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Midweek, Bay Collective announced the recruitment of Van Ginhoven, the English national team's managerial lead under Sarina Wiegman, to serve as their overseer of worldwide women's football activities. This new collective club ownership initiative, featuring San Francisco’s Bay FC as the first club among its holdings, has previously engaged in bringing in talent from the English FA.

The selection this year of Kay Cossington, the well-respected ex-technical director for the FA, to the CEO role was a signal of intent from Bay Collective. Cossington is deeply familiar with the women's game inside out and currently has put together a management group with profound insight of women’s football history and laden with experience.

Van Ginhoven marks the third central staffer of Wiegman's coaching team to exit in the current year, with Cossington leaving prior to the Euros and the assistant manager, Arjan Veurink, leaving to assume the position of manager of Holland, but her move was made earlier.

Moving on was a jarring experience, yet “I’d taken my decision to exit the national setup quite a long time ago”, she states. “I had a contract for four years, similar to the assistant and head coach did. As they re-signed, I previously indicated I didn’t know whether I would. I had grown accustomed to the thought that post-Euros I would no longer be involved with the national team.”

The Euros turned into a deeply felt tournament due to that. “I remember very clearly, vividly, having a conversation with Sarina where I basically told her regarding my plans and then we said: ‘We share a single dream, how amazing would it be that we win the Euros?’ In reality, it's rare that dreams come true frequently yet, absolutely incredibly, this one did.”

Wearing a Netherlands-colored shirt, Van Ginhoven experiences split allegiances after her time working in England, where she helped achieve securing consecutive European championships and served on the manager's team during the Dutch victory the 2017 Euros.

“The national team will forever have a special place in my heart. So, it’s going to be tough, particularly now knowing that the squad will be arriving for the upcoming fixtures in the near future,” she comments. “When England plays the Netherlands, where do my loyalties lie? Today I have on orange, though tomorrow English white.”

A speedboat allows for rapid direction changes. In a lean group like this one, that’s easily done.

The club was not part of the equation as the organisational wizard determined it was time to move on, but the opportunity arose at the right time. The chief executive began assembling the team and common principles were crucial.

“Virtually from the start we got together we had that click moment,” remarks she. “There was immediate understanding. We've discussed extensively on various topics around how you grow the game and the methods we believe are correct.”

The two leaders are not the only figures to make a move from well-known positions in Europe's football scene for a blank sheet of paper in the United States. Atlético Madrid’s women’s technical director, Patricia González, has been announced as the organization's worldwide sports director.

“I felt strongly drawn to that strong belief regarding the strength within the female sport,” González explains. “I've been acquainted with Kay Cossington for an extended period; back when I was with Fifa, she served as England's technical director, and decisions like this come naturally when you know you will have around you people who really inspire you.”

The extensive expertise among their staff makes them unique, notes she, for the collective among a number fresh club ownership ventures to launch lately. “This is a key differentiator for us. It’s OK that people do things in different ways, however we strongly feel in incorporating football expertise,” she adds. “All three of us have traveled a path in female football, for most of our lives.”

As their website states, the goal of Bay Collective is to advocate and innovate a forward-thinking and durable system of women’s football clubs, founded on effective practices addressing the different demands of women. Achieving this, with everyone on the same page, with no need to make the case regarding certain decisions, provides great freedom.

“I compare it with transitioning from a tanker to a speedboat,” says she. “You’re basically driving in uncharted waters – a common Dutch expression, I'm unsure if it translates well – and you must depend on your own knowledge and expertise to choose wisely. Adjusting course and speeding up is possible using a speedboat. In a lean group like this, that is simple to achieve.”

González adds: “In this role, we begin with a clean canvas to build upon. In my view, our work focuses on impacting football on a wider scale and that blank slate permits you to undertake anything you desire, adhering to football's guidelines. That is the advantage of what we are building together.”

Their goals are lofty, the executives are expressing sentiments players and fans want to hear and it will be fascinating to monitor the progress of this organization, the team and other teams that may join.

To get a sense of future plans, which elements are crucial for a top-level environment? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve