Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) has approved new regulations mandating that every team participating in its women’s competitions must include at least one female coach, either as a head coach or assistant coach, in their technical staff.
Gatekeepers News reports that the directive was passed by FIFA Council on Thursday, 19 March 2026 and takes effect immediately across all women’s tournaments organised by FIFA.
Under the new rule, every women’s team competing in FIFA tournaments, including the Under‑17 and Under‑20 Women’s World Cups, the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, and next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazi, must include at least two female staff members on the bench, one of whom must serve in a coaching role.
FIFA described the policy as a significant step toward boosting women’s representation in leadership and technical positions within the sport. Officials pointed to persistent gender gaps in coaching: at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, just 12 of the 32 head coaches were women, with only one remaining after the round of 16. The governing body emphasised that previous efforts to increase female participation in coaching had not produced rapid enough change, prompting the new binding requirement.
This initiative is part of FIFA’s broader strategy to align women’s game growth with improved opportunities for women in coaching and management. FIFA noted that since 2021 it has supported nearly 800 female coaches across 73 member associations through educational scholarship programmes to help them gain advanced qualifications and access professional roles.
The rule is expected to reshape the structure of coaching staffs, pushing national associations and club sides to invest more in training, development, and recruitment of female coaches.
