Eileen Gleeson is the Head of Women and Girls’ Football at the FAI, a position she was appointed to in January 2023.

Her remit is to lead the continued development and growth of football for all women and girls in Ireland, and to manage the surge in interest from qualification for a first ever major Championship at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer.

In addition to this position she took on the role as interim Head Coach of the national team after Vera Pauw’s departure. She has thrived in the position with a 100 percent record and promotion already assured to the top flight of the UEFA Nations League.

She was manager when the team drew a crowd of 36,000 for the game against Northern Ireland in September

Gleeson had previously served as Assistant Head coach to Vera Pauw in the early days of her tenure before taking a break from her day job as a Sports Officer in Dublin City Council to manager Glasgow City.

Gleeson enjoyed tremendous success in the SSE Airtricity Women’s National League by guiding Peamount United to League and Cup success, as well as a run to the last 32 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. She also brought UCD Waves to the FAI Women’s Cup Final. Aside from that she was Stephanie Roche’s manager when she scored ‘that goal’ and created a whirlwind of recognition when she posted the video that had been taken.

Along with her coaching and social media achievements, she has also completed an MSc in Coaching & Exercise Science.

See who else has been named on the list alongside Eileen Gleeson by clicking on the image below.

 

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See who else has been included so far on the list for 2023

This is the 11th edition of our Sport for Business listing of 50 Women of Influence in Irish Sport.

Read more about the list and nominate who you think should be a part of it in 2023.

We are proud to publish the list in partnership with AIG, an organisation that has pledged its commitment to equality in its partnerships with Gaelic Games, Tennis, Golf, and more, for whom “Effort is Equal” and with whom we have ambitious plans to extend the reach of this annual celebration of the Women who are making a difference.

This year’s list will be drawn as before from the worlds of leadership, partnership, storytelling, and performance.

We began this journey in 2013 when challenged that we would never be able to produce a list of twenty Influential Women in Irish Sport. The 20 stretched to 30, then 40 and 50 and it still does not do justice to the talent that is out there.

This year once more, to keep things fresh we will step up again, raising the number of new entrants to at least 40 percent of fresh names from last year.

It will be the hardest part to have some names replaced but if it was too easy it would be of less value.

The list we will build over the coming weeks is a snapshot of those women who are making a mark on how sport is played, consumed, grown, and delivered.

They are part of making the role of women in sport unexceptional by being exceptional in what they do.