’s World Cup and in 2009 made it five European titles in a row.
Neid was a leading player in the first great generation of women’s football in Germany. Joining SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach in 1983 from SC Klinge Seckach, she helped them to a league title and one German Cup triumph before moving to TSV Siegen, where she claimed six championships and five knockout crowns between 1985 and 1996. In that time, she also captained Germany to victory at the 1989, 1991 and 1995 UEFA European Women’s Championships, as well as reaching the FIFA World Cup final in the last of those years.
In 1996 she retired, having long been groomed for a coaching role by the founder of the Germany women’s team, Gero Bisanz. Neid joined the technical staff of the national squad under her former playing colleague Tina Theune-Meyer, and in addition to assisting her to further senior European titles in 1997 and 2001 and the 2003 FIFA World Cup, Neid proved a success in charge of the youth team, winning the 2000 and 2001 UEFA European Women’s Under-18 Championships and completing a hat-trick with the renamed U19 event a year later. That was topped in 2004 when Germany won the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, and after Neid helped Theune-Meyer to end her time in charge with another European crown in 2005, she took over as senior coach.
Germany soon cruised into the 2007 FIFA World Cup and once in China made stately progress to retaining their global title. In 2008, Germany won Olympic bronze for the third consecutive Games and secured another EURO in 2009 and in 2016, won Olympic Gold in Rio.
Vera Pauw
Vera Pauw has made a mark in the history of Dutch football by blazing several unique records. She was the first woman who played abroad, the first woman who earned her professional football coaching diploma, one of the first women to serve on the Technical Committee of FIFA (together with Sylvie Beliveau) and, finally, help lay the foundation of the Dutch Premier League for Women.
Vera, born in Amsterdam, played for five clubs during her career, including four in the Netherlands and one in Italy. In her own country, she joined SV Brederodes, VV Vreeswijk, Puck Deventer and Saestum. In Italy she played for the professional team of CF Modena.
At the end of her active career Vera joined the Scottish football association, where she was coach of the national women’s team. She also beared technical responsibility for the policy in Scotland as technical director.
After six years, however, she returned to the Netherlands to be the successor of Frans de Kat as coach of the Dutch national women’s team and again assuming responsibility for the overall policy of the development of girls and women’s football in the Netherlands. Her debut as National Coach of the Netherlands in 2004 was unforgettable. World champions Germany asked Netherlands for a practise match after Ghana cancelled. In two days Vera created a team that kept the world champions tied at 0-0. However, Netherlands did not qualify for the World Cup 2007. The team finished third in there group, behind England and France. Vera’s biggest achievement with the squad was leading her team to the semi-finals of the UEFA Women’s Euro’s in Finland in 2009. Her Netherlands squad faced England and was only knocked out in the 116th minute by a goal from Kelly Smith.
In July 2010, Vera served as the Technical Director of the Russian Football Union were she had the responsibility to build the game to a stable structure.
Until recently, Vera was the Head Coach for the South African Women’s Team, nicknamed Banyana Banyana (The Girls) having been appointed in 2014. She lead the team to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
Pia Sundhage
Pia Sundhage is a Swedish former professional football player who played most of her career as a forward, but had stints as a midfielder. Pia was the head coach of the United States women’s national team from 2008 to 2012; during which her team won two Olympic gold medals and finished second at the World Cup. Sundhage was the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year and went on to become head coach of the Sweden women’s national football team on 1 December 2012.
Pia got her start in coaching as a player/manager when she was with Hammarby IF DFF from 1992 to 1994. She then took assistants jobs with Vallentuna BK (1998 to 1999) and AIK Fotboll Dam (2000) before moving across the Atlantic to become an assistant with Philadelphia Charge of the new Women’s United Soccer Association. She moved on to be Boston Breakers head coach, winning the league title and being named the 2003 WUSA Coach of the Year in the process.
Her international career began as she served as an assistant to Marika Domanski for the China Women’s National Team during the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and was announced as the United States Women’s National Team head coach on 13 November 2007. She became the seventh head coach in the U.S. team’s history and the third woman.
While at the helm of the United States, Sundhage won the 2008 Algarve Cup and a Gold medal at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. In 2012, Pia left the US to lead her how country Sweden and reached the finals of the 2016 Olympic Games only to lose to Germany and Silvia Neid.
Martina Voss- Tecklenburg
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is a retired German football midfielder, currently coaching the Swiss Women’s National Team.
After the end of her career as a player, Voss-Tecklenburg worked as a team manager for the Oberliga club SV Straelen.
From 12 February 2008 to 17 February 2011 she was the head coach of FCR 2001 Duisburg. With Duisburg, Voss-Tecklenburg won the UEFA Women’s Cup in 2009 and two national cups in 2009 and 2010. Her contract was ended on 17 February 2011. In June 2011 she signed a one-year contract at Bundesliga side FF USV Jena, but she left the team the following January as she was appointed the Swiss national team’s new coach.
Good luck to all coaches who have been nominated!
