Dutchman Robert de Pauw takes over from Carla Ward after three seasons in charge at the club.

De Pauw started his coaching career while he was just 13 years old, on the advice of his father who was the sporting director at SCE Nijmegen. De Pauw helped coach the club’s seven and eight-year-olds.

He went onto coach the Under-15s, Under-19s and Under-23s at NEC Nijmegen and in 2017 got his first head coaching job, taking his first steps in women’s football as manager of Achilles’ 29.

After a single season, he took over as the manager of the Netherlands’ U17 national team, leading them to the final of the UEFA Women’s Euros in 2019 where they lost on penalties to Germany.

De Pauw then returned to club football, leading FC Twente to the double in 2021/22, winning the Dutch league and cup.

He immediately joined Bayer Leverkusen in Germany and after two seasons there, will now take charge at Villa.