Introducing Coach Her: Building stronger pathways for women coaches

Coach Her is a project focused on changing that. It supports coaches, particularly women, with education, practical tools, and peer networks, while addressing the structures that shape who gets to build a sustainable coaching career and progress into leadership.

The wider ambition is simple:
More women leading football.

For Coach Her, that starts with coaching.

Why Coach Her?

Sweden has one of the world’s most established women’s football environments, yet coaching remains heavily male-dominated.

A few figures show the shape of it:

• 3.5% of Sweden’s UEFA Pro coaches are women (ECP Report, 2024)
• Just 2 of 28 elite clubs have a woman as head coach (ECP Report, 2024)
• Girls quit football at roughly 3× the rate of boys between 16 and 20 (Swedish FA, 2021)

Coach Her exists to start changing that picture — by strengthening coaching pathways, environments and leadership.

The project focuses not only on the number of women coaches, but on the conditions that shape coaching careers. What helps a coach build a sustainable career? What makes a coaching environment safe, inclusive and high-performing? What barriers make progression more difficult for women? And how can coaches influence the clubs and organizations around them?

These are questions about gender equality, but also about the quality and future of football coaching.

Representation matters in its own right: women should have the same opportunities to develop as coaches, build careers, and progress into leadership roles. At the same time, clubs and the game benefit when coaching draws from the whole talent pool and when structures are built to develop and retain that talent over time.

A more balanced game is a better game.

Building stronger coaching careers and better coaching environments

At the center of Coach Her is a development program for around 30 coaches, at least 75% of them women.

The program combines around 10 hours of digital learning with practical, in-person education. It is grounded in Sport for Development, using football to develop people and performance, alongside gender-responsive coaching and the realities of the elite football environment.

Across four learning modules, participants develop:

• an understanding of gender equality as a factor in performance and quality
• tools for creating safe, inclusive and high-performing coaching environments
• knowledge of the structural barriers that exist within elite football
• the skills to lead and influence football organizations over the longer term

The objective is to strengthen coaches while contributing to more sustainable coaching careers and better football environments over time.

Men are also part of the program. Coach Her approaches gender equity as a shared responsibility, offering coaches practical ways to contribute to environments where women can develop and advance.

Learning does not end with formal education. Peer support and continued exchange are designed into the project, helping participants build relationships with other coaches facing many of the same professional questions and challenges.

Coach Her comes together in Stockholm

On 1–2 September, participants will come together in Stockholm for the programme’s in-person bootcamp.

The two-day bootcamp turns the project’s digital learning into practical application through workshops, discussion and learning-by-doing activities.

Participants will work through questions that sit at the heart of everyday coaching: how to build environments where players can perform and develop; how to recognize and respond to barriers in football; and how safeguarding and inclusion are part of good coaching practice. They will also explore how coaches can influence the organizations they work within over time.

The bootcamp is also an opportunity for the participating coaches to meet, exchange experiences and begin building the peer network that will continue throughout the project.

A collaboration across football and Sport for Development

Coach Her brings together three organizations from France and Sweden.

Fútbol Más France coordinates the project and brings its experience of using sport as a tool for social development, education and wellbeing.

Elitfotboll Dam (EFD) represents the 28 clubs in Sweden’s two highest women’s football divisions, connecting Coach Her directly to the development of the elite game.

Bonito Foundation is a Swedish nonprofit working to make football better by supporting people and organizations that use it as a force for good.

From one program to a wider conversation

The first cohort is a starting point. The longer-term ambition is to contribute to a football culture in which women have clearer pathways into coaching, better opportunities to build lasting careers and greater scope to influence the game around them.

And as more women become visible as coaches and leaders, more girls can see a place for themselves in the game.

Because more women leading football starts with creating the conditions for more women to coach, develop and thrive.

Coach Her is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Sport program.