Helping women become top football coaches is at the heart of FIFA’s Elite Performance: Coach Mentorship Programme, now in its third edition. Launched in Zurich, this 18-month programme pairs 20 promising female coaches with some of the best minds in the game.
These mentors include national team coaches like Arthur Elias (Brazil), Desiree Ellis (South Africa), Joe Montemurro (Australia), and Nils Nielsen (Japan), as well as World Cup legends Tina Theune (Germany), Even Pellerud (Norway), and Corinne Diacre (France). Their role is to guide and support women who are still early in their coaching careers.
More than just training, the programme offers in-person workshops, online sessions, and even up to five exchange visits between mentor and mentee. The aim is to not only help women grow in their current coaching jobs but also to build a strong global network of female coaches.
Germany’s Melanie Behringer, a FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and Olympic gold medallist, is one of the mentees in this edition. Now coaching Germany’s U-17 team, she’s learning from Norwegian great Even Pellerud. “I think I will be a better coach in 18 months,” she said. Pellerud added, “I wish I had this kind of help when I was starting. It would have saved me from making many mistakes.”
The programme’s success can be seen in people like Simone Jatoba of Brazil. A former mentee, she’s now returned as a mentor, helping Delphine Soret from Tahiti. Jatoba credits her former mentor Corinne Diacre for the knowledge she now passes on: “There’s so much she can learn, and I hope to share it in the best way possible.”
FIFA’s Jill Ellis, a two-time Women’s World Cup-winning coach, summed it up: “We have to remove the barriers that keep women out of coaching. This programme is a big step in doing just that.”
