Mark Richard David Parsons (born 8 August 1986) is an English football manager who is currently the head coach of American club

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

. He had previously managed the Netherlands women's national team and the

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

. Parsons holds USSF and UEFA A & B Licenses, a USSF Pro License, a USSF National Youth License and a NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma.

Managerial career

Chelsea Reserves

Parsons spent six years in multiple coaching roles in England, including time spent as the head coach of Chelsea Reserves which he led to an unprecedented treble in his first season.

DC United Women Under-20s

In 2012, Parsons led the D.C. United Women Under-20s to the 2012 Super-20 League final, which they lost to Colorado Rapids Women.

Washington Spirit Reserves

Parsons was signed by

on 16 March 2013 to manage their reserve team for the 2013 W-League season.

Washington Spirit

Following the dismissal of

manager Mike Jorden in July 2013, Parsons was promoted to be the first team manager. The team was at the bottom of the table halfway through the 2013 season when Parsons took over, but he led them to their first two home wins in 2013 and into the playoffs in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Parsons stepped down from his position as head coach and GM of the

on 30 September 2015.

Portland Thorns

On 5 October 2015, Parsons accepted the position as head coach of

. He led a new-look team through a 12-game undefeated streak from the beginning of the 2016 season, finishing as the regular season champions and winning the

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

but falling to the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American soccer club based in Elma, New York that competed in the United Women's Soccer league. They have won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-League in 2010, Women's Pro ...

in the Thorns' first-ever home playoff match on 2 October 2016. The Thorns repeated in securing a home playoff match in the 2017 season, in spite of suffering numerous injuries to the first xi throughout the season including the long term absence of Tobin Heath. After beating the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to th ...

4–1 in the semi finals, the Thorns won the NWSL championship by defeating the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

1–0 in the final. In March 2020 Mark Parsons signed a new lucrative, multi-year contract with Portland.

Netherlands

On 20 May 2021, the

KNVB The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and wome ...

announced that Parsons would succeed Sarina Wiegman as head coach of the Netherlands women's national football team after the conclusion of the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

; he continued to coach the Portland Thorns until November 2021, when the position was taken over by

Rhian Wilkinson Rhian Emilie Wilkinson (born May 12, 1982) is a Canadian professional soccer coach and former player. She was most recently the head coach of Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), where she led the team to the 2022 NW ...

. On 10 August 2022, Parsons' contract with KNVB was terminated by mutual consent, after the Netherlands team failed in the defence of their 2017 title in the

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UE ...

competition.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

Parsons is British and also holds US citizenship.

Honours

Portland Thorns FC *

NWSL Championship The National Women's Soccer League Playoffs (or NWSL Playoffs) are a single elimination tournament among six teams in the National Women's Soccer League of the United States, deciding the winner of the NWSL Championship. Since playoff games can ...

: 2017 *

: 2016, 2021 *

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup, currently known as the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tournament organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-tier women's league in the United States soccer league system. T ...

: 2021 * NWSL Community Shield: 2020 * WICC Championship: 2021 Individual * NWSL Coach of the Year: 2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Mark 1986 births Living people People from Cranleigh Sportspeople from Surrey English football managers National Women's Soccer League coaches Washington Spirit coaches Portland Thorns FC coaches English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Netherlands women's national football team managers UEFA Women's Euro 2022 managers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff D.C. United non-playing staff