Lydia Bedford appointed as new England WU23s head coach

Lydia Bedford has been appointed England women’s under-23s head coach on a permanent basis.

Bedford returns to the FA following an accomplished coaching career within the elite game. She previously spent seven years working across the Young Lionesses age groups, leading the WU15s,

WU16s and WU17s, and playing a key role in the development of a number of players who have since progressed to senior international football.

A move into senior club football followed, as she took up the head coach position with Leicester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League and worked at Arsenal as an assistant coach. Bedford then made history as the first female head coach appointed at a Premier League club, leading Brentford’s MU18 side.

Most recently, she served as head coach of Calgary Wild in Canada’s Northern Super League, guiding the club through its inaugural season.

Bedford will take charge of the WU23s for the April international window and oversee the final fixtures of the 2025-26 season.

Under the interim guidance of WU19s head coach Lauren Smith, the Young Lionesses defeated France 1-0 away from home last week to clinch top spot in Group A of the European Competition and progress to the semi-finals in Spain.

England will now play the Netherlands on Monday 13 April (3pm GMT), before meeting either Sweden or Norway in the final or third-place play-off on Friday 17 April.

Gavin Step, women’s technical director at the FA, said: “I’m really pleased to welcome Lydia back to the FA to build on the excellent progress made within the WU23s programme in recent years. The under-23s represent a crucial stage in our pathway, serving as the bridge between development football and the senior team, while preparing our most talented young players to take the next step at international level.

“We are equally committed to strengthening the development of female coaches across the game, and Lydia’s appointment reflects the continued investment being made to create meaningful opportunities within our high-performance environment. I also want to thank Lauren for the excellent job she has done in charge of the team since the turn of the year and wish her all the best with qualification for the UEFA Women’s U19 EUROs in April, as well as the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September which we have already qualified for."

Bedford added: “I’m so excited to be rejoining the FA and becoming head coach of the WU23s is a huge honour.

"This is a really talented group of players with enormous potential, and I can’t wait to guide them through such an important stage of their journey and help them push towards the senior Lionesses.

"I'm equally excited to get the chance to support Sarina Wiegman in building a talent pathway that can hopefully deliver major tournament success for years to come.”

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