Elitfotboll Dam has launched an exciting new initiative to increase the number of elite coaches in women’s football. This initiative aims to promote the education and development of coaches in order to enhance the quality and growth of women’s football at the elite level.
Despite significant growth in women’s and girls’ football, the development of female elite coaches has not followed the same trajectory. With this initiative, Elitfotboll Dam, together with Akea, Sundström Safety, EPOS, and GameInsight, aims to create a long-term and sustainable change.
Sundström Safety is behind the EPOS network and has already made great strides towards gender equality by working to bring more female elite coaches to the forefront. The company is currently a partner to many clubs and specialized sports federations, and now also to Elitfotboll Dam.
There is a need for more female role models in leadership positions.
One challenge faced by girls’ and women’s football is that many players quit between the ages of 16-20, according to a study conducted by the Swedish Football Association (SvFF). One of the reasons cited is the lack of female role models in leadership positions.
Successful female coaches have a direct impact on the success of women’s football.
International football shows that the most successful women’s national teams over the past two decades have been led by female head coaches. In fact, 15 of the last 18 winners of the Olympics, World Cup, and European Championship have had a female head coach. A clear winning formula, worth investing in.
Examples of successful female coaches include Christina Theune and Silvia Neid, who won seven titles with Germany; April Heinrichs, Pia Sundhage, and Jill Ellis, who brought home five titles to the USA; Sarina Wiegman, who won two European Championships with both the Netherlands and England and was recently in the World Cup final; and Bev Priestman, who coached Canada to Olympic gold in Tokyo two years ago, defeating Sweden in the final after a penalty shoot-out.
Interview
– All players need to be involved to achieve our goals
– I spent hours on Youtube watching Barcelona and Liverpool coaches, trying to learn from the clubs as well as my father and grandfather. I looked up to them because they were so passionate about football and I wanted to go the same way, says Lovisa Lundqvist.
Inspired by both her father and grandfather, Lovisa Lundqvist was only 13 years old when she decided to become a football coach. Today, she specializes in physical training at both the OBOS Damallsvenskan level and the national team level.
Lovisa Lundqvist didn’t have a prominent playing career. She spent her twenties on the field with the third league team, Sollentuna, before finishing her career at the fourth-tier club, Djursholms FC, in 2021. After that, she retired from playing.
However, Lovisa Lundqvist didn’t plan to leave football entirely. By the age of 21, she already had several years of coaching experience. Growing up in Rosersbergs IK, it was expected that everyone would contribute.
– It’s a club where everyone works non-profit, and both my dad and grandfather were coaches for women’s and men’s teams. I started my football education very early and observed everything and everyone in my environment. While playing at Rosersberg, I worked with various coaches and gradually developed a personal set of leadership qualities that I valued to varying degrees.
During high school, she played for Sollentuna FK, where she naturally began helping with the club’s girls’ teams once a week
– I gained numerous new coaching colleagues to observe and learn from. Soon, I felt a strong desire to make a more personal contribution to players’ development. This led me to work for Molinatti Football School, founded by Thibaut Molinatti, who is now a co-owner of the Skills Academy. There, I conducted individual training sessions from early morning before sunrise to late evening, every day of the week, for boys and girls aged 10 to 30 from various small and large clubs in Stockholm.
She pursued further education in coaching, specializing in football, at the School of Gymnastics and Sports (GIH). In 2020, she also obtained UEFA’s B license.
– In the training planning course taught by Helena Andersson at GIH, I fully realized something I had long considered. I am passionate about incorporating physical fitness into football training. Whether in group or individual sessions, I have consistently integrated speed and strength into the exercises, often subconsciously, says Lundqvist.
At the same time, she was offered the position of assistant coach for the IF BP women under 19 teams. This role presented new challenges and opportunities for her coaching development, and she played a significant role in initiating a successful period for the girls’ academy. Additionally, thanks to financial support from Elitfotboll Dam for training female coaches, she was able to participate in the Swedish Football Association’s first edition of Tränarutbildning Fotbollsfys (a football fitness coach course).
– I was eager to dive deeper into the concepts I had explored during my courses at GIH and my time at BP, where I experimented with space, time intervalls, and player numbers to enhance various physical skills. Both the course participants and the trainers were exceptionally skilled.
While attending the course, Lovisa Lundqvist received a call from former national team player Sara Thunebro, who was overseeing a project on training load analysis using GPS for the federation. Lundqvist was then given the opportunity to serve as a physical trainer at a girls’ national team camp in the summer of 2021.
– This opportunity was beyond my wildest dreams. Working alongside highly skilled coaches like Caroline Sjöblom, Carola Söberg, and Maria Busk Madland was an invaluable experience. Additionally, having the chance to coach some of Sweden’s top players born in 2003 and 2004 was absolutely fantastic for me.
– I gained so much from that camp, and subsequently, I was trusted and honored to work with the 2005 team. Little did I know my first camp with them would mark the beginning of something truly significant. Being surrounded by doctors and physiotherapists who are passionate about sports medicine and the long-term education of our youth was incredible. This applies to all national teams, from the U23s to the U17s, including a European Championship we hosted, which I had the privilege of being involved in.
Lundqvist thrives in BP, advancing her career from being in charge of physical training at the academy to now fulfilling the same role for the women’s team competing in the OBOS Damallsvenskan. Concurrently, she continues to enhance her education and is set to start her third year in the coaching program at GIH this fall.
What qualities do you consider most crucial to being a successful coach?
– As a football fitness coach, it is important to focus very much on relationships, to confirm competence and distribute responsibility within an already very experienced group. In football, all players need to be involved if we are to achieve our goals, it’s not a player who individually makes the team win or lose a match. In elite football there is an incredible focus on results, something I think is important but must not be decisive or stand in the way of long-term development of our youngest players.
– I also think it is an advantage to have a high self-awareness as a coach. To know their strengths and weaknesses and to display this transparent image of themselves as the collective always needs to be put before self-interest.
What challenges do you usually face in your work as a coach, and how do you deal with them?
– Being relatively young, I often face the challenge of others questioning my competence and experience. This doubt also feeds into self-criticism among young female coaches, who may hesitate to assert themselves in a field traditionally dominated by men. It’s crucial to acknowledge that our journey as coaches is never complete; there is always more to accomplish and learn.
– I manage this challenge by setting clearer boundaries between work and personal life, and by surrounding myself with people who energize rather than drain me.
What is your goal as a coach?
– Helping players who are eager to advance their football skills by providing the right tools. It’s always up to the player but if I can play a small, small part in helping players physically, no one will be happier than me. As the physical demands in women’s football continue to rise, my goal for BP—a team that has struggled in recent seasons—is to keep pace with this progression.
What is your vision for yourself and for women’s football in general?
– That I will become a leading expert in my field of physical training and sports performance. In this way, I can perhaps at the same time be instrumental in ensuring that women get the same conditions for sports as men. Internationally, women’s football teams benefit from extensive medical teams around them. I envision the same for Sweden’s women’s football, a vision that is gradually taking shape in clubs like BK Häcken. They have hired a head of performance and assembled a team of football fitness coaches, each specializing in different areas, all collaborating for the benefit of the players.
What needs to be done to bring out more female coaches at the elite level?
– I believe the initiative of Elitfotboll Dam in the Elite Coaching Pathways and the Swedish Football Association’s ’tränarlyftet’ project, which encourages more women to pursue the UEFA B course, is crucial. But to reach the elite level often requires more than that. The responsibility lies with the Swedish Football Association and their training programs to ensure that more women enroll in the UEFA A course to advance their careers. Additionally, Swedish clubs need to actively encourage female participation in all aspects of elite football, whether as coaches, equipment managers, event coordinators, or board members
2024-08-29
Interview
– Walking away wasn’t an option
After nine years in OBOS Damallsvenskan and Elitettan, representing every Swedish youth national team, and winning the U19 European Championship, Matilda Haglund decided last fall to retire from her goalkeeper career. However, she was not ready to leave elite football behind entirely.
– Becoming a coach allows me to give back and share my experience with young, talented goalkeepers, says Haglund, who is currently goalkeeping coach for Lidköpings FK.
Matilda Haglund’s football dreams began in the small village of Järpås, 20 kilometers outside Lidköping. Through talent, training, and determination, she reached the top. Despite her career being cut short last autumn after four knee surgeries, Haglund has notable achievements to her name. Including winning the Swedish Championship with Linköpings FC and a European Championship with the Swedish U19 national team.
Since the age of twelve, there has only differed one letter in the first part of the clubs she represented, but the joy and pride of football has been just as great wherever she has been.
Starting at her childhood club, she moved to Lidköpings IF, then played five seasons with Linköpings FC in the OBOS Damallsvenskan from 2016 to 2020. She returned in 2021 to Västergötland and Lidköpings FK, which was renamed following a merger. Haglund has also played for all Swedish youth national teams, from U15 to U23.
Although she is new to coaching, she has a lot of experience from her active career to guide the next generation of goalkeepers.
– I wasn’t ready to leave football behind—it’s been a big part of my life. Simply walking away wasn’t an option, I love the sport to much. Additionally, it’s also about giving back to both Lidköping FK and women’s Swedish football.
In her initial period as coach, Haglund has been focusing on adapting to her new role, applying her unique perspective on goalkeeping through the way she organizes and conducts training sessions.
What qualities do you consider most crucial to being a successful coach?
– It’s probably a mix of many different qualities. Above all, I would say, a successful coach is someone who sees the whole person and not just the footballer, has a tactical understanding and technical competence as well as being responsive, committed, communicative, goal-oriented and constantly wants to develop herself and her surroundings.
What challenges have you faced in your coaching role and how do you deal with them?
– I coach goalkeepers, they have a vulnerable position with a lot of mental pressure where mistakes can lead to goals for the opponents. Dealing with mental pressure is therefore a challenge I deal with by acting from a psychological perspective and regularly giving positive feedback to strengthen the goalkeepers.
– I also feel that I may encounter challenges related to each goalkeeper’s playing time. To deal with this, I want to have an open communication around how the goalkeepers improve their chances of playing time.
What are your goals as a coach?
– I aim to continuously improve the goalkeepers I coach, but also myself. By fostering an environment of curiosity and active involvement, I strive to help the goalkeepers achieve their individual goals and also the goals for the team. Personally, I aspire to represent Sweden as a goalkeeping coach in the future.
Haglund envisions a future for Swedish women’s football characterized by equal recognition, resources, and opportunities as men’s football, where equality and inclusion are the norm.
What needs to be done to bring out more female coaches at the elite level?
– It’s about changing structures and attitudes in sport, to build a more inclusive and equal future. For example, it could be about working with education and development through mentoring consisting of female coaches or creating networks for female coaches.
– It can also be about working with role models and increasing the visibility of female coaches or changing the working conditions so it’s easier to combine the coaching profession with family life. Football associations and clubs need to work more actively to allocate resources to promote female leadership and support the development of female coaches, so it’s positive that Elitfotboll Dam together with partners has now launched the project Elite coaching pathways.
2024-06-25
Interview
– In every meeting with my players I want to learn something new
When the team’s coach unexpectedly quit, player Fanny Måsabacka had to step in for the remaining training sessions of the season – and got hooked right away. Today she is head coach of Linköpings FC’s W17 team, assistant coach of the club’s team in OBOS Damallsvenskan and coach for Östergötland’s F08 team.
– One of my dreams is to have the opportunity to work as a full-time football coach someday, she says.
Like Åland’s most renowned footballer, Daniel Sjölund, Fanny Måsabacka also journeyed from IFK Mariehamn to Östergötland. Reaching OBOS Damallsvenskan was not her initial goal; she relocated to Linköping to pursue her studies to become a high school teacher and played football for LiU AIF in the third division.
In the fall of 2021, the team unexpectedly found itself without a coach, with no one available to fill the role.
– I stepped in and conducted the remaining training sessions for that year, after which the club’s sports directors asked if I wanted to become the playing coach for the following season. I believe I was approached because I had consistently taken significant responsibility within the club during my playing time. Additionally, I frequently offered my views on training exercises and methodologies
Måsabacka accepted the offer and simultaneously hung up her boots to fully commit to her new role.
– When I decided to try out coaching, I wanted to give it my all. Two and a half years later, I am truly grateful for the opportunity, as it has become the most enjoyable part of my life.
In 2022, Måsabacka enrolled in football coaching courses. Within a year, she was offered the role of coach for Östergötland’s F08 team, and by last autumn, she had earned her UEFA B license. This season marked a significant advancement in her career as she took on the role of head coach for the F17 team at Linköpings FC. Additionally, she has been assisting with the club’s senior team in the OBOS Damallsvenskan and serves as a coach educator in the county.
– My goal as a coach is that I every day, every training and in every meeting with my players will learn something new and develop myself. I am passionate about my role as a coach and want to be as good as possible. My dream is that one day I will have the opportunity to work as a full-time football coach.
What qualities do you consider most crucial to being a successful coach?
– Oh, that’s a tough question. Good football skills along with analytical and tactical abilities are crucial for making realistic assessments to develop players, create match-like practices, and win points in matches. I believe that a successful coach needs to be clear and have authority in their leadership in order to successfully convey the way of working, roles and the tactical aspects from theory to reality. It is also important to combine clarity with humility. I think it’s important to critically examine yourself in order to develop as a coach.
Through succeeding in building positive relationships between players and also between coaches and players so the players will feel safe both on and off the pitch is important for both individual and collective development, she believes.
– If you manage to build trust and good relationships, it’s easier to include players in working methods and also in evaluation. It’s also a prerequisite for players to be able to receive constructive feedback and become involved. Perceptiveness is an important quality in building relationships as well as to see the individual and not just the player.
– Finally, commitment is a key characteristic. Create commitment to engage players in their own development and in the team’s processes. Encourage them to seek their own solutions, support each other, and enjoy their time together.
What challenges do you usually face in your work as a coach and how do you deal with them?
– A big challenge is the time aspect. I wish I had more time for each player individually. One challenge is to coach all players in their role and in the actions the player has as areas of development. It is important to be close to the players and coach them in their roles on the field. I need to plan carefully to provide all players with feedback relevant to situations they will encounter during matches. It’s also important, and sometimes challenging, that practices, whether for skill or matches, are as similar to match situations as possible.
What is your vision for yourself and for women’s football in general?
– I want women’s football to develop and take up more and more space every day. There is a lot going on today, which is fantastic, and it’s exciting to be part of this journey. I want girls to have the opportunity to play football on equal terms with boys. Being involved in coaching girls in football is both enjoyable and enriching.
What needs to be done to bring out more female coaches at the elite level?
– It needs to be invested in female leaders and above all it probably needs attention. It’s important that there are both female and male role models for our boys and girls who play football. The importance of educating leaders should probably not be underestimated, it is important that education is offered to develop more coaches.
The interview was created through the project Elite Coaching Pathway in collaboration with EPOS, Sundström Safety, Akea and Game Insight.
2024-06-12