FIFA’s female coaching rule matters for Aotearoa

2026-03-23 - 16:03

Comment: Representation in leadership is not optional. It’s essential. Under the new FIFA regulations announced last week, at least two staff members on the bench at women’s football tournaments must be women, including at least one in a head or assistant coach role. The rule will apply across youth and senior competitions, including this year’s U17 and U20 Women’s World Cups and the women’s Champions Cup, covering both club and national teams. It’s a deliberate structural intervention to accelerate women’s presence in coaching and leadership. For Women in Sport Aotearoa, Ngā Wāhine Hākinakina o Aotearoa, this moment reflects exactly why we exist. We work to transform society through leadership, advocacy and research so women and girls can not only participate in sport, but lead it. The reality, in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally, is women remain underrepresented in coaching across the board. At the elite level, only 13 percent of coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics were women. Programmes like the Women in Sport High Performance initiative, led by the International Olympic Committee, seek to address this imbalance. Across 28 sports in Aotearoa, the latest available data shows there are just four women in top high performance leadership roles, and fewer than a quarter of high performance coaches are women. In some of our most visible sports, the numbers are even lower, with representation dropping further in cricket and sitting at only around a quarter in elite rugby competitions like the Farah Palmer Cup. This isn’t a pipeline problem. It’s a system problem. Research consistently shows women coaches are just as competent as their male counterparts. Yet they face structural barriers at every stage. These include limited access to full-time roles, reliance on voluntary positions, and a persistent culture that shapes who gets seen, selected and supported. These challenges are compounded by many women not feeling safe or valued in sport. Women of colour and members of LGBTQIA+ communities face even greater marginalisation. New Zealand research shows women coaches are calling for equitable access to opportunities, stronger coaching networks, and more practical, supported coaching experiences. FIFA’s new rule is a direct intervention into that system. It recognises that waiting for change to occur naturally hasn’t worked. Instead, it creates space deliberately and visibly for women to be present, to gain experience, and to lead. It resets what’s considered normal. And that matters. Because visibility is not symbolic. It’s catalytic. When women are seen coaching at the highest levels, it expands what’s possible for the next generation. It challenges outdated assumptions about leadership and expertise. It normalises women’s authority in environments that have historically excluded them. We’ve already seen glimpses of what’s possible. At the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, leaders like England manager Sarina Wiegman demonstrated the impact of world class female leadership. But she was the exception, not the rule. She was the only woman among the quarterfinalists. That imbalance is not just inequitable. It’s a lost opportunity for sport. In Aotearoa, there have been important investments, from Te Hāpaitanga to targeted funding for women in high performance sport. These initiatives acknowledge the need for change and have supported talented women into coaching and leadership pathways. But the data is clear. Programme based initiatives alone are not enough. They do not drive systems change. Real change must start at the grassroots level, with clear and supported pathways for women coaches from youth sport through to high performance. This requires a coordinated and nationally-resourced approach. If we are serious about equity, we must be equally serious about intervention. FIFA’s mandate sends a strong signal to national federations. However, it must be matched by a whole of system approach that ensures women coaches feel safe, are valued, and have a sense of belonging throughout their careers. Research on the National Collegiate Athletic Association shows women assistant coaches do not automatically progress into head coaching roles. Participation gains do not necessarily translate into leadership. FIFA’s decision challenges us to ask: What would it look like to take similar action here? • What if national sporting organisations in Aotearoa required gender diversity in coaching teams? • What if funding from Sport New Zealand was tied to measurable progress in women’s leadership, as it has been for board representation? • What if coaching pathways were redesigned to remove structural bias, rather than expecting women to navigate it? These are not radical ideas. They are practical steps towards fairness. From a Te Ao Māori perspective, this is fundamentally about equity. Leadership must reflect the collective. When wāhine are excluded from decision making spaces, the system embeds inequity. Correcting that imbalance strengthens outcomes for everyone. At its heart, this is about more than sport. It’s about who gets to lead, whose knowledge is valued, and whose presence is considered normal. Sport reflects our society. When coaches represent only part of our population, it reinforces the idea that leadership itself is limited. WISPA believes something different. We believe in a future where women and girls in Aotearoa see themselves not only as players, but as coaches, officials, administrators and decisionmakers. Where equity of opportunity and outcome extends across the system from grassroots to governance. FIFA’s new rule will not fix the problem on its own. But it’s an important step that shifts responsibility from individuals to institutions. WISPA challenges decisionmakers across Aotearoa, from national sporting organisations to funders and policymakers, to match that ambition. Different outcomes for Aotearoa require different rules. It’s time to design a sport system grounded in equity. Professor Sarah Leberman MNZM and Louisa Wall are board members of Women in Sport Aotearoa, Ngā Wāhine Hākinakina o Aotearoa (WISPA)