Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Place of birth | England | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
Reading | |||
Managerial career | |||
2013–2014 | Reading Reserves | ||
2019–2021 | NJ/NY Gotham FC [lower-alpha 1] | ||
2022–2023 | Angel City FC | ||
2024– | Kansas City Current (assistant) | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Freya Coombe is an English football manager and former player who is an assistant coach for the Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). [1] She formerly managed NJ/NY Gotham FC and Angel City FC of the NWSL.
Coombe grew up in Buckinghamshire, England. [2] Alongside her early part-time football managing career, Coombe was also a full-time lecturer of sports sciences at Buckinghamshire New University. [3]
Coombe coached in various roles at Reading over a seven-year period, including managing the club's reserve team. [4] Coombe's players at Reading included a young Fran Kirby. [3]
Coombe then moved to the United States and coached youth soccer in the New York metropolitan area, [5] in part thanks to a reference from former Reading player Mikaela Howell then working at Everton America, a Connecticut-based youth affiliate of Everton F.C. [3]
In 2019, Coombe inquired at New Jersey–based Sky Blue FC of the National Women's Soccer League to observe the club as part of her development, and watched the team in July and August 2019. The club's head coach Denise Reddy was fired before Coombe's arrival, and goalkeeping coach Hugo Macedo was named the club's caretaker during Coombe's stint as an observer. [3] On 4 September 2019, Sky Blue FC named Coombe as its interim head coach. [4] [3]
The team removed her interim tag in December 2019. [4] The club later renamed to NJ/NY Gotham FC. The club's best result in an NWSL competition during Coombe's tenure was reaching the finals of the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup, where Gotham FC drew 1–1 against Portland Thorns FC after extra time and lost 5–6 in a penalty shootout. [6]
On 22 August 2021, NWSL expansion team Angel City FC named Coombe its first head coach, to begin play in the 2022 NWSL season. [7] After initially planning on managing Gotham FC for the remainder of the 2021 NWSL season, [8] Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch West announced on 24 August 2021 that the team and Coombe agreed that Coombe should resign on 29 August 2021. [9]
Coombe guided Angel City FC in its inaugural season to a 1–4–1 record and last-place West Division group finish in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. In the regular season, Angel City remained in contention for the NWSL Playoffs until the season's final round, but finished at eighth place on the table with a record of 8–9–5 and did not qualify. [10]
On June 15, 2023, Angel City FC announced that it had "parted ways" with Coombe the previous day. [11] A report by Meg Linehan in The Athletic published on June 14 claimed the team had fired her. Her firing followed a 2–6–3 start to the season, and Angel City were in 11th place of 12 teams at the time of her exit. [12]
Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
NJ/NY Gotham FC [lower-alpha 1] | 4 September 2019 | 29 August 2021 | 31 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 32 | 37 | −5 | 29.03 |
Angel City FC | 19 March 2022 | 14 June 2023 | 36 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 39 | 53 | −14 | 27.78 |
Career totals | 67 | 19 | 18 | 30 | 71 | 90 | −19 | 28.36 |
NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013, Sky Blue FC also played in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) from 2009 to 2011.
Sinead Louise Farrelly is a retired Irish professional footballer. Born and raised in the United States to an Irish father, she initially represented the country of birth at the youth international level before switching to play for the Republic of Ireland senior national team in 2023. She spent most of her professional career in the National Women's Soccer League. In 2011, she played for the Philadelphia Independence of the WPS and was a member of the United States women's national under-23 team. She was selected by the Philadelphia Independence as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2011 WPS Draft from University of Virginia. She was a Hermann Trophy semifinalist in 2009 and 2010.
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The 2021 NJ/NY Gotham FC season was the team's 12th season as a professional women's soccer team and their ninth season as a member of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. It is the first season following the club's change of name from Sky Blue FC, which it played under from 2007 to 2020.
The 2022 National Women's Soccer League season was the tenth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2009–2011) and the Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003), it was the 16th overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States. Twelve teams competed in the league, including two expansion teams, San Diego Wave FC and Angel City FC.
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