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Midweek, Bay Collective disclosed the recruitment of Van Ginhoven, England's general manager working with head coach Sarina Wiegman, as their global women's football operations director. This freshly established collective club ownership initiative, which includes San Francisco’s Bay FC as its inaugural team within its group, has prior experience in recruiting from the Football Association.

The hiring in recent months of Cossington, the well-respected former FA technical director, as the chief executive was a clear statement from Bay Collective. Cossington knows women’s football inside out and now has put together a leadership team that possesses extensive knowledge of women’s football history and filled with practical experience.

She marks the third central staffer of the manager's inner circle to leave recently, following Cossington leaving before Euro 2025 and the assistant manager, Veurink, moving on to assume the position of head manager of the Dutch national team, but Van Ginhoven's choice was made earlier.

Stepping away has been a shock to the system, but “My choice was made to leave the FA well in advance”, Van Ginhoven says. “I had a contract lasting four years, just as Veurink and Wiegman did. As they re-signed, I had expressed I was uncertain if I would do the same. I had grown accustomed to the thought that post-Euros my time with England would end.”

The Euros was a deeply felt event as a result. “It's sharp in my memory, discussing with Wiegman when I disclosed of my choice and then we said: ‘Our ultimate aspiration, how incredible it would be if we were to win the European Championship?’ In reality, it's rare that hopes materialize every day but, against the odds, ours came true.”

Dressed in orange, she experiences split allegiances following her stint with the English team, where she was part of winning back-to-back European titles and was a part of Wiegman’s staff during the Dutch victory the 2017 Euros.

“The English side will forever have a dear spot in my heart. Therefore, it’s going to be tough, especially with the knowledge that the players are scheduled to come for national team duty soon,” she notes. “Whenever the two nations face off, which side do I back? Today I have on orange, but tomorrow it’s white.”

In a speedboat, you can pivot and accelerate swiftly. With a compact team such as ours, it's effortless to accomplish.

The American side was not in the plans when the strategic expert was deciding that a new chapter was needed, but the pieces fell into place opportunely. The chief executive began assembling the team and common principles were key.

“Almost from the very first moment we got together we felt immediate synergy,” says Van Ginhoven. “We were instantly aligned. We've discussed extensively regarding multiple aspects concerning growing the sport and our shared vision for the right approach.”

These executives are among several to make a move from well-known positions in Europe's football scene for a blank sheet of paper across the Atlantic. Atlético Madrid’s female football technical lead, González, has been unveiled as the organization's global sporting director.

“I felt strongly drawn to that strong belief regarding the strength of women's football,” González comments. “I've been acquainted with Kay Cossington for an extended period; during my tenure at Fifa, she was the technical director of England, and decisions like this come naturally knowing you will have around you individuals who motivate you.”

The extensive expertise in their team distinguishes them, notes Van Ginhoven, with Bay Collective part of a group fresh club ownership ventures to launch lately. “It's a standout feature of our approach. Various methods are valid, but we definitely believe in ensuring deep football understanding,” she adds. “The entire leadership have been on a journey within the women's game, probably for the best part of our lives.”

As outlined on their site, the ambition of this group is to support and lead a progressive and sustainable ecosystem of women’s football clubs, founded on effective practices for the diverse needs of female athletes. Doing that, with collective agreement, eliminating the need for persuasion for why you would take certain actions, is incredibly freeing.

“I equate it to transitioning from a tanker to a speedboat,” states she. “You're journeying through waters that there are no roadmaps for – as we say in the Netherlands, I don’t know if it translates – and it's necessary to trust your personal insight and skills for making correct choices. You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. Within a compact team such as ours, that is simple to achieve.”

González notes: “With this opportunity, we begin with a clean canvas to work from. In my view, what we do involves shaping the sport on a wider scale and that clean start allows you to do any direction you choose, within the rules of the game. That’s the beauty of what we are building together.”

Their goals are lofty, the executives are saying the things players and fans want to hear and it will be compelling to monitor the progress of the collective, the team and future additions to the group.

To get a sense of future plans, what are the key aspects in a high-performance setting? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve