Former Mainz 05 player Colin Bell has been appointed the new head coach of the women's national team, the FAI has announced.
Bell will begin the new role on Monday, February 13th and fills the vacancy left by Sue Ronan who stepped down after six years. The English native, who has been in Germany since 1982, is due to depart SC Sand in the Frauen Bundesliga shortly.
Following a playing career with FSV Mainz 05, Bell moved into coaching where he has worked in both the men’s and women’s game over the last three decades, learning from the likes of current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp and enjoying a lot of success.
In 2015, Bell guided FFC Frankfurt to glory in the UEFA Women’s Champions League – having previously won the DFB-Pokal der Frauen (German Women’s Cup) and brought the club back into the Champions League, as well as spending time at Bad Neuenahr – before moving on to Avaldsnes IL in Norway and back to Germany with SC Sand.
Currently 34th in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, the Ireland women’s senior team has yet to qualify for a major tournament and that challenge is something that attracted Bell to the job.
“I’m very proud to be given this opportunity to lead the Republic of Ireland women’s senior team and I regard it as a big honour,” said Bell.
“I will do my very best to help women’s football in Ireland continue to grow and to make it more attractive to young girls, who can have the dream of playing football at a high level.
“I want to help the women’s senior team to become role models for young girls to look up to and I want to instil the values of the FAI into this job as I aim to be as successful as I can be.
“It is a dream come true to be given the opportunity to become a national team coach and it is something during my 27 years coaching that I always wanted to be. Now, I’m looking forward to getting started.”
