The Football Coaching Life: Belinda Wilson

Belinda Wilson began her football journey in Byron Bay on the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia. She is currently enjoying autumn in Zurich, Switzerland where she is the Senior Technical Development Manager of Women’s Football with FIFA. A remarkable achievement for a young Australian Coach and Administrator.

After falling in love with the game on a family holiday to the UK, Belinda returned to Byron Bay where she was unable to play as she was a girl. At the time there were no girls’ competitions and girls weren’t allowed to play with boys. She was eventually allowed to play as a twelve-year-old in the senior women’s team.

Her coaching journey began as a teenager coaching her younger brother's team from U6 through to U13’s. Her talent was rewarded as coach of FFNC U14 girls’ representative team.

Belinda has worked as the Coach Education Manager for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and in full-time club roles in Sweden and Denmark. She returned to Australia to work with Football New South Wales, the New South Wales Institute of Sport and as Head Coach of the Australian U17 team, also winning a Premiership with Brisbane Roar in the W-League in 2013.

She was appointed as Head Coach of the Guam Women’s National Team and National Technical Director in 2017 and has also been on the FIFA Technical Panel for World Cups in 2007 and 2011 and the 2008 Olympic Games.

Belinda’s ‘One Piece of Wisdom’ is ‘Don’t be afraid to take a risk. Go out there and challenge yourself to see who you are as a person but also as a coach. Take the opportunities and take a risk, the worst that can happen is you end up where you started, and sometimes that’s not a bad place to be.’

Please join me in sharing Belinda Wilson’s Football Coaching Life.