The FIFA Council adopted a new rule at its meeting on Thursday to mandate female representation in the coaching staff of women's soccer teams. The new rule requires each women's team in FIFA tournaments to have at least one female head coach or one female assistant coach and at least two female staff members on the bench at matches.

The rule applies to all of FIFA's women's soccer tournaments, including youth and senior competitions such as the Under-17 and Under-20 Women's World Cups, the Women's Champions Cup, and the senior Women's World Cup. The requirements will take effect during the Under-17 and Under-20 Women's World Cups and the Women's Champions Cup competitions this year.

FIFA hopes the new regulations will increase female representation at the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil. The rule changes participation requirements for all nations ahead of the 2027 Women's World Cup.

At the 2023 Women's World Cup, 12 of the 32 head coaches were female. At the quarter-final stage of the 2023 Women's World Cup, Sarina Wiegman was the only female head coach. A 2019 survey by FIFA found that 7% of coaching positions in its member associations were held by women, while a 2023 survey found that 5% of coaching positions were held by women.

"There are simply not enough women in coaching today. We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities, and increasing the visibility for women on our sidelines," said Jill Ellis, FIFA's chief football officer. "The new FIFA regulations, combined with targeted development programmes, mark an important investment in the current and future generation of female coaches."

"Of course what we hope is to get more female coaches at the top level and that the balance gets better than it is right now. Males are welcome too but if the balance is better than hopefully that will inspire more women to get involved in coaching," said Sarina Wiegman, head coach of the England women's national soccer team.

"I can tell you it's a huge blessing because every other step along the way with licensing up to this point, I've paid for myself with a little bit offset from the universities I've worked at," said Twila Kilgore, former assistant coach for the U.S. women's national team and technical director for the Houston Dash in the National Women's Soccer League. "It is a major barrier for a lot of people."