Manchester United Women have confirmed the signing of Eva Olid as the new head coach. She has a contract until June 2028, with the option to extend for another year.
Olid will replace Marc Skinner, who left the role on Monday by mutual consent — a month before the start of the Women’s Super League season.
She said: “The opportunity to become head coach of Manchester United Women is a dream come true.
“The club has outstanding infrastructure and everything we need to achieve our ambitions. We have an excellent training facility, an Academy that is already producing players capable of performing in a competitive first team and an exceptional group of support staff.
“There is already so much talent within our squad and I am excited to work with the players to support them to fulfil their immense potential.
“I am joining Manchester United at a really exciting time. There is a clear alignment in our shared vision for long-term success. I cannot wait to begin preparing a team that will make our incredible supporters proud.”
While Olid is untested in the WSL, she previously coached Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Women’s Premier League. She joined the Scottish side in 2021, and later signed a new two-year contract in August ‘23, where she was described as having “revolutionised the club and achieved a record fourth-place finish”.
In 2024, Olid took Hearts to the final of the Scottish Women’s Cup; however, they lost 2-0 to Rangers. The 40-year-old opted to leave Edinburgh in the summer when her contract ended. The biggest achievement for Hearts came under her tenure, when she led them to their first-ever title in the Scottish Women’s Premier League.
Matt Johnson, director of women’s football at Manchester United, said: “Eva is an outstanding coach with an incredible determination to succeed. Her remarkable achievements at Heart of Midlothian showcased her ability to maximise the potential of individual players whilst also implementing an exciting style of football. We are delighted that she will now bring those qualities to Manchester United.
“Eva is the perfect coach to lead us into an exciting new era. She shares our commitment to developing exciting homegrown and young players, a tradition deeply embedded in our club’s history and culture, as well as improving established senior internationals, both of which form an integral part of our vision for long-term, sustainable success.”
Olid’s coaching style has been described as “very intriguing, in that she has looked to combine different aspects of traditional tactics from Spain, the USA and Scotland (where she has coached during her career) to come up with her own identity”
The style of her coaching is evident in Hearts. When Olid started out her coaching tenure with Hearts they weren’t the main players in Scotland; however, when she left in May, they were at the top of the pile. The Catalan followed a full-frontal attacking approach, based around a 3-4-3 formation, where the goalkeeper was expected to play a key part as a fourth defender.
Hearts were the top scorers in the SWPL last season with 85 goals – only Rangers with 80 were the closest to them.
Olid also had a plan B. Having not managed to beat Glasgow City across her first four seasons, she purposefully went defensive in April’s match and secured a 1-0 win to go at the top of the table.
Former Hearts captain Georgia Hunter who switched to Ipswich this summer, had this to say about her former boss. “She’s a great manager, very, very good,” she told BBC Sport. “I learnt so much. The transition with all the players and [where] she took the club to is absolutely amazing.”
Man United clearly wants to develop their own youth, and so they want a coach who specialises in youth development and can improve individual players. They believe Olid meets those criteria.
The Reds will head to Spain next week for a pre-season camp and will play in a behind-closed-doors friendly against WSL 2 side Newcastle United. Olid’s side will then kick off the 26/27 WSL campaign against London City Lionesses on September 4th.
