The Football Association (FA) appointed Powell as England's first-ever full-time national coach in 1998. She led the team at the 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013 editions of the UEFA Women's Championship. After failing to qualify in 2003, she guided England to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2007 and 2011. England's best results, reaching the final of the UEFA Women's Championship in 1984 and 2009, both featured Powell. She was a player at the former and coach at the latter.