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On Wednesday, the Bay Collective group announced the appointment of Van Ginhoven, the English national team's managerial lead under head coach Sarina Wiegman, taking on the role of overseer of worldwide women's football activities. The new collective club ownership initiative, which includes the San Francisco-based Bay FC as the inaugural team among its holdings, has a history in recruiting from the English FA.

The hiring earlier this year of Kay Cossington, the influential ex-technical director for the FA, to the CEO role served as a signal of intent by the collective. Cossington is deeply familiar with female football thoroughly and now has gathered a management group with profound insight of the history of women's football and laden with experience.

Van Ginhoven becomes the third key figure of Wiegman’s setup to depart in the current year, with Cossington departing prior to the European Championships and the assistant manager, Veurink, leaving to take up the role of head coach of the Netherlands, however her move came sooner.

Moving on has been a surprising shift, but “I had decided to leave the FA some time back”, Van Ginhoven says. “The terms covering four years, just as the assistant and head coach had. As they re-signed, I had expressed I was uncertain whether I would. I had grown accustomed to the thought that after the European Championship I would no longer be involved with the national team.”

The European Championship was a deeply felt competition because of this. “I recall distinctly, having a conversation with the head coach where I basically told her regarding my plans and then we said: ‘Our ultimate aspiration, how incredible it would be that we win the Euros?’ In life, it’s not like hopes materialize often however, absolutely incredibly, this one did.”

Sitting in an orange T-shirt, Van Ginhoven experiences split allegiances post her tenure with the English team, where she helped achieve winning back-to-back European titles and served on the coaching setup during the Dutch victory at Euro 2017.

“The national team retains a dear spot in my heart. Therefore, it will be difficult, especially with the knowledge that the team are due to arrive for the international camp shortly,” she notes. “Whenever the two nations face off, who do I support? I’m wearing orange at the moment, but tomorrow I'll be in white.”

You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. In a small team like this, that’s easily done.

The American side was not initially considered as the organisational wizard determined it was time to move on, however everything aligned at the right time. The chief executive initiated the recruitment and their shared values were key.

“Essentially upon meeting we connected we had that click moment,” says Van Ginhoven. “There was immediate understanding. Our conversations have been thorough on various topics related to developing women's football and the methods we believe are correct.”

These executives are not the only figures to relocate from high-profile jobs in Europe's football scene for an uncharted opportunity across the Atlantic. Atlético Madrid’s women’s technical director, Patricia González, has been introduced as the organization's new global sporting director.

“I was very attracted by the firm conviction in the potential of women's football,” González explains. “I'm familiar with Cossington for a long time; during my tenure at Fifa, she held the technical director role for England, and it’s easy to make these decisions knowing you are going to be surrounded by colleagues who drive you.”

The profound understanding within their group sets them apart, notes she, for the collective one of several fresh club ownership ventures to launch lately. “It's a standout feature of our approach. Various methods are valid, however we strongly feel in incorporating football expertise,” she says. “Each of us have traveled a path in female football, probably for the best part of our lives.”

As their website states, the ambition for the collective is to support and lead a progressive and sustainable ecosystem of women’s football clubs, built on proven methods to meet the varied requirements of female athletes. Succeeding in this, with unified understanding, with no need to make the case for specific initiatives, is hugely liberating.

“I equate it to going from a tanker to a speedboat,” states she. “You’re basically driving in uncharted waters – that’s a Dutch saying, I'm unsure if it translates well – 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. In a lean group like this, that’s easily done.”

González continues: “With this opportunity, we start with a blank slate to start with. Personally, our mission involves shaping the sport more extensively and that clean start enables you to pursue any direction you choose, following the sport's regulations. This is the appeal of what we are building together.”

Their goals are lofty, the management are expressing sentiments players and fans want to hear and it will be compelling to observe the evolution of this organization, Bay FC 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