‘We Can Do So Much More’: Players Take Control of the A-League Women’s Future

Mihaila Kilibarda15/01/2026 6:00 am15/01/2026

Image Credit: One Nil

Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) has launched Ready For Takeoff – The Players’ Vision for the A-League Women, a player-led roadmap outlining the future direction of the domestic women’s competition.

Unveiled on Wednesday at Ultra Football in Melbourne, the initiative places current A-League Women players at the centre of discussion. Elevating the debate around professionalism, sustainability and long-term growth of the league.

The Players’ Vision for the A-League Women – Image Credit: One Nil

The vision, developed through consultation with players across the competition, calls for improved professional standards, greater investment and governance structures that reflect the specific needs of the women’s game. It comes amid ongoing conversations about contract security, season length and the transition toward full-time professionalism.

PFA Chief Executive Beau Busch – Image Credit: One Nil

PFA Chief Executive Beau Busch said players had been clear about the sacrifices required to continue competing in the league.

“We’ve heard from players about the struggle and sacrifices they continue to make to play the game they love, but we can do so much more than this,” Busch said. “A fully professional game here in Australia is crucial to creating the next generation of Matildas, but also to ensure we reach our potential and win a FIFA World Cup.”

PFA Deputy Chair Elise Kellond-Knight and A-League Women players Grace Maher and Dylan Holmes also addressed media, reinforcing the importance of player voices in shaping the future of the competition.

The PFA said Ready For Takeoff provides a clear, achievable framework for the continued evolution of the A-League Women. The initiative urges stakeholders to work collaboratively with players to ensure the league’s growth matches the talent, ambition and momentum of women’s football in Australia.

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Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

Declan Chan15/04/2026 6:15 am14/04/2026

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

Patrick Irving15/04/2026 6:05 am14/04/2026

Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.