ANALYSIS – The CANWNT head coach, Casey Stoney, will be the next head coach of the national team. This hiring continues the trend of hiring managers from England, with two of the previous three managers also being English. However, this hiring is more like Jesse Marsch (before he got the CANMNT job) as Stoney has coached for the biggest clubs but has not coached a national team before.
Casey Stoney: The Next CANWNT Manager
Childhood
Casey Stoney was born in Basildon, England on May 13, 1982. Since Stoney was very young, she has always wanted to play soccer (the English would call football), as she played for Arsenal and Chelsea as a teenager. This is what she said about growing up in England according to The FA:
“I had quite a tough childhood at times,” she says. “There were a lot of struggles at home,” Casey would continue: “Football was the one place where I could go and feel free, and I could forget everything else that was going on.”
Casey Stoney’s father was the one who wanted Casey to continue playing soccer and not miss out on the opportunity as Casey said this:
As will be looked at later in this article, all those things her father said came true. Stoney not only was able to play for the national team, but she was also able to represent Great Britain in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.
England and Great Britain National Team Career (2000-17)
The most notable part of Stoney’s career was being part of the national team for 17 years. During that time, she made 130 appearances and scored six goals as a defender. Her most significant goal for the national team was scoring one of two goals for England in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification campaign against Ukraine and also scoring a beautiful goal against Croatia in the UEFA Euro 2013 qualification game (as seen above), which ended in a 2-1 win. She was also able to score as a member of the Great Britain national team, scoring the first of three goals against Cameron in the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
Her reputation as an English soccer player legend can be seen outside of England, as then president of the San Diego Wave, Jill Ellis, had this to say about Stoney after hiring her as head coach of the San Diego Wave (Source: NWSL Editor by the NWSL):
“Casey is one of the most decorated, distinguished and talented English players of all-time.”
The FA Director of Women’s Football, Sue Campbell, also had similar sentiments when talking about Stoney (Source: Women’s Competitions):
This was also shown off the pitch, as she was also captain of the English national women’s football team or the Lionesses. During her time with the national team, she was the UEFA Women’s Championship runner-up in 2009, and her team finished third in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which also involved knocking off hosts Canada in the quarterfinal round of the competition. Stoney also won the FA International Player of the Year Award in 2008 and in 2012.
Casey Stoney’s Manager Career
During her time as manager, she has managed two club teams at the highest level. In fact, with both Manchester United Women’s Football Club and the San Diego Wave FC, she was their first-ever head coach in club history.
Manchester United Women FC (2018-21)
Stoney was the first-ever head coach of Manchester United Women FC and excelled in her first year there. She was able to get the team promoted to the WSL in her first season as head coach. This is what Kevin Carpenter of the Busty Babe of SB Nation said about Stoney:
Her team also found some success in the WSL, making the top four of the WSL two times from 2019-21. In terms of individual honours while with the club, Stoney won the Women’s Super League Manager of the Month in two successive months in November and December 2020.
It all looked rosy to the public, however, behind the scenes, there was a problem with having adequate training facilities, which led to Stoney leaving the Manchester United Women team (Source: Suzanne Wrack of The Guardian).
San Diego Wave FC (2021-24)
Stoney was the first-ever head coach of the Wave in the NWSL. Despite being an expansion team, Stoney took San Diego to a semi-final appearance in both the 2022 and the 2023 NWSL seasons.
This was quite remarkable, considering how hard it is to win in the NWSL. In fact, in 2023, her team won the NWSL Shield. Then, in 2024, her team was able to win the Challenge Cup. Lastly, in terms of individual awards, she won the 2022 NWSL Coach of the Year award. The criteria of the nominees was done by “owners, general managers, coaches, players and media,” (Source: NWSL Editor of the NWSL). This shows the type of respect garnered by Stoney’s name. In that same NWSL article, this is what Stoney accomplished in her first year with San Diego:
Unfortunately, despite winning the 2024 NWSL Shield, the Wave struggled in the 2024 NWSL regular season, causing her to get fired.
What This Hiring Means for the CANWNT
READ MORE: 2024 CANWNT Year Review: So Close, and Yet, So Far
This is a big hire for the CANWNT and is very much reminiscent of Jesse Marsch getting hired with no prior national team experience as a head coach. However, what Stoney has is experience playing at the highest level with the English and British national teams as well as being a club player. She also has experience being a player-coach with Chelsea in 2009, which might help with the national team with Canada. Marsch had a lot of experience as a club player but only played two games for the USMNT. This is what the author of this article asked Stoney about how she can use her experience being in a national team player and captain with the CANWNT:
“And I learned a lot of how to lead in different ways, and how leadership affects different people, and how it’s not a one shoe fits all approach that people are people. Everyone comes from different backgrounds with different experiences. Everyone’s motivated by different things and learning about them. And as a leader, it’s my job to serve it’s my job to make sure that I’m at the back of the line, that I’m making sure that everybody I’m here to make people better. That’s my job, and I learned a lot of that in my leadership role at England.”
READ MORE: The Northern Super League is Born
Stoney also talked about the role of the Northern Super League/Super Ligue du Nord) will play for the Canadian women’s national team as talked about above. She seems onboard with the league and will probably create a good relationship with the NSL/SLN, which is likely key to the growth of the game in Canada.
She will also have lots of time to implement her ideas to the CANWNT, as there are no big competitions that has been confirmed for 2025.
Stoney also excelled as a club player, including winning the FA Women’s League Cup once, the Women’s FA Cup three times, the FA Women’s League in 2015, winning the FA Women’s Premier League National Division twice, as well as the Women’s FA Community Shield two times with Arsenal.
She also won with Charlton Athletic the 2004 Women’s FA Community Shield, the 2004-05 Women’s FA Cup, and two FA Women’s Premier League Cup titles.
Most of the questions answered can be found at the New CanWNT head coach CASEY STONEY gives 1st media conference (ft. Kevin Blue).
Photo Credit: CBC Olympics Facebook Page on January 11, 2025.
