Manchester United Appoints Eva Olid as Head Coach of Women’s Team
Manchester United have handed the keys of their women’s team to Eva Olid, a coach whose football leaves little room for caution and even less for boredom.
The 40-year-old Spaniard arrives on a two-year deal, with an option for a further 12 months, stepping into the role vacated by Marc Skinner, who departed by mutual consent on Monday – barely a month before the Women’s Super League season begins.
From relative obscurity to the Manchester United job in five years. That is the scale of Olid’s rise.
From Edinburgh outsider to Edinburgh benchmark
When Olid walked into Hearts, she was a virtual unknown. When she walked out in May, they were the standard-bearers in Scotland.
Hearts have never been one of the traditional powerhouses of the Scottish women’s game. Under Olid, they muscled their way to the top of the Scottish Women’s Premier League, playing football that was anything but shy.
Last season they finished as SWPL top scorers with 85 goals. Only Rangers, with 80, came remotely close. The numbers tell you one thing. The way they got there tells you much more.
Olid built her side around a bold 3-4-3, demanding her goalkeeper operate almost as a fourth defender, comfortable with the ball and central to the build-up. It was a full-frontal approach that asked opponents a simple question: can you live with this tempo?
Hearts not only secured their first silverware under her, they also reached their first domestic final, only to fall to Rangers in the 2024 Scottish Cup. The defeat stung, but the journey there underlined how far she had dragged the club.
Former captain Georgia Hunter, who moved from Hearts to Ipswich this summer, hardly needed prompting when asked about her old manager. “She’s a great manager, very, very good,” she told BBC Sport. “I learnt so much. The transition with all the players and [where] she took the club to is absolutely amazing.”
A dream move – and a clear brief
Olid did not hide what this opportunity means.
“The opportunity to become head coach of Manchester United Women is a dream come true,” she said. “There is already so much talent within our squad and I am excited to work with the players to support them to fulfil their immense potential.”
Inside Old Trafford, the criteria for Skinner’s successor had been clearly drawn: a coach with a proven record of improving players, especially the young ones. Sources at the club had been consistent on that point.
Olid fits that profile. At Hearts she pushed through a stream of young talent, including the Husband twins, Erin and Jess, who both made their debuts at just 15. She has also spent time working with the Scotland women’s national team, broadening her tactical and developmental range.
“Eva is the perfect coach to lead us into an exciting new era – she shares our commitment to developing exciting homegrown and young players,” said Matt Johnson, United’s director of women’s football.
Those inside Scottish football were not shocked to see her land a job of this stature. BBC Sport Scotland’s Amy Canavan summed up the feeling: “We were convinced she had somewhere special to go. She 100% deserves this chance and is ready for it.”
Attack first, but not at any cost
Olid’s reputation has been built on aggressive, attacking football, yet her final months at Hearts showed she is no ideologue for its own sake.
Glasgow City had been a recurring problem. Across her first four seasons, Hearts could not beat them. So in April, with the title race on the line, Olid ripped up her usual script. She went defensive, tightened the spaces, and ground out a 1-0 win that sent Hearts top of the table.
That match did more than change a title race. It allowed Olid to leave on her own terms. She revealed after the game she had wanted to beat Glasgow City at least once before moving on. Job done.
That willingness to switch from expansive to pragmatic will matter in the WSL, where United will face a higher calibre of opponent every week than anything Hearts encountered in Scotland.
A step into the unknown – and into the spotlight
For all her success north of the border, Olid steps into something new now. She has never managed in the WSL, never led a side in European competition. The scrutiny, the weekly pressure, the noise around Manchester United – this is another level.
One of the most intriguing elements of this appointment is how little the wider English game truly knows about her. Inside Hearts, she was popular and respected. In Scotland, she has a clear track record. In England, she arrives as a fresh face with a bold CV and no safety net.
United, though, have nailed their colours to the mast. They want youth development. They want players improved week by week. They want a recognisable, progressive style, with more than a hint of Spanish influence in possession and pressing.
The club’s hierarchy moved quickly once Skinner left. Their recruitment process was already advanced, and Olid’s contract was signed within 24 hours of his departure. That speed speaks to a plan long in the making rather than a panicked reaction.
United’s frontline on alert
If Olid brings even a fraction of Hearts’ attacking output to Manchester, United’s forwards could be in for a prolific season.
Ella Toone, Lea Schüller and Elisabeth Terland will look at those 85 Hearts goals and see opportunity everywhere. A 3-4-3 that floods the final third, a goalkeeper encouraged to start attacks, and a coach who rarely settles for a narrow lead – it is an enticing prospect for any attacker.
Yet this is not simply about letting the handbrake off. United’s squad has been depleted over the summer and needs more than just a tactical tweak. It needs energy, clarity and belief.
Olid’s first task is stark: galvanise what she has, integrate the youth the club is so determined to promote, and make the whole thing coherent in time for the opener away to London City Lionesses on 4 September. That match, four weeks away on Friday, will offer the first real glimpse of what her Manchester United might look like.
Pressure, questions, and a restless fanbase
Skinner’s exit did not just create a vacancy. It reignited doubts over United’s ambition for their women’s team. Investment, direction, long-term planning – all have been questioned by a fanbase that wants more than polite progress.
Olid walks straight into that debate. The pressure is immediate, the expectation non-negotiable. Some of that comes with the badge; some of it is the product of recent frustration.
She will be judged on results, of course, but also on whether United look like a side moving forward with intent rather than treading water. Whether young players are trusted. Whether the football carries a clear identity.
For now, she has what she wanted: a chance at the highest level, at a club where everything she does will be amplified. The unknown quantity from Edinburgh now stands at the centre of one of the biggest stages in the women’s game.
How quickly she turns potential into power will define not just her tenure, but the direction of Manchester United Women for years to come.
