City’s Girls’ Head of Academy Hannah Dingley says the Club plans to create a world-class environment which also values youth team players as individuals.
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Women's Team
Dingley: City want to push the envelope for women’s Academies](https://www.mancity.com/news/womens/hannah-dingley-man-city-next-gen-interview-63891704)
It comes following the launch of our Women’s Next Gen Under-21s side ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, which will be led by former City and England midfielder Izzy Christiansen.
As part of that restructuring, Dingley has arrived at the Club to lead the management team in creating and executing the Academy’s performance plan and establishing a clear pathway for youth players into our senior team.
Her appointment follows a remarkable career in the game so far which includes similar roles at Burton Albion and Forest Green Rovers’ men’s sides and her latest position was with the Football Association of Ireland as Head of Women’s and Girls’ Football.
Now at City, Dingley says appreciating all aspects of each youth players’ lives will build a strong footballing culture in our Academy.
“I think [our Academy] needs a very humanistic approach that we are looking after young people, children. We have Under-10s, nine-year-olds. They’re children, first and foremost,” she said.
“We want to create a really professional environment where everyone is striving for excellence and pushing each other every single day, but we also have to understand they might have a bad day at school, or they might have fallen out with their best friend.
“There are other things that go on, and we have to see them as a person first, a child first, a human first, because that’s the sort of environment that’s safe and secure because if those young people feel valued in the environment, then they’re more likely to strive to achieve and be better on the football pitch if you can see them as a human being first.”
Watch Dingley’s full interview in the video player above!