African football slowly advances female coaching representation ahead of WAFCON

Morocco will host the Women's African Cup of Nations starting July 26, and when the 16 teams take the field, the coaching benches will tell a story about how slowly African football is changing. Four of those teams will be led by women—Cameroon, Zambia, Kenya, and South Africa. That's 25 percent. Two years ago, at the 2025 tournament, only two of twelve teams had female head coaches. The numbers are moving in the right direction, but the gap remains vast.

The shift is partly structural. FIFA passed a regulation earlier this year requiring women's national teams to include at least one female coach on their staff. That mandate has forced federations to act. Some teams that couldn't find female head coaches have appointed female assistants to comply. But the rule is a floor, not a ceiling, and many federations have chosen not to go further. Cameroon's recent appointment of Valentine Nguel weeks before the tournament brought the female head coach count to four—a decision that came late, suggesting it was not a priority until pressure mounted.

South Africa stands apart. The country has made female coaching mandatory for all women's teams, a policy that predates FIFA's requirement. Desiree Ellis, the national team coach, has won four African Women's Coach of the Year awards and led South Africa to the 2022 continental title. She is one of the world's most successful female coaches, and she is clear about what needs to happen next. "Federations need to be brave and appoint female coaches," Ellis told Deutsche Welle. "They need to not just appoint them but give them support, otherwise they are not going to succeed." South Africa's approach is part of a broader regional commitment through the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations, which made female coaching staff mandatory across its 14 member nations even before FIFA acted.

But structural rules alone are not enough. Jackline Juma, who coaches Kenya's U-20 women's team, points to a deeper problem: trust. "It's because they still don't trust women, don't give them chances, the support is not as much as for male coaches," she said. Juma advocates for restrictions on club licensing that would prioritize female coaches for women's teams, creating a pipeline of opportunity. She suggests the first assistant should also be female, with men filling supporting roles. Without such mandates, she argues, the bias persists.

The real obstacle, according to Vicky Huyton, who founded the Female Coaching Network in 2014, is the absence of a clear pathway. Women with passion and ability often find themselves stuck. "I am contacted quite often by amazing female coaches in Africa—various countries, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria," Huyton told DW. "Often they say 'I have a passion, I have a want, but I have nowhere to go.'" She points out that while just 20 percent of female national teams have female coaches, those teams account for 90 percent of major championship wins—evidence that female coaches are capable and effective when given the chance. The problem is not competence; it is visibility and guidance. Young coaches don't know the steps required to reach the national team level, and many federations have not articulated a pathway themselves.

Huyton sees a lesson from Europe. The journey from grassroots volunteer coach to national team leader needs to be mapped out clearly. "People think that women don't want to coach," she said. "It isn't true." The gap exists because the route is invisible, not because the desire is absent. Even in Europe, where women's football is more established, the problem persists. At Women's Euro 2025, only seven of sixteen teams had female coaches—progress, but still a minority. England's women's national team is European champion and led by a woman, yet female coaches remain scarce in the country's top domestic league.

There are signs of momentum. Lamia Boumehdi won CAF Coach of the Year and was appointed Morocco's U-20 coach. Adelaide Koudougnon qualified Ivory Coast for the U-17 tournament for the first time. Carol Kanyemba of Zambia has taken the U-17 team to back-to-back World Cups. Mildred Cheche led Kenya to the U-17 World Cup. These are not just individual achievements; they are proof of concept, examples that can inspire the next generation. Ellis sees reason for optimism. The question now is whether federations will build on these examples by creating the structures, support, and clear pathways that turn individual success into systemic change.