Football Ferns face crisis after Jitka Klimkova’s resignation and lack of direction from NZF - Bonnie Jansen

Coach Jitka Klimkova during a Football Ferns training session before the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup. Photo / Photosport

THREE KEY FACTS:

• Jitka Klimkova has resigned as the Football Ferns head coach, leaving her seven-year contract early.
• Since Tony Readings left his post in 2017, subsequent coaches also left their positions prematurely, with one being suspended due to player allegations about the environment and culture.
• The recent Fifa Women’s U20 World Cup had the worst results yet for New Zealand, reflecting broader issues in the direction of the women’s game.

Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Fever podcast, and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.

OPINION

Jitka Klimkova’s resignation as Football Ferns head coach underscores a troubling New Zealand Football (NZF) pattern: their repeated failures in the women’s game.

Since Tony Readings left his post in 2017, the subsequent coaches have fallen short and NZF has had to part ways with them prematurely.

• Andres Heraf (2017-18) was suspended during his term after players submitted letters to the coach with damning allegations about the environment and culture.
• While no personal issues that we know of arose during Tom Sermanni’s (2018-2021) tenure he still struggled to get the Ferns competing.
• Today, Klimkova (2021-24) leaves her excessive seven-year contract early after an investigation was launched into her less than a year after hosting a home Fifa Women’s World Cup.

The year 2023 was supposed to be the beginning of a new era for the Football Ferns.

Senior players were at their peak, a new wave of young talent was emerging, and they had the opportunity to host a major tournament.

The potential was immense, then NZF squandered it.

The issue began with an unprecedentedly lengthy coaching contract with seemingly no performance clauses for Klimkova that allowed the governing body too much time to fix issues that should have been addressed before the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Even at the youth level, the recent Fifa Women’s U20 World Cup produced the worst results yet for New Zealand.

This reflects a broader lack of direction in the women’s game. You need to look as far as only Australia — the success they’ve built since that World Cup, their women’s team being more popular than the men’s and proving they can compete with top teams.

The Matildas who reached the final four at the World Cup went on to sell out 14 consecutive home games.

While it might be a difficult ask of the Kiwi wāhine to achieve similar success, that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of striving for that.

After today’s announcement, the next steps should involve a complete overhaul — on and off the field.

NZF must define its vision for the women’s game and develop a strategic plan.

New Zealand can still make significant strides and nurture world-class female players by building more talent development programmes and finding more ways to integrate age-group girls with boys.

They must also make the most of professional women’s clubs like the Wellington Phoenix and the incoming Auckland FC.

If NZF doesn’t take decisive action now, it will be left behind as women’s football evolves rapidly worldwide, while Aotearoa remains stuck in the past.