Hope Powell

Hope Patricia Powell (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach and former player who is the Women's Technical Director at Birmingham City.

As a player, Powell won 66 caps for England, mainly as an attacking midfielder, scoring 35 goals.

England's best results, reaching the final of the UEFA Women's Championship in 1984 and 2009, both featured Powell.

She was a player at the former and coach at the latter.

As well as managing the England senior team, Powell oversaw the whole structure from Under-15s to the Under-23s, a coach mentoring scheme and The FA's National Player Development Centre at Loughborough University.

A two-year spell with Friends of Fulham culminated in an appearance at the 1989 Women's FA Cup final.

Powell scored twice and is reported to have played exceptionally well, but her team were beaten 3–2 by Leasowe Pacific.

The match was played at Old Trafford but attracted only 914 spectators, although it was also broadcast on Channel 4.

In the aftermath of that defeat, Powell returned to Millwall Lionesses, where she became the team's all-time record goalscorer.

In 1991, they reached the Women's FA Cup final and beat Doncaster Belles 1–0 at Prenton Park to win the Cup for the first time.

Millwall Lionesses also won the Greater London League to qualify for the inaugural National Division in the 1991–92 season.

The team broke up in the aftermath of that success and Powell moved with teammate Sue Law to form a new club Bromley Borough.

Beginning in the South East Counties League, the club quickly progressed through the divisions.

After adding England player Brenda Sempare in 1992, Bromley Borough won all 16 matches in the South East Counties League Division One, scoring 142 goals in the process.

The team also reached the semi-final of the Women's FA Cup, where they lost 2–0 to treble-winning Arsenal.

In the 1993–94 season, Bromley Borough won the National League Division One South by ten points, securing promotion into the top flight of English women's football.

Despite this, they were handed a chastening 10–1 defeat by Doncaster Belles in the fifth round of the Women's FA Women's Cup.

For the 1994–95 season, the club entered a partnership with Croydon and enlisted Powell's England teammate Debbie Bampton as manager.

She made her England debut at the age of 16, and went on to play in the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, England's first World Cup appearance.

She was also vice-captain of her country.

Powell was one of six Croydon players who represented England at the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup.

With Powell as captain and Bampton as player-manager, Croydon won a domestic double in 1995–96.

In the FA Women's Cup final against Liverpool at The Den, Powell equalised Karen Burke's opening goal then scored from the spot as Croydon won a penalty shootout.

A farcical end of season fixture backlog saw Croydon play five games in ten days, winning four and drawing one to erode Doncaster Belles' 13-point lead, and win the National Premier Division on goal difference.

At club level, Powell played in four FA Women's Cup finals and captained Croydon to a League and Cup double in 1996.

In the 1997–98 season, Croydon lost both domestic Cup finals to Arsenal.

The Football Association (FA) appointed Powell as England's first-ever full-time national coach in 1998.

She led the team at the 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013 editions of the UEFA Women's Championship.

After failing to qualify in 2003, she guided England to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2007 and 2011.

In 2003, Powell became the first woman to achieve the UEFA Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification available.

In May 2009, Powell's administration implemented central contracts, to help players focus on full-time training and playing, without having to fit it around full-time employment.

Initially, 17 players signed contracts.

She also managed the Great Britain women's Olympic football team during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Brighton & Hove Albion from 2017 to 2022.

Powell made newspaper headlines when FA rules banned her from representing her school team beyond the age of 11.

The teacher running the team had appealed against the ban, not, according to Powell, because he was interested in gender equality, but because of a pragmatic desire to field his strongest team.

Powell moved on to play club football for Millwall Lionesses when she reached 11.

At Millwall Lionesses, Powell came under the influence of coach Alan May.

A senior manager with British Telecom, May taught Powell people management skills and remained a major inspiration throughout her career, including when she moved into coaching herself.

May was employed as Powell's head scout when she became England manager.

As the club grew to be one of the most successful in England, Powell left for London rivals Friends of Fulham.