Former England captain Casey Stoney, who won NWSL Coach of the Year honors, has been appointed bench boss of the Canadian women’s soccer team.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women have been without a permanent coach since Bev Priestman returned home following the drone surveillance scandal during last summer’s Paris Olympics.
Stoney signed a three-year contract with Canada Soccer with an option until 2028, until the next World Cup.
The 42-year-old was most recently coach of the San Diego Wave, joining the NWSL expansion team in 2021 and being named the league’s Coach of the Year in 2022, but was fired last June after the Wave went on a seven-game losing streak. line.
“Canada has a proud tradition in women’s soccer and I am excited to be working with such talented players,” Stoney said in a statement released by Canada Soccer. “With new leadership in the federation, we will work to build on our past successes and continue to grow Canadian sport both on and off the field.
“I look forward to the journey ahead and being a part of the incredible passion of Canadian soccer fans.”
Canada Soccer said Stoney will start with the Canadian women’s national team in the Pinatar Cup, a three-game series in February in Spain.
A defender, Stoney has won 130 caps for England and captained England at the 2012 London Olympics.
She represented England at three FIFA Women’s World Cups, winning a bronze medal at the 2015 tournament when she came on in the 93rd minute of England’s 2-1 win over hosts Canada in the quarter-finals at BC Place Stadium.
During that tournament she was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for her services to football.
Chelsea player and manager
She has also appeared in the UEFA Women’s European Championship three times.
Stoney, who retired in 2018 after playing for Arsenal, Charlton, Chelsea, Lincoln and Liverpool, was twice named in the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Women’s Team of the Year and was a member of the coaching staff of then England Women’s team coach Phil Neville. joined.
Stoney took up coaching at Chelsea in 2009 and was still an active player, taking on a player-manager role.
Stoney left England to become the first manager of Manchester United Women’s team. Stoney led Manchester United to the second tier of the FA Championship and promotion to the Women’s Super League in her debut season in 2018.
“Casey’s successful track record of leadership, her values and strength of character, and her lifelong commitment to advancing women’s soccer make her the right person to lead our national team into its next chapter,” said Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer CEO and Secretary-General. said. .
Canada Soccer said it received help in recruiting Stoney, as it did in recruiting men’s coach Jesse Marsh.
The organization said her appointment was “supported by charitable donations to Canadian soccer and she is the first beneficiary of a new fund established specifically to support women in elite coaching.”
Several former national team members played key advisory roles during the recruitment process, including Stephanie Labbé, Diana Matheson and Erin McLeod.
Assistant coach Andy Spence coached Canada for the remainder of the Olympics following Priestman’s departure. Under-20 coach Cindy Tye recently served as interim coach for the team against Iceland and South Korea.
Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi were all banned from FIFA for one year for their roles in the scandal and are no longer part of Canada Soccer.
