Jill Ellis

Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American football manager and executive. she is chief football officer of FIFA, since her appointment in December 2024.

Ellis coached the United States women's national team from 2014 to 2019 and won two FIFA Women's World Cups in 2015 and 2019, making her the second coach to win consecutive World Cups after Vittorio Pozzo. She stepped down as the team's head coach in October 2019. Ellis was appointed president of San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) after its expansion in 2021. She has served as an ambassador for the United States Soccer Federation, working to help raise the number of women in coaching, and has also served as head coach for various college and United States national youth teams over her career.

Early life and education Jillian Anne Ellis was born on 6 September 1966 in Folkestone, Kent, England. She grew up in Cowplain, a small village north of Portsmouth on the southern coast of England. She was a supporter of Manchester United, and attended Padnell Junior School and Cowplain School. Naturally athletic, she ran track and field, and played field hockey and netball, She would, however, tag along with her brother Paul and play with the boys whenever they needed an extra player. He also served as an assistant coach for the U.S. women's national team in 2000 and 2001.

In 1981, the Ellis family moved to Northern Virginia, where John Ellis founded Soccer Academy in Manassas.

Her brother Paul also became a football coach, coaching area high school teams and serving as an assistant coach at George Mason before taking a full-time position at Soccer Academy Inc. while her father advised her to "do something substantial" instead. She is the development director of the USSF. She served as assistant coach of the women's national team, head coach of a number of women youth teams, and was the interim coach of the senior women's national team in 2012,

Ellis has an all-time collegiate coaching record of 248 wins, 63 losses and 14 draws (248–63–14), compiled over 14 years with the Illinois Fighting Illini and UCLA Bruins.

National youth teams manager Ellis was the head coach of the United States under-21 women's national football teams, coaching a team to win the Nordic Cup title at Germany 2000 and to Sweden's 2005 Nordic Cup. In another stint as youth team's head coach, she guided the U.S. under-20 women's national team to the CONCACAF title in 2010 and to the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Germany.

National Development Director Ellis was appointed by U.S. Soccer as development director for the U.S. women's national teams in January 2011. The appointment, along with April Heinrichs as Technical Director, marked the first time U.S. Soccer had appointed full-time positions to oversee the programs and development of national women's youth teams.

As development director, Ellis interacts directly with coaches within the youth club leagues and guides the U.S. under-17, under-15 and under-14 teams.

2012 interim coach Following Sundhage's departure on 1 September 2012, for Sweden, Ellis (as women's national team program development director) served as the interim head coach until U.S. Soccer hired Tom Sermanni as the full-time head coach on 1 January 2013.

Ellis's first appearances as head coach of United States women's national team was against Germany, on 20 October 2012, at Bridgeview, Illinois, and on 23 October at Hartford, Connecticut. The international friendly matches were part of a series organized to celebrate the winning of the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.

2014 interim coach On 6 April 2014, U.S. Soccer announced the firing of Tom Sermanni and re-appointment of Ellis as interim head coach of the U.S. women's national team. As interim head coach in 2014, Ellis had a 3–0 win against China and a 1–1 draw with Canada.

2014 appointment as head coach On 16 May 2014, U.S. Soccer announced that Ellis had been appointed as the national team's head coach on a permanent basis. Ellis's job as head coach was to qualify for the 2015 Women's World Cup and win the championship. Ellis was honored as 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football on 11 January 2016.

According to an investigation, Ellis was one of the USWNT leaders who did not take action after being told of a "hostile [coaching] environment" in 2014, and receiving in 2015 a player survey with "quite disturbing" allegations including sexual harassment.

In 2016, the U.S. women's national team recorded five shutout wins to secure the 2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship. However, the team struggled during the 2016 Summer Olympics, drawing against Colombia in the group stage and eliminated to eventual silver medal winners Sweden — a team led by former national team coach Pia Sundhage — 4–3 on penalty kicks after drawing in regulation and extra time. The loss marked the first time that the U.S. women's national team did not advance to the gold medal game of the Olympics, as well as the first time that the team failed to advance to the semifinal round of a major tournament. The effort was further marred when U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo called the Swedish team "cowards" for their defensive tactics. Ellis would later cite those comments as part of the reason why U.S. Soccer terminated Solo's contract and suspended her from the team.

The U.S. women's national team won four subsequent international friendly matches (9–0 against Thailand, 3–1 against the Netherlands, and 4–0 and 5–1 in two matches against Switzerland). The latter two friendlies featured the largest squad turnover of Ellis's tenure as she brought in 11 uncapped players, started or played 6 of them, and left several regular players out of camp.

Ellis at a friendly against Portugal during the 2019 Victory TourBefore the friendly against Thailand, Ellis asked U.S. women's national team midfielder Megan Rapinoe not to kneel during the pre-game performance of the United States national anthem. Rapinoe had done so before matches with her National Women's Soccer League team, Seattle Reign FC, prior to camp in support of other professional athletes' similar protests. Despite Ellis's request, she did not punish Rapinoe after the game. In the final match against Netherlands in Lyon, France, the team won 2–0. The 2019 World Cup Champion Team beat the world record for most goals in a tournament with 26 goals.

On 30 July 2019, U.S. Soccer announced that Ellis would be stepping down as coach of the Women's National Team. She remained with the team through the World Cup victory tour and continued to work with U.S. Soccer as an ambassador, working to help raise the number of women in coaching.

Coaching record

TeamYearsMatchesWonTiedLostWin %Pts÷MWorld CupOlympicsUnited States2012 (interim), 2014–201913210619787.52.55link=2015 FIFA Women's World Cup link=2019 FIFA Women's World Cup 5th

San Diego Wave FC president In June 2021, the National Women's Soccer League announced that Ellis would be the president of San Diego Wave FC, an expansion team, before their inaugural season. Ron Burkle, the San Diego Wave's owner, reportedly reached out to Ellis for consulting work, but she stated she wanted "to run the whole damn thing." Ellis soon appointed Casey Stoney as the first head coach and Molly Downtain as the first general manager.

On 3 July 2024, Brittany Alvarado, a former employee of San Diego Wave, alleged that Ellis had engaged in "a pattern of abusive behavior" as president of the club. The Wave stated that the accusations were "categorically false," and labelled Alvarado's statements as "inaccurate and defamatory". On 29 July 2024, Ellis filed a lawsuit against Alvarado in California Superior Court, claiming defamation and intentional interference with contractual relations. FIFA appointment Ellis was appointed chief football officer of FIFA in December 2024. She serves as part of the executive management team, driving the development and implementation of FIFA's global football strategy. she is still in the position.

Personal life In 2015 Ellis was living in Palmetto Bay, Florida, a suburb of Miami, with her wife Betsy Stephenson, whom she married in 2013, and their adopted daughter.

Ellis, along with her parents and brother, are naturalised American citizens.

She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 2016, and was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa as an alumni member at the College of William and Mary in 2019.

Managerial honours Collegiate As assistant coach of NC State Wolfpack: Six straight Pacific-10 Conference titles from 2003 to 2008

United States Women

As coach of youth teams: 2015, 2019 FIFA World Women's Coach of the Year