Freya Coombe will leave Gotham FC at the end of the NWSL season. (Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports)
In these difficult financial times, there’s nothing like knowing that you will have a job next year.
Take, for example, the case of Freya Coombe, who is coach of NJ/NY Gotham FC.
On Monday, Angel City FC announced that Coombe will coach the team in its 2022 expansion season.
No, Coombe isn’t leaving Gotham FC just yet. She will coach the team through the rest of the National Women’s Soccer League season.
“I think everyone has been watching the story of Angel City unfold and I have been very impressed with the direction of the club and the core values upon which it is built,” Coombe said in a statement.
“When the opportunity to connect with [sporting director] Eni [Aluko] and the team arose, I knew I had to explore it. Leaving NJ/NY Gotham was not an easy decision, but the chance to join ACFC as the head coach of a new team was something I could not pass up.”
Aluko also announced the appointment of Robert Udberg as assistant head coach and performance director.
Coombe has played with and coached at Reading where she was director of coaching for its center of excellence and acted as the club’s women’s development team manager. In 2014, she moved to the United States in 2014 to work as director of coaching for Everton America CT before moving to New York Soccer Club in 2018 as director of scouting and development academy coach.
She became interim head coach at Gotham FC in 2019 and that position became permanent last year as she directed the side to the 2020 Challenge Cup semifinal and the 2021 championship game.
Under Coombe, Gotham FC is is fifth place with a 5-3-6 mark and 21 points.
