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Midweek, Bay Collective announced the recruitment of Anja van Ginhoven, the English national team's general manager under head coach Sarina Wiegman, to serve as their overseer of worldwide women's football activities. This freshly established multi-team ownership group, which includes San Francisco’s Bay FC as the initial addition among its holdings, has previously engaged in hiring individuals from the national football governing body.

The selection this year of Cossington, the prominent former FA technical director, as the chief executive acted as a demonstration of ambition from the collective. She is deeply familiar with female football comprehensively and now she has assembled a management group with a deep understanding of the history of women's football and laden with practical experience.

She marks the third central staffer of Wiegman's coaching team to leave recently, following Cossington exiting prior to Euro 2025 and assistant coach, Arjan Veurink, moving on to take up the role of head manager of Holland, but her move was made earlier.

Stepping away was a shock to the system, but “I’d taken my decision to depart the Football Association some time back”, Van Ginhoven says. “The terms for four years, just as Arjan and Sarina did. When they renewed, I had already said I was uncertain about renewing myself. I had grown accustomed to the thought that post-Euros I would no longer be involved with the national team.”

The European Championship turned into a deeply felt competition as a result. “I remember very clearly, vividly, speaking with the head coach when I disclosed of my choice and we then remarked: ‘There’s just one dream, how incredible it would be that we win the Euros?’ Generally, dreams don't aspirations are realized frequently but, remarkably, ours came true.”

Sitting in an orange T-shirt, Van Ginhoven holds dual affections following her stint with the English team, during which she contributed to winning back-to-back European titles and was a part of the coaching setup when the Netherlands won in the 2017 European Championship.

“The English side retains a dear spot in my heart. So, it will be challenging, especially with the knowledge that the team are scheduled to come for national team duty soon,” she comments. “When England plays the Netherlands, which side do I back? I’m wearing orange at the moment, though tomorrow English white.”

A speedboat allows for rapid direction changes. In a small team like this, that’s easily done.

The club was not part of the equation as the organisational wizard was deciding it was time to move on, but the pieces fell into place perfectly. The chief executive began assembling the team and common principles were crucial.

“Almost from the very first moment we connected we experienced an instant connection,” says Van Ginhoven. “We were instantly aligned. We have spoken at length about different things around how you grow the game and our shared vision for the right approach.”

These executives are not alone to uproot themselves from prominent roles within European football for a fresh start across the Atlantic. Atlético Madrid’s women’s technical director, Patricia González, has been announced as Bay Collective’s worldwide sports director.

“I felt strongly drawn by the firm conviction of the power within the female sport,” she says. “I have known Kay Cossington for many years; back when I was with Fifa, she held the technical director role for England, and decisions like this come naturally when you know you are going to be surrounded by colleagues who drive you.”

The profound understanding among their staff makes them unique, says she, with Bay Collective one of several fresh club ownership ventures which have emerged lately. “It's a standout feature of our approach. It’s OK that people do things in different ways, however we strongly feel in incorporating football expertise,” she says. “Each of us have traveled a path within the women's game, probably for the best part of our lives.”

According to their online statement, the goal of Bay Collective is to champion and pioneer a progressive and sustainable ecosystem for women's football clubs, built on proven methods addressing the different demands of women. Achieving this, with unified understanding, with no need to make the case for why you would take certain actions, provides great freedom.

“I compare it with moving from a large ship to a fast boat,” remarks Van Ginhoven. “You're journeying through waters that there are no roadmaps for – a common Dutch expression, I don’t know if it translates – and it's necessary to trust your personal insight and skills to make the right decision. Adjusting course and speeding up is possible in a speedboat. In a lean group like this, it's straightforward to accomplish.”

She continues: “With this opportunity, we start with a blank slate to build upon. Personally, our mission involves shaping the sport on a wider scale and that white paper allows you to do any direction you choose, within the rules of the game. That is the advantage of what we are building together.”

Their goals are lofty, the management are saying the things the football community want to hear and it will be interesting to follow the development of the collective, the team and any clubs added to the portfolio.

To get a sense of future plans, which elements are crucial of a high-performance environment? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve