FA Confirm Phil Neville Departure As England Women’s Manager

Neville was appointed as manager of the Three Lionesses in January 2018, replacing Mark Sampson, and guided them to the SheBelieves Cup last year before finishing fourth at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

England’s performances have declined since the tournament in France, losing seven of their last eleven games and failing to defend the SheBelieves Cup last month.

Neville was set to lead the Lionesses into next summer’s UEFA Women’s Championship but the tournament has been rescheduled to 2022 after the Coronavirus pandemic wreaked the footballing calendar.

It is not yet clear whether the 43-year-old will take charge of Team Great Britain at the rescheduled Olympic Games next summer as planned.

"In light of the impact of current global events on the sporting calendar and in the best interests of the England Women's team, both parties were in agreement that our shared priority was to ensure the Lionesses have continuity of coaching going into the home Euro and looking towards the 2023 FIFA World Cup," Sue Campbell, the FA's director of women's football, said in a statement.

"Once football returns after this difficult period, Phil will continue his work with the Lionesses on the further development of his squad. I will support him fully with that important task while moving forward with the crucial succession planning process.

"We will now discuss next steps with the British Olympic Association and the home nations with regard to Team GB football, and we are not in a position to make any further comment at this time."

Neville added: "As a result of the changes to the proposed tournament scheduling, we will now be working to plan for a revised match calendar once it is safe and appropriate to do so.

"I am looking forward to getting back to work with the team as soon as possible. We have a fantastic squad of players and there is plenty to work on as we look to progress as a team going into 2021."