John Herdman (born 19 July 1975) is an English professional football manager who is the head coach of the Canada men's national team.

Coaching career

Early career

Herdman began coaching football at a young age in England, while he was a student and part-time university lecturer at

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

. He was a development coach for Sunderland's youth academy until 2001, when he moved to New Zealand.

New Zealand women

Herdman arrived in New Zealand and joined the national association football programme in 2003, initially acting as Coach Education Manager and later as the Director of Football Development. Herdman was head coach for the

New Zealand women's national football team The New Zealand women's national football team, nicknamed the Football Ferns, is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). The New Zealand national team qualified for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, held in China in September 2007, sending the te ...

from 2006 to 2011. Working with the national women's teams, he led the U-20 squad to the World Championship in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and the later renamed U-20 World Cup in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. He also guided the senior squad to the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

s in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

as well as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. During his time in New Zealand, Herdman played amateur football for NRFL Division 2 club Hibiscus Coast.

Canada women

Herdman took over for the

Canada women's national soccer team The Canada women's national soccer team (french: Équipe du Canada féminine de soccer) represents Canada in international soccer competitions. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada. The ...

in 2011 from Carolina Morace after Canada finished last in their

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

group. Shortly after, he led them to a gold medal finish at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

in Mexico. He guided the team through the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver, Canada, securing one of two qualifying spots for the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

that summer, where they won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. At the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

in Canada, Herdman guided Canada to a first place finish in their group, eventually getting eliminated in the quarter-finals, a 2–1 loss to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The team retained their bronze medal at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Canada men

On 8 January 2018, Herdman was named head coach of the

Canada men's national soccer team The Canada men's national soccer team (french: Équipe du Canada de soccer masculin) represents Canada in international soccer competitions since 1924. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Cana ...

. He "also becomes men's national director, with responsibility for all age groups from under-14s upward". In 2021, he guided the team up the

FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

from 72nd to 40th, its highest position to date, to earn the team the honour of "Most Improved Side" of the year. On 10 February 2022, he improved Canada to 33rd in the FIFA World Rankings. On 27 March 2022, he led the team to qualify for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, its first World Cup in 36 years, becoming the first manager to have successfully led both the national women's and men's teams of a nation to qualify for a World Cup. Canada's first match of the tournament against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on November 23 ended in a 1–0 loss, despite Canada dictating most of the play, and failing to convert any of their 22 shots, including a penalty shot. Four days later, Canada lost 4–1 to

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, despite scoring first, eliminating Canada from the tournament after two matches. Canada were defeated 2–1 by

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

in their final group match on December 1, finishing fourth in the group (and 31st overall in the tournament) with zero points.

Personal life

Herdman is originally from

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England. Herdman is married to his childhood sweetheart, Claire, and has two children, Lilly and

Jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family (biology), family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For examp ...

who plays in the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

development system, as well as the New Zealand U20 team.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Canada women *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

: bronze medal:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

* Algarve Cup:

References

External links

*
Canada Soccer Staff page (position listed under National Teams Department)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herdman, John 1975 births Living people English football managers Expatriate soccer managers in Canada Canada women's national soccer team managers 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup managers 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup managers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Sportspeople from Consett English expatriate sportspeople in Canada 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers New Zealand women's national football team managers Canada men's national soccer team managers English expatriate football managers New Zealand Olympic coaches Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches English expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand 2022 FIFA World Cup managers