We look at news, including some rosters, for Australia, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Philippines and Vietnam. We also present breaking news out of Haiti that they have hired veteran Women’s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage to guide them in their bid to make a second consecutive WWC in Brazil in 2027.
2026 Women’s Asian Cup Preview
Australia
On February 19 in Australia, the long awaited Women’s Asian Cup final roster was released.
Half of the 26 member squad come from England WSL1 and WSL2 sides, with four from Sweden, two each from Germany and Italy and one each from Canada (Northern Super League), the U.S. (National Women’s Soccer League) and France. Two players are currently playing in Australia’s Ninja A-League.
Of the 26 players named, eight (Winonah Heatley, Clare Hunt, Kahli Johnson, Jamilla Rankin, Charlize Rule, Amy Sayer, Kaitlyn Torpey and Jada Whyman) will make their AFC Women’s Asian Cup Finals debut. Sam Kerr will captain the Matildas in her fifth finals appearance. Defenders Steph Catley and Ellie Carpenter are vice-captains and will be appearing in their fourth and third AFC Women’s Asian Cups, respectively. Mary Fowler is back in the squad for the first time in almost a year since sustaining an ACL injury in April of 2025. Goalkeeper Jada Whyman has also been named following an injury that ruled her out of the past two FIFA international windows.
Those missing the roster included defender Charlie Grant (24) of Tottenham Hotspur of the WSL who has not played since suffering a knee injury in November and veteran Matilda midfielder with 134 caps and 14 goals Tameka Yallop (34) of Brisbane Roar, who is carrying a hamstring injury. Also missing out is winger Cortnee Vine (27), starting her third season with the North Carolina Courage of the NWSL after playing with Sydney FC, Western Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane, where she debuted as a 16-year-old during the 2015-16 season. She scored the final penalty kick to send Australia into the semifinals of the 2023 WWC tournament after defeating France 7-6 on penalties after a 0-0 score before an ecstatic crowd of almost 50,000 in Brisbane.
Young midfielder Sharn Freier (24), who was in the Matildas pool and looked to be a shoe-in for the Women’s Asian Cup Finals at home, suffered an ACL injury for the second time since 2022 in Brisbane’s 2-2 draw with Central Coast Mariners at home on January 30. She was on loan back to Brisbane from Germany side Wolfsburg, who she joined towards the end of last season. For the Roar this season, she has scored three goals with four assists. Freier has represented Australia nine times at the senior level since making her debut against Mexico in April 2024, scoring on two occasions and competing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Midfielder Alana Murphy (20), who has five senior appearances for the Matildas since last year, has moved to Nottingham Forest F.C. in the Women’s Super League2 from SC Sand in the German 2. Bundesliga. She signed a contract through June of 2027. Murphy signed for the German side in August 2025 shortly after making her senior debut for Australia. She played for Melbourne Victory for four seasons and scored four goals in 75 appearances.
Nottingham Forest currently is in seventh place on the table with 19 points (6-1-8 W-D-L), nine points behind the top three—Crystal Palace on 28 points, Birmingham City on 29 points, with Charlton Athletic undefeated at the top of the 12 team league after 15 games on 37 points—with the top two teams gaining automatic promotion and the third place team qualifying for a playoff with a WSL1 side.
Bangladesh
We profiled this exciting team last year after they qualified for their first ever Asian Women’s Cup (see: The Week in Women's Football: Focusing on Bangladesh ahead of Asian Cup; Europa Cup review - TribalFootball.com).
English native head coach Peter Butler brought in 29 players to camp at the end of January, with all coming from clubs in Bangladesh, except for midfielder Anika Rania Siddiqui (20), who came in from IF Brommapojkama, in suburban Stockholm, of the Swedish Damallsvenskan top tier league. She was born in Sweden but has a Bangladeshi passport and travelled to Dhaka at her own expense in January to attend a five-day trial during the national team camp. After impressing the coaching staff, she was named in the final squad for the Asian Cup. She returned in mid-February to Bangladesh with her travel and expenses taken care of by the federation.
Earlier this month, she made her senior debut in the Swedish Cup for IF Brommapojkarna after playing primarily with the club’s U-19 side. All credit to her at such a young age, to take the chance and invest in herself by trialing for the national team—it has worked out quite well and she will be an interesting player to watch in Australia.
For scoring, Bangladesh has young forward Alpi Akter, who helped Bangladesh to the SAFF Under-19 Women’s Championship final, falling to India 4-0 in Nepal on February 7, 2026. She led the tournament with seven goals in four games and won the Most Valuable Player award.
India
India made a major coaching signing in former Costa Rican WNT and Monterrey Rayadas of Liga MX Femenil head coach Amelia Valverde in January of 2026, just ahead of the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup in Australia. She took her native Costa Rica to two WWC’s in 2015 and 2023 and then won two Mexican League titles in Monterrey.
Valverde led the Costa Rican senior side to the Gold Medal at the 2017 Central American Games, won a silver medal at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, and bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games. She was named the CONCACAF Female Coach of the Year in 2016. At the club level in Mexico in 2024, Monterrey won the 2023-24 Clausura title and the Apertura title immediately after to start the 2024-25 season; Valverde was awarded the Mexican Balón de Oro as the best coach in the Liga MX Femenil by the Mexican Football Federation.
Valverde, one of the most-respected women’s teams coaches within CONCACAF and arguably the world, was only 23 when she started coaching. At age 28, she coached Costa Rica to the 2015 WWC in Canada and in total from 2015-2023. She joined India during its preseason training camp in Turkey only 44 days before India’s first match against Vietnam in Perth.
She talked to the All India Football Federation about taking the job with India on such short notice ahead of AFC Qualifying for the next Women’s World Cup: “First of all, I believe that when we talk about motivation in terms of a challenge, it is very important to understand what it means to have a chance to qualify for a World Cup with a team in a new confederation. It is a great responsibility. India have been doing important things in women’s football, and it has been more than 20 years since we last qualified for the Asian Cup (they were hosts at the last edition in 2022 but had to withdraw due to a COVID outbreak after one game, a 0-0 tie with Iran).
"Now we have this opportunity to reach the World Cup for the first time. When I was contacted (about this job), I was very detail-oriented and wanted to inform myself as much as possible, because it is a different challenge from what I am used to. But I like challenges, and this is definitely one. I believe I can contribute a lot to this team, and at the same time, they will teach me as well. That makes me very happy.”
She talked about her footballing philosophy and strategy that she planned to implement for India’s women’s side: “First of all, I like my teams to be very brave. I like teams that are united and supportive, both on and off the pitch, both defensively and offensively. No one is above the team. All players are important, whether they are on the pitch or not. I also like teams that are aggressive going forward. This particular team has players of great quality, especially when attacking at speed, and we want to exploit that. We want to be a very organised and compact team, and when we recover the ball or have possession, we want to attack with intensity.”
She added, given the short time that she has with the team ahead of traveling to Australia: “In this case, we are in a race against time, as people say. We have to focus on today, on the energy, and on strengthening everything that already exists within the team. We want to raise the team’s intensity and improve them physically. We do have time to work on that. If we focus too much on whether the time is short or long, we might not give this process the energy it truly deserves.”
She has faced Asian teams at past WWCs and talked about what India needs to do to be successful: “The first key is to have faith in the team’s identity and in the players. It is a very quick team, and it can become even quicker in attack. Concentration will be crucial. I have played against Asian teams like Philippines, Japan, and China. These are very consistent teams. To counter them, we must be equally organized and clearly identified in our style. Mentally, we must be very strong. Matches in these tournaments at such a high level are usually very tough and tight. Any moment can decide a game, so we must stay focused.”
Valverde’s signing is very interesting and she certainly brings vast technical, tactical and team-building expertise to India. If India can qualify directly for WWC 2027, that will be a tremendous achievement and she will be in demand afterwards for the biggest national team and club jobs in the world. If they make the Intercontinental Playoffs, I think she will have the team prepared to do very well. The big question for AIFF and Valverde herself is, if the team doesn’t make the next Women’s World Cup, will she stay with India? You would hope that the AIFF would build a team around her for 2031, but again, she will be in demand coaching-wise, no matter what happens in Australia this month.
In Turkey, the Blue Tigresses played a number of friendlies against international club teams—Turkey is a popular location for a number of clubs’ pre-season training camps, particularly from Eastern Europe. India played Ukraine’s FC Metalist 1925 (0-2 loss) on January 18 while a game against Antalya Akra Spor Kulübü of Turkey on January 21 was cancelled. India then defeated Switzerland's FC Schlieren (2-1 win) in a closed-door friendly match on January 24 at the Emirhan Sport Center in Manavgat, Türkiye. Forward Anju Tamang (30) scored within the first 20 minutes and Grace Dangmei (30), both of Sribhumi of India, scored with nine minutes left. Dangmei played in the 2022-23 season with Sevinch Qarshi in Uzbekistan and won the league and Cup double that season.
India then tied Russia’s WFC Spartak Moscow 0-0 draw on January 30 followed by a 1-0 defeat of Germany’s Hertha BSC Frauen of Germany on February 2 as Grace Dangmei again scored the winner eight minutes before half-time. India then bested Zvezda-2005 Perm 2-0 on February 4—who finished runner’s up in the 2008-09 UEFA Women’s Cup, which became the Women’s Champions League—by a 7-1 score to Duisburg of Germany. Against Zvezda-2005, Anju Tamang scored the early goal in the ninth minute, before Lynda Kom Serto (20) of Sethu in Madurai netted late, in the 89th minute, to secure the win for India. India lost 1-0 to FK Csíkszereda Miercurea Ciuc of Romania on February 7.
The Blue Tigresses moved onto Perth on February 10, where they will have more friendlies scheduled ahead of their first match at the Asian Cup against Vietnam on March 4. I think the strategy of playing a number of friendlies against different types of women’s club teams is a good strategy to make up for the experience gap with other national teams in tournament. Valverde’s leadership will certainly enhance the team and the AIFF should be credited for their investment in this extensive international training expedition and for bringing on Valverde.
In other coaching news for India, former Italian international player Pamela Conti (43) was appointed as Indian U-17 women’s national team head coach in late January of 2026. She immediately joined the U-17’s for a training camp in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, where the Young Tigresses were preparing for the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026, scheduled to start in April. Conti’s first official assignment was the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) U-19 Women’s Championship 2026, where India lost to Bangladesh in the final (see more above).
As a player, Conti won 90 caps and scored 30 times for Italy’s WNT; she played at the 2005 and 2009 UEFA European Women’s Championship. She played for clubs across Europe, including Italy (Sassari Torres), Spain (Levante and Espanyol), Sweden (Eskilstuna United) and Russia (Energy Voronezh and Zorky Krasnogorsk), as well as in the United States (Buffalo Flash of the old W-League).
Conti began her coaching career in 2018 with the Atlético de Madrid’s Women’s U-16 team. In 2019, she took charge of the Venezuelan senior and U-20 women’s national teams, where she remained for five years. Conti guided Venezuela to their second-ever FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualification in 2024. The South American nation came close to qualifying for their first FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2022, but narrowly missed out on a play-off tournament berth on penalties. In 2021, India played against Venezuela in the Torneio Internacional de Manaus de Futebol Feminino in Brazil, but Conti was absent from the team due to a positive COVID-19 test. Venezuela won that match 2-1 over India.
Iran
Iran’s WNT head coach Marzieh Jafari called 27 players to the camp that started on February 13 at the National Football Center. The names of the 27 invited players are as follows, sorted by their club team:
Four-time reigning league champions Bam Khatoon (who have won seven titles in the last eight seasons and 11 in total since the founding of the women’s league in 2007-08), had nine players on the national team: goalkeeper Raha Yazdani, defenders Fatemeh Amina Borazjani, Shahnaz Jafarizadeh and Atefeh Ramezanizadeh, midfielders Fatemeh Pasandideh and Mona Hammoudi, and forwards Sara Didar, Rojin Tamarian and Maryam Dini.
Gol Gohar Sirjan had four players called into the squad: midfielders Zahra Sarbali and Shabnam Behesht and forwards Afsaneh Chatarnoor and Golnoush Khosravi.
Four were also with Sangin Machin Ista: defenders Fatemeh Makhdoumi and Atefeh Imani and midfielders Fatemeh Shaban and Mohaddeseh Zolfi.
Malavan of Bandar-e-Anzali in Iran sent two players: defender Behnaz Taherkhani and midfielder Kowsar Anbari.
Sangin Machine Eista also had two players called into the national side: goalkeeper Zahra Khajavi and midfielder and WNT captain Zahra Ghanbari.
Persepolis also had two players sent to the WNT: defenders Sana Sadeghi and Zahra Ahmadizadeh.
Sepahan had one call-up: midfielder Zahra Pourheydar.
Palayesh Gaz Ilam also had one call-up: forward Somayeh Esmaeili
Shahrdari Sirjan’s one call-up was defender Melika Motevalli.
The one player on the roster who plays outside of Iran is 32 year old goalkeeper Maryam Yektai, who plays in Turkey with Amed of Diyarbakir. She first went to Turkey in 2021 to play with Besiktas and has since played with Fatih Karagumruk and then returned to Besiktas before moving to Amed for the 2024-25 season.
Japan
On February 12, Japan’s women’s national team head coach Nils Nielsen, a native of Greenland/Denmark, named 26 players to his preliminary squad for Australia. The squad is heavily-based on players abroad, with 16 in England, three in the U.S. (all with NWSL teams), two in Germany and one in Spain, while four play at home in Japan.
Korea Republic
Shin Sang-woo, head coach of Korea Republic women’s national team, named a 26 player squad for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup, including eight based with overseas clubs, including five from North America: Jung Min-young (Ottawa Rapid FC), Choo Hyo-joo (Ottawa Rapid FC), Kang Chae-rim (Montreal Rose FC), Casey Eugene Fair (Angel City FC) and Shin Na-young (Brooklyn FC), while three are based in Europe: Kim Shin-ji (Rangers WFC), Park Su-jeong (AC Milan), and Jeon Yoo-kyung (Molde FK); in total there are three playing in Canada’s Northern Super League, two in the United States (one in the NWSL and one in the USL Super League), and one each in Scotland, Italy and Norway.
From the local league comes Rookie of the Year Woo Seo-bin (Seoul City Hall), who led the 2025 WK League (which was its 17th season) in assists as her team finished second in the table and then lost the championship final to Hwacheon KSPO—who also topped the regular season table—3-2, 4-3—7-5 on aggregate. Lee Min-hwa (Hwacheon KSPO) and Kim Min-ji (Seoul City Hall) were both selected to the league’s Best 11 last season.
Since taking office in October 2024, coach Shin Sang-woo has lowered the average age of the national team from 28.9 years old at the time of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup (when the team was coached by English native Colin Bell) to 26.4 years old based on the above roster. Winning the EAFF E-1 Championship held in July last year for the first time in 20 years, topping China, Japan and Chinese Taipei in the final group round held in Hwaesong and Suwon, Korea, is a boost to their 2026 campaign.
The KFA said last month in a news release that, commencing in 2026: “In addition to the FIFA World Cup finals, the association will also support business class for all athletes in the AFC official tournament finals, Asian Games, and Olympic finals when traveling long distances by air for a certain period of time. In addition, we plan to establish a sustainable support system standard and continue communication with the athletes so that they can perform well with the Taegeuk mark with pride.”
The use of the term “harmony” above by the Korea Republic’s media office seemed a tad tone-deaf considering that in January of this year, the WNT players threatened to boycott friendlies ahead of the Women’s Asian Cup for “discriminatory conditions,” fostered by the federation. The Korea Professional Footballer’s Association supported the national team players and cited a number of examples of poor or discriminatory behavior on national team duty, including long journeys by bus or flying economy class, staying at hotels that were “inadequate” and far away from training centers and requiring players to pay for certain things themselves, including airport transfers and training kit.”
This is not exactly a new issue as during the 2012 Olympics—the men’s U-23 players flew business class while the women’s team, who happened to be Women’s World Cup Champions from the year before at the time flew coach (or steerage class, as some refer to it). This is also a growing issue for women’s footballers around the world, particular for those playing in Europe or America and having long flights to join their national sides in Africa, Asia, South America or Oceania.
On a similar topic, interestingly the Asian Football Confederation did not increase the Women’s Asian Cup team prize money from four years ago—remaining at $1.8 million in total—with the AFC at the bottom among the world’s continental competition’s prize money on offer; 2022 was also the first season that the AFC gave prize money to the women’s teams. It is a bad look for the 50th anniversary edition of the AFC women’s tournament in Australia, which is older than the UEFA EUROs and WAFCON in Africa and all the other confederation’s tournaments. It is quite troubling that all of the other Confederations pay more to teams competing in their women’s finals:
2025 Women’s European Championships (Women’s EURO) in Switzerland had US$47.2 million in prize money.
2024 Women’s African Cup of Nations in Morocco increased its payout to US$3.475 million.
The first edition of the 2024 CONCACAFW Gold Cup in the U.S. allocated US$3.7 million.
The 2025 Copa America Feminina in Colombia. awarded US$2 million.
A spokesperson for the AFC argued: “The AFC acknowledges the importance of increasing the prize money of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup participating teams", while noting that the prize money for the upcoming edition in Australia remains consistent with previous editions (they should have said “edition” as they have only paid prize money in one previous edition and, prior to 2022, no prize money was on offer.
The AFC spokesperson further dug a hole for the Confederation when he continued: “The current strategy focuses on long-term development of the women’s game across Asia. Further, it is to be noted that the prize fund of all competitions is closely tied to commercial revenues such as broadcasting and sponsorship. At this stage, the revenue generated by the AFC Women’s Asian Cup is still growing, and we aim to reach a sustainable point where prize money increases are backed by commercial success. We are actively working to close this gap by enhancing the visibility and marketability of the women’s game.”
Some sponsors could be interested in contributing to the players portion of prize money—we have seen it elsewhere. The AFC aim to close the gap—but how and when? The tournament this month in Australia is expected to be the biggest Women’s Asian Cup ever in terms of fan attendance and media attention, building off the fantastic crowds and support just three years ago in the country for the Women’s World Cup. The AFC’s coffers should be heavily boosted, certainly compared to past events in India and Jordan where the women’s game is still developing. However, the players that contribute to that anticipated expense this time will see no advantage and it’s not fair.
Shoko Tsuji, secretary general of the international players association FIFPRO Asia/Oceania felt that the status quo was wrong: “The AFC’s statement talks about long-term development and ‘future editions’ … but Australia is hosting this tournament now, and a world-class event can’t ask players to wait for future improvements, particularly when other regions are investing at a significant pace.”
The AFC is so far off of gender equity within its own confederation between the men’s tournament US ($14.8 million, along with a participation fee of $200,000 for each team) and the women’s ($1.8 million) that it is beyond belief. Comparing to their own Women’s Champions League across the continent—currently in its second season—which pays out US$1.5million just to the winner and runner-up is also revealing.
Every other team was given US$100,000 for making the group stage, with more awarded the further they progressed. Perhaps the AFC and their spokesperson should consider putting a ceiling on any future men’s teams payments at $14.8 million until they can make significant increases for the Women’s Asian Cup teams, perhaps in the 75%-100% range (to $3.2 million-$3.6 million) would be a start but why not establish equal payouts as for the men, as the U.S. Soccer Federation does? The women’s game is growing nicely throughout Asia and moves like these would further boost it, rather than pushing increased payouts into the future—based on contingencies.
Philippines
Australian native head coach Mark Torcaso brought in 32 players for a camp on February 4, 2026. Fifteen were brought in from their diaspora in the U.S.—13 with colleges and two with DC Power of the USL Super League—and two each from clubs in Australia (the Ninja A-League), Norway and in Canada (with Northern Super League sides), and one each based in England and Thailand while three are unattached. Six are with clubs in Philippines.
One of the unattached is American-born goalkeeper Kiara Fontanilla (25), who also qualified to play internationally with Mexico and the U.S.; she played at smaller schools Northwestern Oklahoma State University, California State University at Fullerton, Eastern Oregon University and finally at Westcliff University in Irvine, California. After a spell in Australia she played in Philippines with Manila Digger and local power Kaya-Iloio; she joined FC Pyunik of Armenia this summer for the UEFA WCL (see more on the interesting Pyunik side in our column last year: The Week in Women's Football: Ava Piazza exclusive; A-League teams & Matildas focus - TribalFootball.com).
Another unattached player in American-born left-back Sofia Wunsch (27), who played collegiately at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and was last with Stallion Laguna in Philippines; she has over 50 caps with the WNT (with three goals) as of the end of December 2025.
The third unattached player is Hawaian-born midfielder Jourdyn Curran, who played at Seattle University.
Philippines is continuing their approach to recruit heavily from their diaspora, primarily in the U.S., which took the team to their first WWC Finals in 2023; they recently held a camp recently for younger players in Southern California, holding a five-day Philippine U-17 Women’s National Football Team’s U.S. Talent Identification Camp, held from January 30 to February 3 at the Great Park Sports Complex in Irvine, California.
The camp drew more than 150 North America-based Filipina players and formed a central component of the team’s preparations for the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup in Suzhou, China, from April 30 to May 17, 2026. The camp was run by Nahuel “Naz” Arrarte, the recently appointed head coach of Philippines U-17 WNT. Arrarte, a native of Argentina who played and has coached in Australia for years, is currently an assistant coach for the Western Sydney Wanderers men’s side. He has previously been an assistant coach for Australia’s and Philippines senior women’s national teams.
The draw for the AFC U-17 tournament was held at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 12. In Group A, host nation China will face Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Group B includes Australia, Japan, India and Lebanon while Group C is comprised of Philippines, Korea DPR, Korea Republic and Chinese Taipei. The top four sides qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 WWC Finals in Morocco next fall.
A press release from the Philippines Football Federation explained: “A key feature of the training camp in California was the implementation of a structured, standards-based identification framework designed to evaluate and monitor Filipina players across multiple age groups. The camp welcomed participants born 2009 to 2011, aligning with the national (senior) Philippine team’s long-term development strategy and the Federation’s efforts to establish an aligned pathway from youth to senior levels."
"The initiative reflects PFF’s push toward a consistent, sustainable model for identifying and tracking talent, especially among the global Filipino diaspora. Rather than operating as a selection event, the camp served as a longitudinal monitoring platform that acknowledges the non-linear nature of youth development. Feedback and evaluations form part of an ongoing body of work guiding future invitations and development plans.
"The participants traveled from across North America—including Washington D.C., Texas, Alabama, New York, Seattle, Vancouver, and Toronto. The turnout underscored the expanding reach of the Filipina football community and the growing pool of youth players competing at high developmental standards abroad.”
Selu Lozano, Manager of the Philippine Women’s U-17 National Team said: “Seeing the depth of talent in the U.S. highlights the scale of what’s available to us as a nation. Programs like this connect homegrown players in the Philippines with Filipina talent abroad through one global platform, creating real pathways across all levels of development,” Over the course of the camp, participants completed ten on-field sessions led by Arrarte and Lozano. The program was organized with the support of local coordinators, volunteer coaches, families, and community partners who contributed to logistics, facilities, and player welfare.
Well done to the Philippines for building on their successful diaspora recruiting efforts while they continue to see more home-based players on the team, with their league becoming more competitive and a draw for their diaspora and other players throughout Asia.
Vietnam
Mai Duc Chung named a preliminary 28-player squad in mid-January, with all the players called from club teams in Vietnam., with nine from Than KSVN, eight from Hanoi WFC, six from Ho Chi Minh City 1WFC and four from Thai Nguyen T&T and one with Phong Phu Ha Nam.
It will be interesting to see if those nations who predominately use home-based players, particularly Bangladesh, Iran and Vietnam, will actively start scouting and recruiting their diaspora—which Philippines has modeled at a high level in recent years—ahead of the Women’s World Cup Finals or the Intercontinental Playoffs in Brazil in 2027.
Haiti names Pia Sundhage as head coach of their WNT
The Haitian Football Federation hired Pia Sundhage (66), the 2012 FIFA Women’s World Coach of the Year, as the women’s team head coach; she finishing second with the U.S. at the 2011 World Cup in Germany in a penalty kick defeat to Japan in the Final. Sundhage, a native of Sweden, coached Switzerland to the quarterfinals stage at home in last summer’s Women EURO, which excited local fans, but was let go at the end of the tournament. She has also coached Sweden’s and Brazil’s WNT.
I have a lot of respect for Pia Sundhage, have known her for many years, and have followed Haiti’s WNT closely since Shek Borkowski—the Polish-American who built a powerhouse women’s team at FC Indiana based out of tiny Goshen at a time when there were few women’s professional teams in the country—took over the side in 2012 and built around a generation of young talent that is now playing for clubs in Europe and America. I have to admit that I never expected a top coaching talent like Pia to take over Haiti, but it should be good for both her and the Federation and boosts their chances of Les Grenadières’ making their second consecutive WWC.
A media friend of mine who covers CONCACAF men’s and women’s football teams felt that the departure of their previous head coach, 28-year-old head coach Malou Quignett of France—who posted a 4-1-5 (W-D-L) record with Haiti in his first ever senior coaching position—during WWC qualifying, might be a bridge to far for Haiti. He too was very surprised by Sundhage’s signing, but certainly felt that the signing takes Haiti into a much better coaching situation than under just another unknown French coach, which has been the trend of a while.
If only the Haitian WNT could play matches at home, but the difficult political situation and conflict does not allow that. A Federation Haitienne de Football (FHF) press release said: “This appointment is fully aligned with the Federation’s strategic plan to structure and professionalize Haitian football. It reflects a clear commitment: to raise technical standards, strengthen a structure of performance, and build sustainable foundations for future generations.”
FHF also stated that Sundhage’s mandate includes “mentoring and training national coaches; sharing methodologies and technical tools; gradually integrating local expertise within the staff; and contributing to the sustainable structuring of the National Technical Directorate.”
The Haitian Times reported that her contract as head coach is for one year, with an option to renew. According to a source close to the FHF: “Qualification for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil would automatically trigger an extension of her deal.”
Les Grenadières lost all three of their matches at the 2023 WWC, Denmark 2-0, China 1-0, and England 1-0, but impressed many as a tough side for their top tier opponents. Their players are now in demand with clubs around the world. During this current WWC cycle, Haiti defeated Belize 9-0 in December of 2025. Sundhage will lead the side against improving Surinam on March 3, who are replicating the formula of leveraging imports from Netherlands on the women’s side, which was so successful for the men’s side which is the playoffs for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey