Beverly Priestman

Beverly Priestman ( ; born 29 April 1986) is an English professional football manager who is the current head coach of the Wellington Phoenix women's team.

Early life At age 12, Priestman signed-up for futsal in Consett, under John Herdman, who was at the time a university lecturer and a part-time football coach. Priestman graduated from Liverpool John Moores University and worked for Everton under Mo Marley.

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 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 under head coach Phil Neville from 2018 to 2020.

On 24 July 2024, she voluntarily withdrew from coaching the team for their opening match at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris against New Zealand 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, 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 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.

Wellington Phoenix On 30 July 2025, the New Zealand team Wellington Phoenix announced Priestman as head coach, with her signing a two-season contract. In her introductory press conference with the Phoenix, she expressed excitement about returning to football following her year-long suspension, saying "It's been very difficult and I'm just excited to put my head down, work hard and get back to work and do what I love every day."

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

Honours

Canada Women

Summer Olympics: 2020 CONCACAF Women's Championship runner-up: 2022 Individual IFFHS Women's World Best National Coach: 2021