Robert de Pauw has been appointed the new manager of Aston Villa Women following the departure of Carla Ward at the conclusion of the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League season.

Aston Villa Football Club have confirmed the signing of Dutch manager, Robert de Pauw, on a three-year deal with an option to extend for a further year.

The new Villans boss makes his way over from the Frauen Bundesliga, where he was in charge of Bayer Leverkusen since the summer of 2022.

Via an official club announcement, Head of Women’s Football at Aston Villa, Lee Billiard expressed that “After an extremely methodical and extensive managerial search, we are delighted to welcome Robert to Aston Villa Football Club.”

“The process we used in order to find the best fit for the managerial position took some time and included a thorough search of the best leagues in women’s football.”

“We considered all aspects from coaching philosophies, development of teams over a period of time and, of course, development of players.”

“This detailed procedure led us to Robert, who we know has a clear philosophy and has an insatiable hunger to implement a winning culture at the football club.”

“His development of senior players and younger players, both domestically and internationally, speaks for itself and we are excited to see him get started.”