Premier League pioneer Lydia Bedford named Calgary Wild FC's first coach

It's another trailblazing achievement for a woman who already has several on her resume.

Lydia Bedford, whose outing with Brentford's under-18 side in England made her the first woman to hold a coaching position at an English Premier League club, will take on a new role in Calgary with Wild FC.

She'll be the Northern Super League (NSL) club's first coach when the league's inaugural season kicks off in April.

"I want to be renowned for what I achieve in the teams that I work with," Bedford said.

"We all know that Canadian soccer has been successful for a number of years ... the Canadian national team is really renowned for what the women have achieved. But this country has lacked a professional league and this is about having an opportunity to be part of building something new and special."

Bedford joins Calgary Wild FC, the city's first women's professional soccer club, after previous head coaching and assistant coaching stints at Leicester City Women and Arsenal Women and, most recently, Brentford men's under-18 team, where she had been since May 2023.

Her appointment in Calgary will be the first she's had in a senior head coaching position since Leicester. It's an opportunity she said will take her back to doing what she loves most.

"My heart is women's football and it always has been," Bedford said. 

"All of the players from here have had to leave and we don't want that to be the case in the future. So I think it's really exciting to be able to provide a product that allows young players in this country to really have the opportunity to develop and play in front of their fans and their home people."

The search for a coach went between and beyond Canada's borders, but according to Wild FC's board chair Deanna Zumwalt, Bedford presented an opportunity for the club to bring a different perspective of the game to both Calgary and Canada.

"We felt that it would add to the broader community," she said. "To bring in a different way of looking at things as well."

Bedford is the latest addition to the club after it signed several players, including Afghan-Canadian Farkhunda Muhtaj and three-time Olympian Meikayla Moore of New Zealand.

Calgary's Wild FC, one of six clubs taking part in the NSL's first season, will play home games at the 35,000-seat McMahon Stadium when the new FIFA pro turf is installed for the season.