Beverly Priestman (born 29 April 1986) is an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager who was the head coach of the Canada women's national team.

Early life

At age 12, Priestman signed-up for

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

in Consett, under

John Herdman John Herdman (born 19 July 1975) is an English professional football manager widely recognized for his contributions to Canadian soccer. He is the only coach to have led both a women’s and men’s national team from the same country to a FIF ...

, who was at the time a university lecturer and a part-time football coach. Priestman graduated from

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

and worked for Everton under

Mo Marley Maureen Angela "Mo" Marley MBE (née Mallon; born 31 January 1967) is an English football manager and former player. She most recently managed the England women's national under-21 football team. As a player, Marley was a centre back, who cap ...

Coaching career

Early career

Priestman has coached Canada's U-17 and U-20 women's squads and was a technical assistant for the

Canada women's national soccer team The Canada women's national soccer team () represents Canada in international soccer competitions. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada. The team reached international prominence at the ...

under head coach Herdman until 2016. She coached England's women's U-17 squad, and she was assistant coach of the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, nicknamed the Lionesses, has been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first interna ...

under head coach

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English association football, football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers. He is also the co-owner of Salford City F.C., Salford ...

from 2018 to 2020.

Canada women

In October 2020, Priestman was appointed as the head coach of

, leading them to the gold medal at the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo on 6 August 2021. On 24 July 2024, she voluntarily withdrew from coaching the team for their opening match at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

after two members of her backroom staff were sent home for allegedly flying a drone over the opposition team's training session in the build-up to the game. Two days later, Priestman was removed as Olympic head coach and suspended by Canada Soccer which said it had instigated an "independent external review" while world football governing body,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, also announced it has opened disciplinary proceedings against her and the staff involved. On 27 July, FIFA announced that Priestman would be suspended from football-related activities for one year due to "offensive behaviour and violation of the principles of fair play." In November,

Canada Soccer The Canadian Soccer Association (; branded as Canada Soccer) is the governing body for association football, soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the internati ...

announced that an external investigation concluded that Priestman and assistant coach Jasmine Mander ordered analyst Joseph Lombardi to fly a drone during a New Zealand training session closed to the public. The three of them were subsequently fired.

Personal life

Priestman is married to Emma Humphries, a former midfielder with the New Zealand football team. Their son was born in 2018.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Canada Women

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

CONCACAF Women's Championship The CONCACAF W Championship is a women's association football competition for national teams organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) that often serves as the qualifying competition ...

runner-up:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual * IFFHS Women's World Best National Coach: 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Priestman, Bev 1986 births English football coaches Canada women's national soccer team managers English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada English LGBTQ sportspeople Living people Sportspeople from Consett 21st-century English LGBTQ people 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Female association football managers Coaches at the 2020 Summer Olympics English women's football managers