By Isabelle Campbell & Alice de Koster-Kitto 23/6/25
Above: Emily Husband with the Central Coast Mariners. Photo: Central Coast Mariners.
Why are women still underrepresented in senior coaching roles, and what can be done to change that?
The A-League Women is gaining momentum, with rising talent and growing fan interest, but behind the scenes, progress is far less visible, with just one of the league’s 12 teams led by a female head coach.
In a competition meant to champion women in football, the lack of female leadership is striking. It isn’t just a question of equality. It is about access, representation, and building clear pathways for women to lead at the highest level.
While young girls can now see women playing on the world’s biggest stages, and aspire to follow in the footsteps of their footballing idols, the lack of women in leadership positions, still gives them the message that football is a boys club that we’ve simply been let into while we will never truly have a space of our own.
Caitlin Friend, a former Melbourne Victory striker and two-time NPLW premiership coach with Bulleen Lions offered an insider’s perspective on the challenges female coaches face, and why their numbers are so few.
“It is better for me to stay in the NPL space than jump to the next level in my career, because it’s for me, not sustainable.”
“I’ve been in the space for [A-League Women] head coach roles, and the money is just shit. They’re not comparable to the NPL space. Their support staff’s salary isn’t good enough. I have an assistant coach, an analyst , a Strength and Conditioning coach and a Physio at Bulleen. Yet the budget for the support staff in an A-League space is pretty poor.”
Currently, the A-League Women has just one female head coach after Emily Husband’s recent departure from Central Coast Mariners to join the Matildas’ coaching staff. Husband’s move, while a positive step for women’s football nationally, leaves the league with just one female coach as Amy Sheppard is set to lead Wellington Phoenix into the 2025/26 season.
“It is a full-time commitment. It’s a full-time commitment emotionally, it’s a full-time commitment physically, and the investment and the salaries are not full-time. And so we are expected to juggle other jobs, juggle our family commitments, and juggle a really hard job without a salary that can pay bills.”
Understanding the unique challenges female players face requires more than just tactical knowledge, it calls for a deeper connection that can only be found in shared experience. Female coaches often bring this crucial perspective to the game, relating to players in ways that go beyond strategy, and offering the kind of connection that despite any level of qualifications, a man could not.
Friend, drawing on her time as both a player and coach, shed light on why this connection matters so much and how it impacts the relationship between women coaches and their teams.
“I think it’s because we can relate to women players the most. We understand the mental side a little bit more. We understand the psyche a little bit more. For me personally, I’ve been there, done that, in terms of lived through the experience of the lack of equality. So it’s a bit more “we’re on the same page here.”
“We understand the challenges that women have to face every single day in this sport and in this industry. So I think players tend to relate to female coaches a little bit more in that regard.”
While coaching opportunities have risen in recent years, and the representation of women in all aspects of the sport is at an all-time high, there remains a lack of trust within the federation, which consequently leads to a lack of funding and ultimately deters women from wanting to pursue the field.
“If we look at the success of the Matildas, we have put money into that, and they are paying us back tenfold. If we put money into women’s coaches they will pay us back tenfold, but we have to start somewhere.”
While gaining a coaching licence is fairly accessible to those interested, the path beyond that is far more difficult to navigate. Earning the qualification is one thing, but turning it into a viable career is another. Opportunities at the top level remain limited, competitive, and often out of reach for many aspiring female coaches.
“In terms of pathway, we are doing better in terms of a foundation for coaching courses. But are there jobs that are suitable and gettable and funded enough? I don’t think so right now.”
“I think our male counterparts have probably been in the game for a lot longer and therefore have better networks. The best thing that could happen to female coaches is just to build a better network system so that we can maybe get job opportunities, or at least know about job opportunities, and know about coaching courses. If we can get that a little bit better, I think that will help a lot of female coaches.”
Emily Husband’s history-making Championship win with Central Coast Mariners in the 2024/25 A-League Women season stands as proof of what can be achieved when women are trusted with leadership roles, demonstrating that success isn’t defined by who has the most experience on paper, but by who has the desire to prove themselves worthy of the chance.
“The players have only great things to say about her and are playing to I think, a potential that they’ve probably never played to before, and they seem extremely happy. I think that’s the recipe for success.”
Husband served as an assistant coach at Canberra United during the 2020/21 season, before finding great success in her debut role as head coach, as she guided Sydney University to numerous titles within the NPL NSW Women’s competition, before departing the club to lead Central Coast Mariners in their first season back in the A-League in 2023, doing so with equal parts grace and tenacity, exceeding any and all expectations set.
“She was probably not the most experienced coach on paper when she first got hired, yet the club gave her an opportunity, and now she is representing our nation, which is just massive.”
“It shows that if clubs and organisations give female coaches an opportunity, they can then show what they are worth, and she has done that 15-fold”
Creating meaningful opportunities for female coaches means striking a balance between providing support to help them overcome barriers and ensuring that coaching roles are earned through skill and results. While it’s important to encourage and develop female talent, the ultimate goal should be a merit-based system that values the best leadership regardless of gender. Finding this balance is essential to building a stronger, more inclusive future for women’s football.
“I do think we probably need to favour females in the coaching space a little bit more to give them a head start, to give them a chance and give them a go, but there is a limit to that, because I think the best coach deserves the job, and the worst coach deserves the sacking, regardless of gender.”
Despite growing interest and talent in the women’s game, female coaches are few and far between at the highest level. The barriers are significant, and the opportunities scarce. If the A-League Women truly wants to champion women’s football, it must start by trusting women to lead.
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