Bev Priestman is an Olympic gold medallist and the best credentialed coach in the A-Leagues. As she prepares to lead Wellington Phoenix into the Ninja A-League season, the former Canada boss speaks to aleagues.com.au about why the club stand out from the rest and how she is bouncing back in 2025-26.
As Bev Priestman sits down for this interview, there is a distinct smile and twinkle in her eye. This is someone who is clearly happy in her new surroundings.
“It feels like a breath of fresh air,” the Englishwoman tells aleagues.com.au.
It is a significant quote from, not only a coach, but a human who has navigated treacherous waters of late.
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Coaching was the last thing on her mind. But the Olympic Games gold medallist has come through the other side with renewed energy and enthusiasm for the game thanks to Wellington Phoenix and her return to the dugout.
“The last thing on my mind was to return to football,” Priestman recalls. “I think I was very much in family and mental well-being, just getting through that first five months.
“Then it hit Christmas time. My wife got a job up here. We moved house, and I think that was the first time when I was starting to feel like I could be ready to return to the game again.
“It was very difficult, right? I love working with people. And so when you go from having a group of people that you’ve been with for four years, and you’ve had some unbelievable highs in that with those people, you go from that to being very, very isolated very quickly.
“Being a coach itself is a very lonely job, or it can be. And then you go and add that, it was a very tough time in my life. But what you also realise is that you are stronger than maybe what you ever think you are. You look back and you have reflections yourself. But I also think I’ll be a better human being, person, coach, leader, for it.”
Priestman wears the weight of the past, but it is that experience that has provided learning and a fresh appreciation for what she loves – football.
The former England assistant is back in her “happy place”.
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“100% I want to win,” she says. “I think that’s why people would say, ‘Well, why the Phoenix? Why not this? Why not that?’
“I think very quickly from the conversations that I did have, I could feel the ambition from the club. I also have a big passion for New Zealand because I spent quite a lot of my career here, so I want to bring that moment to this country, but also to this city, into this club.
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“So what is this season about? For me, I want to give it my all. I want to try and bring success to those who work with me and those around me, and probably to be honest, repay the club for getting me back into the game.
“So is it a redemption? I feel like I’m going to have to work twice as hard to earn it, whether it be the trust or whatever, because of what’s happened. Absolutely, I think you wear that a little bit. But for me, every day I’m just loving being back on the ground. I’m just feeling very grateful and to be back where I am.
“Love being at work. Love being on the pitch. And I really miss gameday coaching, it feels like the longest period I’ve ever had. My favourite date is game day. I think to get that every week, that’s going to be my happy place.
“I can’t wait for it.”
Priestman’s role with the Phoenix signifies a major coup, not only for Wellington but the A-Leagues.
The 39-year-old is “arguably the best credentialed coach” in A-Leagues history having guided Canada to a gold medal at the 2021 Olympics. Twice shortlisted for the Best FIFA Women’s Coach award, Priestman has coached at four FIFA Women’s World Cups, three Olympic Games and three Youth World Cups.
But her appointment by Wellington represents Priestman’s first senior head coaching role in club football.
“I’m obviously adapting to day-to-day football,” she says. “I actually love the energy that you get of being on the pitch everyday. You can have a bad session or a bad game, and you get to literally get back on the pitch and sort of put things right the next day. I also think I get my energy from being around people. So I think in the day to day world, you’re around your staff everyday. You’re around the players everyday, and that’s where I get a lot of energy.
“It’s been great to be back in the game, but also the adjustment of going into day to day football, and I’ve absolutely loved that. The Phoenix have some incredible facilities, and so every day I turn up to work like feeling super grateful.”
It is an interesting discussion – switching from international level to club level, and how it impacts a coach and their role and messaging.
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She adds: “I’m conscious that in international football, you have, let’s say 10 days together and it’s so intense, right? You have limited contact with your players, and so every minute matters, both on the pitch in a meeting room, one on ones. Everything is condensed, and you can’t waste a minute. I think I’ve brought the same level of standards and expectations of many of my staff, of the players, into this environment.
“I think what you very quickly learn is the standards are great, but I think one of the big things I’ve set as a target for this team is to start the league strong, but also finish the league strong. It’s something that this team hasn’t done particularly well when I look at the historical data, it’s something we’ve struggled with. So that comes down to a lot of management, energy management, all of the things.
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“That’s the bit I’m adapting to. You can want to squeeze everything out of every single day but if I’m not careful, both me, the players, my staff, will be burned out when it really matters. That is the biggest thing.
“It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint, and and so that’s the bit that I’m trying to get the flow of. That’s probably the biggest adjustment.”
Priestman is the headline act of an eye-catching evolution in Wellington.
The Phoenix have emerged as a Ninja A-League contender on the back of an off-season that has seen the club recruit foreign stars Lucia Leon, Ellie Walker, Tessel Middag and Sabitra Bhandari, while luring New Zealand young gun and academy graduate Macey Fraser back to Wellington.
“It speaks volumes to this club,” Priestman says. “It speaks to the A-League. The A-League’s been really good at, from my time being of international football, players have gone on to do great things from this league and maybe it doesn’t get the credit it deserves in that sense.”
She continues: “I think the fans should be really excited.
“You hear people talk about how they care about the women’s game. Their (Wellington) actions have definitely shown that from the get-go. I think any player involved in this club will absolutely feel equal, men and women, everything is equal, right? The facilities, the changing room, everything, and so I think that’s really taking the club seriously. I think any fan should be really proud to have this club and to represent this club and to cheer on this club.
“I don’t think it’s like that everywhere. The people we’ve got through the door are not only great footballers, but I think the biggest thing that struck me is we’ve got great human beings who all have different stories to share, or different journeys to get to this point.
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“When I did my opening meeting with the team, and you talk about setting goals and objectives, and you know, we’re not here to be mediocre, we are going to have to go and do something that’s never been done before. When you look in the eyes of the people in the room and they’re bright-eyed, and they seem really, really motivated, I’ve got every belief that you can win, you can lose. Things can go your way (or) they can’t. That’s football, but I think the way in which we try and go about it is the bit that the fans should be able to resonate with.
“Anybody who wears a Wellington Phoenix shirt, they are going to want it more than the opposition. They’re going to want to work harder than the opposition. And of course, we’ve got some great players, and hopefully we’ll play some good football, but it’s actually the hard work and the sacrifice. That’s the bit that the Wellingtonians love. We want to get them off the seat. We want to excite them.
“We want to go and do something that’s never been done before by this club or a New Zealand women’s professional team. We want to make this country get behind this team.”
It’s not only on the field where the Phoenix have invested heavily.
Wellington boast state-of-the-art facilities that set them apart from the rest, in the eyes of their new head coach.
“The facilities we have are just unbelievable and the best facilities I’ve been in and worked in,” she says.
“That is the first thing when you have a new player, I took some of the new players when they arrived through the dressing room, and they were blown away in terms of what they have as a club. That really stands out when you turn up to work every day.
“We can’t use travel as an excuse, right? The very easy thing to do is, oh, we’re the only team that travel internationally that often. But then you look at the recovery and things that we’ve got available to us, and all the things that help us with heat acclimatisation, they’ve taken care of every single aspect in that sense. It’s unbelievable.
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“What I do like about the club as well is they haven’t sprinted before they can run. Over a five-year period, they’ve done it over a time and but yeah, they’ve absolutely walked the walk with what they’ve invested. There’s more, right? They’ll build again next year, and they’ll add more, whether it be staff and things around the team, but I think they’ve done it in a way that’s really sustainable but also has enough to attract and retain some of the best players.”
