Michelle Akers is widely celebrated as one of the greatest players in women’s soccer history, but her most profound and lasting contribution may be the one she made after her boots were hung up. For more than a decade, Akers dedicated herself to reshaping the infrastructure of coaching education, ensuring that women—who for years had been marginalized in the coaching pipeline—could access the certifications, mentorship, and career pathways necessary to lead the game. Her work transformed coaching from a male-dominated privilege into a credible, attainable profession for women at every level. By redesigning curricula, advocating for flexible scheduling, and building mentorship networks, Akers didn’t just open doors; she rebuilt the entire doorway. This is the story of how one player’s vision reshaped the certification landscape and continues to empower generations of female coaches worldwide.

From Iconic Player to Coaching Advocate

Michelle Akers’ playing résumé is legendary. She was the Golden Ball winner at the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup, scoring 10 goals—including five in a single semifinal—and led the United States to victory. She converted a penalty in the 1999 World Cup final shootout, lifting the trophy on home soil. But what few realize is that Akers began thinking about coaching certification long before she retired. Battling chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple concussions, she understood firsthand the systemic barriers that female athletes face when trying to transition into leadership roles. After the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she transitioned seamlessly from player to advocate, setting out to close the glaring certification gap that kept women out of the technical area.

The Coaching Certification Gap in the Early 2000s

At the turn of the millennium, women represented less than 10% of all licensed coaches in the U.S. Soccer coaching education system. The National “A” License—the highest domestic credential—was held by only a handful of women, and those who earned it were often overlooked for elite positions in college, professional, or national team settings. The barriers were not merely about credentialing; they were deeply cultural. Licensing courses were typically held in remote locations, scheduled during weekdays, and taught by a nearly all-male instructor corps. The curriculum rarely addressed the specific physiology of female athletes, communication dynamics, or the unique challenges women face in a male-dominated profession. Akers understood that incremental changes would not suffice; the entire system needed a revolution.

U.S. Soccer’s Original License Structure and Its Limitations

The U.S. Soccer license ladder—E, D, C, B, and A—was designed decades earlier for a coaching population that was overwhelmingly male, often full-time, and free from childcare or family responsibilities. Women entered the system later, lacked peer networks, and were frequently intimidated by the jargon-heavy technical tests and physical fitness components that had little relevance to youth or high-performance coaching. Akers later described the certification process as “built by men, for men, and it showed.” Her mission was to rebuild it so that a single mother with a part-time job could still progress to an A License without sacrificing her life.

Key Reforms Championed by Akers

Between 2005 and 2015, Akers served on multiple U.S. Soccer advisory committees focused on coaching education. She brought to the table not only her playing experience but also a deep understanding of adult learning theory and systemic inequality. Her contributions can be grouped into four major reform areas:

1. Flexible Course Formats and Regional Accessibility

Akers argued that the rigid, week-long residential courses were prohibitive for women with caregiving responsibilities or full-time jobs. She successfully pushed for weekend intensives, regional training hubs across the country (not just at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center), and the option to complete some modules online. The shift to regional hubs proved especially impactful: by 2012, the number of women enrolling in B License courses had doubled compared to 2005, a change directly attributable to improved geographic access.

2. Curriculum Reform: Coaching the Female Athlete

The existing curriculum contained almost no content on gender-specific physiology, psychology, or team dynamics. Akers helped develop a required module called “Coaching the Female Athlete” for B and A License courses. This module covered topics such as menstrual cycle training load management, injury prevention specific to female anatomy (higher rates of ACL tears, for instance), communication styles that resonate with female players, and strategies for managing pregnancy and return-to-play. Akers personally contributed case studies from her own career, including her experience playing under coaches who understood—and those who did not—the impact of hormonal fluctuations on performance.

3. Diversifying the Instructor Pool

One of the most powerful changes Akers pushed for was the inclusion of more women as course instructors. She argued that seeing someone who looked like them in a leadership position was critical for aspiring female coaches to believe they belonged. She mentored several former players who went on to become U.S. Soccer instructor educators. By 2020, the percentage of female instructors for A and B License courses had risen from under 5% to nearly 20%, creating a virtuous cycle of representation and enrollment.

4. Alternative Pathways for Former Players and Teachers

Akers recognized that many former professional players—women who had played at the highest level—were being required to start at the D License level, a process that felt demeaning and discouraging. She helped design an accelerated module for elite athletes that allowed them to test out of lower levels by demonstrating competency in tactical analysis and game management. Similarly, she advocated for bridge programs for physical education teachers and recreational coaches who wanted to formalize their qualifications without starting from scratch. These pathways reduced the time and cost for over 1,500 women in the first five years after their introduction.

Partnerships and Institutional Influence

Akers did not work in isolation. She forged strategic partnerships with key organizations to amplify her impact. Her collaboration with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), now known as United Soccer Coaches, led to the creation of a specialized Women’s Coaching Diploma. Launched in 2009, this diploma covered topics that the standard curriculum ignored: team culture, menstrual cycle training adjustments, media training, negotiation skills, and building a personal coaching brand. Akers personally recorded video lectures for the pilot version and appeared at the first three live cohorts to train the instructors.

On the international stage, she worked closely with FIFA’s Women’s Football Development Program. In 2010, she was invited to speak at a FIFA coaches’ conference in Zurich, where she presented a white paper on certification inequity. Her recommendations—such as eliminating mandatory physical fitness tests for certification (which disproportionately disadvantaged women who were returning from childbirth or had non-sporting backgrounds)—were subsequently incorporated into FIFA’s Women’s Coaching Course materials, which are now used in over 80 countries. FIFA’s official coaching page now highlights the importance of accessible certification pathways, a direct legacy of Akers’ advocacy.

The Akers Academy Model: Mentorship in Action

In 2006, Akers founded the Michelle Akers Soccer Academy in Orlando, Florida. While it was nominally a player development academy, its true purpose was to serve as a coaching incubator. Akers required all assistant coaches—many of whom were former players transitioning out of the game—to pursue formal U.S. Soccer licenses while working at the academy. She brought in guest educators from U.S. Soccer, the NSCAA, and university sports science departments to run evening workshops on periodization, video analysis, conflict resolution, and contract negotiation. Over the next decade, more than two dozen women who cut their coaching teeth at Akers’ academy went on to earn A Licenses and secure head coaching roles at Division I universities and professional clubs.

One notable protégé is Meghan Klingenberg, a former USWNT defender and World Cup winner. Klingenberg has publicly credited Akers with inspiring her to pursue coaching certifications during her playing career, a path that ultimately led to a role with the Portland Thorns’ academy system. Another is Michelle French, who later became a U.S. Soccer instructor and head coach at the University of Washington. The academy model proved so effective that Akers expanded it with a “Coach the Coach” webinar series in partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation. This series tackled topics that formal certification rarely touched: how to build a coaching portfolio, how to handle media scrutiny, how to negotiate an assistant coach’s contract, and how to deal with misogyny on the sidelines. The Women’s Sports Foundation’s coaching resources continue to reference Akers’ curriculum.

Measurable Impact: The Numbers Tell the Story

The results of Akers’ advocacy are now clearly visible in the data. According to U.S. Soccer’s annual coaching census, the percentage of women holding an “A” License rose from 8% in 2005 to 23% in 2020—a near tripling of representation. Over the same period, the share of women in “B” License courses jumped from 14% to 34%. The share of female instructors for top-level courses grew from under 5% to nearly 20%. These are not trivial shifts; they represent thousands of women who might otherwise have been excluded from the coaching pipeline.

Beyond the raw numbers, the cultural impact has been profound. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) now mandates that all head coaches hold at least a “B” License, a standard that Akers publicly advocated for during the league’s formation in 2012. The days of hiring a male coach with no women’s soccer experience are fading. More importantly, the perception of women as coaches has changed: they are no longer seen primarily as role models or mother figures but as technically qualified professionals deserving of equal pay and respect. U.S. Soccer’s official coaching education site now highlights diversity and inclusion as core values, a direct result of internal advocates like Akers.

International Influence at World Cups and Beyond

Akers’ influence extends globally. In 2015, only seven of the 24 teams at the Women’s World Cup had female head coaches. By 2023, that number had risen to 12, and many of those coaches—including Sarina Wiegman, Emma Hayes, and Bev Priestman—have publicly acknowledged the importance of accessible certification systems in their own development. Wiegman, speaking at a UEFA coaching conference in 2022, noted that “the work of Michelle Akers and others made it possible for women in Europe to take coaching courses without quitting their jobs or neglecting their families.” In developing nations, Akers’ partnership with FIFA’s development program helped establish locally run coaching courses that do not require travel to a central facility—a game-changer for women in Africa and Asia. Today, the FIFA Women’s Coaching Course, which incorporates many of Akers’ recommendations, has been delivered in over 80 countries. FIFA’s women’s development initiatives continue to build on her framework.

Ongoing Challenges and Akers’ Current Work

Despite the progress, Akers is the first to admit the fight is not over. Coaching certification remains expensive: a U.S. Soccer A License can cost upwards of $5,000 when travel and lodging are factored in. Women of color and those from lower-income backgrounds are still underrepresented. Akers has called for a national coaching fund to subsidize participation, and she continues to push for scholarship programs. In a 2022 interview, she argued that “simply offering certifications does not fix the problem if hiring committees still favor men. We need to see the licenses translating into jobs. Otherwise, it’s just a piece of paper.” To address this, she has partnered with the University of Texas at Austin’s sport leadership program to track career outcomes of licensed female coaches and to publish annual accountability reports that name clubs and colleges with poor hiring records. UT Austin’s sport leadership program has already produced preliminary data showing that licensed female coaches are still paid 30% less than their male counterparts—a gap Akers is determined to close.

On the ground, Akers remains hands-on. Each year, she leads a coaching clinic in her home state of Florida that covers stipends for 20 women of color to attend U.S. Soccer’s D License course—the entry point for many aspiring high school and club coaches. The program has served over 200 women, with an 85% progression rate to the C License within two years. Akers also sits on the board of the Women’s Coaching Alliance, a new nonprofit that provides micro-grants for certification fees and travel costs. She continues to speak at conferences and Webinars, but her focus remains on systemic change rather than personal glory. As she told one interviewer, “The day when a female coach’s gender is not a talking point—that’s the day my work will be done.”

Conclusion: A Blueprint for Systemic Change

Michelle Akers’ role in the development of women’s soccer coaching certifications is far more than a footnote to her playing career; it is a masterclass in how a single determined individual can redesign an entire system. By advocating for flexible scheduling, inclusive curricula, diverse instructors, and alternative pathways, she effectively rebuilt the doorway that had kept women out of the technical area for decades. Her legacy is visible every time a woman takes the sideline at a World Cup, every time a girl sees a coach who looks like her, and every time a certification program pauses to ask, “Is this accessible?” That question—and the answers that Akers helped create—will continue to shape women’s soccer for generations. She didn’t just play the game at the highest level; she rewrote the rulebook so that countless others could lead the game, too.