San Diego Wave FC announced today that the club has signed head coach Casey Stoney to a multi-year contract extension. Under the new contract, the 2022 NWSL Coach of the Year is signed through the 2027 season with a mutual option for 2028.
“In two years with the Wave, Casey has established herself as not just one of the top coaches in the league but also on the global stage” San Diego Wave FC President Jill Ellis said. “When we brought Casey on board, we were confident that her exceptional leadership qualities, coupled with her extensive experience as both a player and coach at the highest levels, would make her the perfect fit for San Diego, and she has more than exceeded our high expectations. Her commitment and passion for winning, developing our young players, and her loyalty to this club and city speaks volumes to who she is as a coach and as a person.”
Stoney, 41, has led San Diego to unprecedented success in the first two seasons at the helm of Wave FC, becoming the only coach in league history to lead an NWSL expansion club to playoffs in its inaugural season. She followed that by leading the Wave to lift their first trophy – the 2023 NWSL Shield – in San Diego’s second season of play. The Shield is awarded annually to the club with the most points throughout the league’s nearly eight-month regular season.
Stoney owns a 21-10-13 record in the NWSL regular season, the most wins of any coach in that time span across the league. Stoney, one of the most accomplished defenders in English National Team history during her playing days, has also guided Wave FC to allow a league-low 43 goals across 2022 and 2023 and a league-leading nine clean sheets in 2023.
“I am very happy to extend my stay here in San Diego, a place my family and I call home,” said Stoney. “What we have been able to achieve as a club over the first two seasons is a testament to the investment of our ownership and the hard work of everyone involved. As a club, we have achieved in ways no other expansion team has ever done. We have won the NWSL Shield, broken records and have been supported by the most amazing fans. This is just the beginning, and I am fully committed to building and developing this team. I am proud to be a part of this club, in this city, and I will continue to give everything I have to bring even more success to this incredible community. LFG San Diego.”
Under her guidance, Stoney’s squad has earned several individual honors in each of the past two seasons. Naomi Girma won the 2022 NWSL Rookie of the Year award and back-to-back NWSL Defender of the Year honors in 2022 and 2023, while Kailen Sheridan took home the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year award in 2022, and club captain Alex Morgan won the NWSL Golden Boot (17 goals) in 2022 en route to Best XI honors, which Girma and Sheridan also received.
The Basildon, England native earned her UEFA A and Pro License after ending a distinguished playing career that saw her become one of the most decorated members of the England Women’s National Team. Stoney was named the first-ever head coach of Manchester United Women in 2018. She led Manchester United to 52 wins in 77 competitive matches and secured promotion with the 2018-19 Football Association Women’s Championship title.
Stoney made 130 appearances internationally for England, appearing in three FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics.
From 1999 to 2018, Stoney played for Arsenal, Charlton Athletic, Chelsea, Lincoln, Arsenal and Liverpool. A two-time FA International Player of the Year Award winner (2008, 2012), she won four Women’s FA Cup titles (2001, 2005, 2014, 2016), four FA Women’s Premier League Cup titles (2000, 2001, 2004, 2006) and three FA Women’s Community Shield victories (2000, 2001, 2004).
