U.S. Soccer Licensed Women Coaches
America is recognized around the globe for our success in Women’s Soccer. Established as a leader and victorious in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the low number of women coaches in the game of soccer is bizarre.
Even tracking down the numbers can be challenging.
Thanks to U.S. Soccer, we now know how many licensed coaches there are but the question of what can be done to provide more opportunity to increase these numbers looms large.
Soccer News: How many licensed female coaches are there in the United States?
While the exact stat does not exist, here are how many licenses U.S. Soccer has issued or verified since the Digital Coaching Center opened in early 2015.
- Total Licenses: 14,001
Breakdown by U.S. Soccer License levels
- F: 11,215
- E: 1,752
- D: 318
- C: 265
- B: 214
- A: 117
While everyone agrees that there are more women with licenses historically, this information is very hard to correlate and quantify.
What can we do to encourage more women soccer coaches?
There is not one silver bullet that can solve this issue. One logical approach is for everyone to do what they can to improve the situation. Raising the awareness of the need for more women coaches, and working to create opportunities, will make a difference, even if it is a long road.
Celebrating the women trailblazers among us and encouraging more women to become role models — is a start, but first we all need agree to work together towards achieving greater gender equality.
“Get out of your comfort zone,” seems to be a common trend in the advice given by those you have climbed the proverbial ladder in soccer.
Perhaps best said by Emma Hayes, Manager of Chelsea Ladies, “If it is not broken, break it.”
Where are the women coaches? According to a recent study from Acosta/Carpenter, there are a total number of 4,154 females employed as coaches across all sports within intercollegiate athletics.
The good news? This is an increase of 180 women coaches since 2012.
How did our country — known for the best women soccer players on the planet — get here? What is the solution? What do you think? Send us your thoughts by email.
Related Article: Success For Women In Soccer 2017
- Study referenced above: Acosta/Carpenter’s “Women in Intercollegiate Sport. A Longitudinal, National Study, Thirty Seven — Year Update. 1977-2014”. Unpublished manuscript. Available for downloading at www.acostacarpenter.ORG
Editor’s Note: Updated 2.1.17
