Phil Neville to leave England manager role before Euros after tournament postponed over coronavirus

The decision about Neville’s future has largely come about because of coronavirus and its impact on the women’s football calendar

Luke Brown
Friday 24 April 2020 09:47 BST
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Phil Neville will step down as England women’s manager next summer.

The FA have confirmed in a statement that Neville, who was appointed in January 2018, will leave his role at the end of his current contract in the summer of 2021.

His departure means he will not lead the team at the Women’s Euros on home soil in 2022, which was originally scheduled for 2021 until the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, the FA’s director of women’s football, Sue Campbell said: “In light of the impact of current global events on the sporting calendar and in the best interests of the England Women’s team, both parties were in agreement that our shared priority was to ensure the Lionesses have continuity of coaching going into the home EURO and looking towards the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

“Once football returns after this difficult period, Phil will continue his work with the Lionesses on the further development of his squad. I will support him fully with that important task whilst moving forward with the crucial succession planning process.”

Phil Neville is to step down as England manager 

Neville added: “As a result of the changes to the proposed tournament scheduling we will now be working to plan for a revised match calendar once it is safe and appropriate to do so. I am looking forward to getting back to work with the team as soon as possible. We have a fantastic squad of players and there is plenty to work on as we look to progress as a team going into 2021.”

Neville, a former England international, enjoyed a successful start to his tenure and led the Lionesses to a first SheBelieves Cup success as well as an encouraging fourth-place finish at the World Cup in 2019.

But since last year’s quarter-final victory over Norway they have lost seven of 11 matches. And in March they failed to retain their SheBelieves title.

Neville had been due to lead Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, ahead of Euro 2021 in England. However, the coronavirus pandemic saw both of those events rescheduled, with the FA keen on having the same person in charge of the team throughout the run of majour tournaments.

Campbell added: “We will now discuss next steps with the British Olympic Association and the home nations with regard to Team GB Football and we are not in a position to make any further comment at this time.”

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