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Midweek, the Bay Collective group announced the appointment of Anja van Ginhoven, England's general manager working with Sarina Wiegman, taking on the role of director of global women’s football operations. The freshly established multi-team ownership group, which includes San Francisco’s Bay FC as the first club among its holdings, has prior experience in hiring individuals from the Football Association.

The hiring in recent months of Kay Cossington, the prominent previous technical director at the Football Association, to the CEO role acted as a demonstration of ambition by the collective. She knows the women's game inside out and now she has assembled an executive team with profound insight of the evolution of the women's game and filled with practical experience.

She is the third central staffer of the manager's inner circle to depart this year, with Cossington exiting prior to the Euros and assistant coach, Arjan Veurink, stepping down to take up the role of head coach of the Netherlands, but Van Ginhoven's choice came sooner.

Leaving has been a shock to the system, but “I’d taken my decision to leave the FA well in advance”, Van Ginhoven explains. “The terms lasting four years, similar to Arjan and Sarina did. Upon their extension, I previously indicated I was uncertain whether I would. I had accepted the whole idea that after the European Championship I would no longer be involved with the national team.”

The Euros became a deeply felt competition because of this. “I remember very clearly, vividly, having a conversation with the head coach where I basically told her about my decision and we then remarked: ‘We share a single dream, what a triumph it would represent that we win the Euros?’ In reality, it’s not like aspirations are realized every day but, against the odds, this one did.”

Dressed in orange, Van Ginhoven has divided loyalties post her tenure with the English team, where she was part of claiming two Euros in a row and served on the manager's team during the Dutch victory the 2017 Euros.

“England will always hold a special place in my heart. Therefore, it will be challenging, especially with the knowledge that the team will be arriving for the upcoming fixtures soon,” she comments. “When England plays the Netherlands, which side do I back? I’m wearing orange at the moment, but tomorrow I'll be in white.”

A speedboat allows for rapid direction changes. With a compact team such as ours, it's effortless to accomplish.

Bay FC was not initially considered as the strategic expert concluded that a new chapter was needed, but the pieces fell into place at the right time. Cossington began assembling the team and common principles proved essential.

“Essentially upon meeting we connected we felt immediate synergy,” states Van Ginhoven. “There was immediate understanding. We have spoken at length on various topics related to developing women's football and the methods we believe are correct.”

The two leaders are among several to relocate from well-known positions in the European game for a fresh start in the United States. The Spanish club's women’s technical director, Patricia González, has been unveiled as the group's new global sporting director.

“I was highly interested in the deep faith of the power of women's football,” she says. “I've been acquainted with Kay Cossington for many years; back when I was with Fifa, she was the technical director of England, and it’s easy to make these decisions knowing you are going to be surrounded by individuals who motivate you.”

The extensive expertise in their team makes them unique, notes Van Ginhoven, as Bay Collective among a number recent multi-team projects to launch in recent years. “This is a key differentiator for us. Different approaches are acceptable, however we strongly feel in incorporating football expertise,” she says. “The entire leadership have been on a journey within the women's game, probably for the best part of our lives.”

As their website states, the ambition of Bay Collective is to advocate and innovate a progressive and sustainable ecosystem within female football clubs, built on proven methods for the diverse needs of women. Succeeding in this, with unified understanding, with no need to make the case for specific initiatives, is incredibly freeing.

“I compare it with transitioning from a tanker to a speedboat,” says she. “You’re basically driving across unmapped territories – that’s a Dutch saying, I don’t know if it translates – and you just need to rely on your personal insight and skills for making correct choices. You can pivot and accelerate rapidly using a speedboat. In a lean group like this, it's straightforward to accomplish.”

She notes: “Here, we have a completely white sheet of paper to build upon. In my view, what we do is about influencing the game more extensively and that clean start enables you to pursue any direction you choose, adhering to football's guidelines. That is the advantage of our joint endeavor.”

The ambition is high, the management are saying the things players and fans want to hear and it will be fascinating to monitor the progress of Bay Collective, the club and other teams that may join.

To get a sense of future plans, what are the key aspects in a high-performance setting? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve