FIFA has always made strategic decisions to foster the empowerment of women in football, across different roles such as governance, refereeing and coaching, among others.
Ahead of the ongoing FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Poland 2026, the World football governing body took a bold step of mandatory inclusion of women on the technical benches during its competitions.
A ruling was made in March 2026 by the FIFA Council, approving female representation in team leadership across all its women’s competitions.
Now at this year’s U20 edition, every team has been mandated to have a female coach as part of the technical staff.
The regulation requires that either the head coach or an assistant must be female in all FIFA women’s tournaments, as well as ensuring that at least one of the medical staff be female, thus meaning that a minimum of two female officials must be seated on the team bench at all times.
Aiming to increase the number of female coaches globally, these changes will build on the foundations of existing FIFA initiatives such as the Women’s National Team Preparation Programme, FIFA Female Coach Educators’ Development Pathway and FIFA’s Coach Education Scholarship Programme.
Tanzania, which made its debut at the tournament, had three women involved as per the above, including assistant coaches Edna Lema and Ester Chabruma, as well as Hilda Masanche, who is a fitness coach.
Lema believes this is a good initiative from FIFA, indicating, “It is a dream for everyone.”
“Especially for me as a coach of Women’s Football. I was proud to be part of the U20 Women’s World Cup. We are always trying to do our best to reach our goals. I always wish to be better every day. I wish to go far.
“Right now, I am happy because FIFA has started recognising women and giving us opportunities, especially in coaching roles,” she said.
The tournament is at the Quarterfinal stage with South Koreas facing Italy, Brazil taking on Spain on Saturday before Nigeria face off against Colombia and North Korea up against Canada on Sunday.
