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This past Wednesday, this new ownership entity announced the appointment of Van Ginhoven, England's managerial lead under Sarina Wiegman, as their director of global women’s football operations. This new multi-club ownership body, with Bay FC of San Francisco as its first club among its holdings, has a history in recruiting from the Football Association.

The hiring in recent months of Cossington, the prominent previous technical director at the Football Association, as top executive acted as a clear statement from the collective. She is deeply familiar with female football inside out and now she has assembled an executive team with a deep understanding of women’s football history and packed with professional background.

She becomes the third core member of Wiegman's coaching team to leave in the current year, following the chief executive exiting prior to the European Championships and assistant coach, Arjan Veurink, leaving to become head manager of Holland, but her decision arrived more quickly.

Leaving has been a jarring experience, yet “I’d taken my decision to exit the national setup some time back”, Van Ginhoven states. “The terms for four years, exactly like Arjan and Sarina had. Upon their extension, I had expressed I wasn't sure about renewing myself. I had grown accustomed to the whole idea that following the tournament I wouldn’t be part of England any more.”

The tournament turned into a deeply felt tournament because of this. “I remember very clearly, vividly, speaking with Wiegman when I disclosed of my choice and then we said: ‘Our ultimate aspiration, how amazing would it be that we win the Euros?’ Generally, dreams don't aspirations are realized every day yet, absolutely incredibly, it actually happened.”

Dressed in orange, Van Ginhoven experiences split allegiances post her tenure in England, where she was part of claiming two Euros in a row and worked within Wiegman’s staff when the Netherlands won the 2017 Euros.

“The national team will always hold an emotional connection for me. Therefore, it’s going to be tough, especially with the knowledge that the players are due to arrive for the international camp in the near future,” she comments. “When England plays the Netherlands, where do my loyalties lie? Right now I'm in Dutch colors, though tomorrow English white.”

You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. With a compact team such as ours, that’s easily done.

Bay FC was not initially considered as the strategic expert determined that it was time for a change, but the opportunity arose perfectly. Cossington started to bring people in and mutual beliefs were key.

“Virtually from the start we got together we had that click moment,” says she. “You’re immediately on the same level. We have spoken at length about different things around how you grow the game and our shared vision for the right approach.”

Cossington and Van Ginhoven are not the only figures to relocate from well-known positions in the European game for a blank sheet of paper in the United States. Atlético Madrid’s women’s technical director, González, has been announced as the group's worldwide sports director.

“I felt strongly drawn in the deep faith regarding the strength of women's football,” González says. “I'm familiar with Cossington for many years; when I used to work at Fifa, she was the technical director of England, and it’s easy to make these decisions knowing you are going to be surrounded by people who really inspire you.”

The extensive expertise within their group makes them unique, says she, for the collective among a number fresh club ownership ventures to launch in recent years. “It's a standout feature of our approach. Various methods are valid, but we are firm in our belief in incorporating football expertise,” she adds. “Each of us have progressed in female football, for most of our lives.”

As outlined on their site, the ambition of Bay Collective is to support and lead an advanced and lasting environment for women's football clubs, based on what works to meet the varied requirements of female athletes. Succeeding in this, with unified understanding, with no need to make the case for why you would take certain actions, is hugely liberating.

“I equate it to moving from a large ship to a fast boat,” says she. “You're journeying across unmapped territories – that’s a Dutch saying, not sure how it comes across – and it's necessary to trust your individual understanding and experience for making correct choices. Adjusting course and speeding up is possible in a speedboat. Within a compact team such as ours, it's straightforward to accomplish.”

González notes: “In this role, we start with a blank slate to build upon. Personally, what we do involves shaping the sport on a wider scale and that blank slate enables you to pursue any direction you choose, following the sport's regulations. That’s the beauty of our collective project.”

The aspirations are significant, the executives are saying the things athletes and supporters are eager to hear and it will be fascinating to follow the development of this organization, the team and other teams that may join.

As a preview of upcoming developments, what factors are essential in a high-performance setting? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve