SYDNEY — Sarina Wiegman is in a novel place on the Women’s World Cup, the place she’s the one feminine head coach nonetheless in rivalry for the title.

That was the case even earlier than England superior to the semifinals, by beating Colombia 2-1, with Wiegman additionally the outlier from the eight groups that reached the quarterfinals.

“Of course what we hope is to get more female football coaches at the top level and the balance gets better than it is right now,” Wiegman stated. “Of course males are welcome too. There are lots of males who have done a very good job in the women’s game, but if the balance is better that will also inspire other women to start coaching.”

Women’s soccer is rising at tempo. This World Cup has seen file attendance, rising expertise from across the globe and showcased a closing of the hole between the game’s conventional elite and rising nations.

Yet the disparity within the teaching ranks has additionally been laid naked.

Of the 32 nations that began the event, 12 had a girl as head coach. Three superior to the spherical of 16. Hege Riise’s Norway staff and Desiree Ellis’ South Africa staff misplaced within the first knockout stage.

PHOTOS: Wiegman is the outlier because the Women's World Cup highlights a scarcity of feminine coaches

At the 2015 World Cup, eight groups had a girl as head coach, a quantity that elevated by one in 2019. So it’s an enchancment when it comes to numbers, though the event was expanded from 24 to 32 groups for this version.

It can also be value noting that feminine coaches have greater than held their very own on the high of the ladies’s recreation. The final two World Cups had been received by groups coached by Jill Ellis, who led the Americans to back-to-back victories in 2015 and ‘19.

Under Vlatko Andonovski, the United States had its earliest exit within the historical past of the event by going out on the spherical of 16.

Wiegman led her native Netherlands to the 2019 last and seems to be taking on from Ellis because the premier coach in worldwide ladies’s soccer.

She received back-to-back European titles with Netherlands and England in 2017 and 2022. Now she’s closing in on a second successive World Cup last.

England ahead Alessia Russo stated Wiegman’s presence is necessary to the expansion of the sport.

“We always say about inspiring the next generation and to go on and play football and getting as many young girls involved as possible,” she stated. “To know that they could be a coach as effectively and see Sarina on the largest stage is unimaginable.

“She’s one of best managers I’ve ever played for, so to have her as our leader and our role model — we really appreciate it.”

Wiegman is greater than only a figurehead.

England appointed her to switch Phil Neville within the perception she would take the Lionesses to the subsequent stage.

She has finished that and stands because the nationwide staff’s most profitable coach for males or ladies since Alf Ramsey led England to the lads’s World Cup title in 1966.

If England wins this event, she's going to change into the primary England coach to elevate a number of main trophies.

“She’s a winner and she’s done it before,” Russo stated. “She has the full respect of everyone and it’s great to have someone leading us that knows how to deal with those high-pressure moments.”

While Wiegman desires better parity within the teaching ranks, the speedy development of the ladies’s recreation is prone to entice extra males. Tony Gustavsson, the pinnacle coach of the Australian staff that England will face within the semifinals, was recruited by the Matildas after two profitable stints as an assistant coach with the U.S. ladies’s staff.

France turned to two-time Africa Cup of Nations-winning coach Herve Renard to take over the nationwide staff simply 4 months forward of the World Cup. He had simply produced one of many greatest upsets in males’s World Cup historical past by main Saudi Arabia to a win over eventual champion Argentina.

And the extra elite coaches concerned within the ladies’s recreation would seemingly elevate ranges greater.

Randy Waldrum, who was head coach of the Nigeria staff which England edged on penalties within the spherical of 16, stated Wiegman was “doing a fantastic job.”

“Since she took over, you’ve seen the progression of the team. I give a ton of credit to her and what she’s done,” he stated. “Her pedigree speaks for itself.”

Waldrum, who's coach on the University of Pittsburgh and likewise a coach educator, stated the dearth of girls in teaching is an issue at each stage.

“We need more women coaching. We have the same issue in the U.S. There’s been a larger push in our women’s national team to have more female coaches,” he stated. “But every other level, there’s a lot of male coaches coaching. Certainly we need a bigger investment in women and women coaching.”

Waldrum stated a part of the problem was discovering a method of “changing the old boys club mentality, too.”

FIFA has acknowledged the necessity to develop the pathway for ladies in teaching.

A 2019 research by the game’s governing physique discovered that greater than 13 million women and girls performed organized soccer, however solely 7% of coaches worldwide had been ladies.

Costs can bar potential coaches in America. The USSF professional license prices $10,000 and the method is prolonged and labor intensive. Earlier this yr, Twila Kilgore, an assistant coach with the U.S. staff, was certainly one of solely 4 ladies within the United States who held one of many elite licenses.

U.S. Soccer supplies monetary assist by the Jill Ellis Scholarship Fund, a program that seeks to double the variety of ladies in elite teaching by 2024.

FIFA has additionally launched its personal mentorship program for rising feminine coaches, whereas there's a perception a brand new era of expertise will come from retiring gamers.

For now, nevertheless, the truth that Wiegman is the lone remaining feminine coach on the World Cup is a measure of the work that also must be finished.

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AP Sports Writers Anne M. Peterson and John Pye contributed to this report.

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