Vera Pauw
Vera Pauw (; born 18 January 1963) is a Dutch football coach and former player. She currently manages the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She has managed several national women's football teams, including Scotland, Netherlands, Russia and South Africa. Playing career. As a child, Pauw played football with her two brothers on the streets. When she was 13 years old SV Bredorodes started a women's team which Pauw joined, and at the age of 18 she moved to VSV Vreeswijk to play at a higher level. Soon she arrived at the Netherlands women's  national football team and from 1983 to 1998 played 89 international matches, but never qualified for the final tournament of a World Cup or European Championship. She did become the first female Dutch player to play professionally outside the country, when she signed for Italian club CF Modena in 1988. After two years in Italy, she returned to the Netherlands and played for Puck Deventer and SV Saestum. Coaching career. In September 1998, Pauw was appointed coach and technical director of Scotland, at the same time her husband Bert van Lingen was working as assistant manager of Glasgow Rangers. She  departed in October 2004 to take up a similar role with the Netherlands and led her home country to the semi-final of UEFA Women's Euro 2009. She was controversially fired in the first half of 2010. In April 2011, she succeeded Igor Shalimov as coach of the Russia on an interim basis. In September 2011 she was replaced by Farid Benstiti. After that she was appointed as a technical director of Russian team. In March 2014, she became the South Africa coach, replacing Josepha Mkhonza who became a selector for the national team. She said at the time  I am excited to become part of this ambitious project in which we can develop our girls into international stars. SAFA is aiming high with women’s football. Pauw explained that she had previously had a great deal of involvement with the South Africa setup due to the frequency of friendlies with the Dutch while she was managing them. She resigned as South Africa head coach after leading the nation to the 2016 Olympics. On 27 November 2017 Pauw was hired as the new head coach of the Houston Dash. On 20 September 2018 Pauw departed from the National Women 's Soccer League club. On 4 September 2019, Pauw was appointed as the new manager of the Ireland team. Despite Ireland's narrow failure to achieve a play-off position from UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group I, Pauw agreed a two-year contract extension in February 2021. Personal life. Pauw is married to her former national team coach Bert van Lingen.