The world football governing body, FIFA, has unveiled a new policy mandating that teams participating in its women’s tournaments must have at least one female head or assistant coach to increase women’s representation at the highest level of the sport.

FIFA announced the landmark decision in a statement on Thursday, following its approval at the FIFA Council meeting.

It added that teams must also include at least two female staff on the bench across both the youth and senior levels of FIFA women’s competitions.

“The FIFA Council has today approved groundbreaking regulations that will reshape the future of women’s football, mandating female representation in team leadership across all its women’s competitions,” the organisation said.

“From this year onward, each team participating in FIFA women’s competitions must include at least two female staff on the bench, and at least one female must be a head coach or assistant coach. This applies to all youth and senior tournaments, national team competitions, and club competitions,” it said.

According to the organisation, the measure will come into effect starting with the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland in September, followed by the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, all scheduled for later this year.

“There are simply not enough women in coaching today. We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities, and increasing the visibility for women on our sidelines,” Jill Ellis, FIFA’s chief football officer, said.

FIFA argued that, despite the expansion of women’s football, coaching positions remained dominated by men, with only 12 of the 32 teams that participated in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup having female head coaches.