New Wellington Phoenix Women’s coach Bev Priestman. Photo / Photosport
Twelve months ago, Bev Priestman was in survival mode.
The Tokyo Olympic gold medal coach wasn’t thinking about football. She wasn’t plotting her next career move; all that was on her mind was keeping her family safe.
“As a family, we slept in the basement together,” Priestman told the Herald.
“People were knocking on my door, and I had rubbish left at my door.
“We didn’t leave the house other than for essential things, like going to the doctors.”
The Englishwoman was scared for her life towards the end of 2024, because she was caught at the centre of the infamous spying scandal at the Paris Olympic Games in July.
After squad staff were found to have flown a drone over a New Zealand Football Ferns training session ahead of the team’s opening fixture in Saint-Etienne, the 39-year-old was banned from football activity by Fifa for a year.
As her ban came to an end last month, she was announced as head coach of the Wellington Phoenix’s women’s team.
Unable to relay specific details of how the drone-spying event unfolded due to ongoing legal mediation, Priestman opened up to the Herald about how at the time, nothing had hit her harder, both professionally and personally.
“You go from the highest point of your career – a gold medal – to an Olympics where you hit the lowest point of your career and your life.”
Priestman and her wife, ex-Football Fern Emma Humphries, felt forced to pack up their lives late last year and move back to New Zealand. Humphries had family here and it was the best place for a fresh start.
However, Priestman said it wasn’t easy pulling her 6-year-old son from his home, friends and moving him across the world.
“We’ll only really know the effect of that in the future – but it was awful.
“All of his toys – everything – was affected. That was the difficult part, to be honest.
“You have to look at yourself in the mirror, and you live with that every day. That was horrible.
“But he’s settled now, and that’s the main thing. Em’s [Humphries’] family live in New Zealand, so he’s got family around. You make new friends, and kids are resilient – that’s something else you learn.
“But in the moment, that was tough.”
Since being announced as Phoenix coach, Priestman has received mostly supportive reactions in New Zealand. However, the response in Canada to her new appointment has been less positive.
Priestman recognises Canadians are hurt by what happened last July in France.
“I completely understand that,” she said. “At the end of the day, that’s just the way people have received it, and I have to accept that. That’s part of what’s going on.
“If it’s wrong to feel unsafe, then it’s wrong, and I get that from people’s opinions, but that’s how it felt in that moment. That’s why we relocated.
“But I have a lot of love for that country. I don’t want people to take those comments as negative – they gave me the best moment of my career. They’ve taken me to places I’ve never been before. I love the players I worked with.
“There’s a lot of love and respect there. It might not feel like that right now for them, and I get that, and I have to live with that. But that country gave me something I’ve never had in my life – the highest point of my career.
“It changed my life. I’ll be forever grateful to that country.”
Priestman said she is ready to move on from the scandal.
“It was difficult, but I don’t want to be in that ‘poor me’ mindset. I’ve worked through that.
“What you learn is you’re a lot stronger than you think you are. I’m actually quite proud of getting through some of the toughest moments.
“It will make me a different human moving forward – and maybe a different coach too - because when you’ve been through something, and you’re working with people going through things, I think you have a greater level of empathy in that moment.”
With a refreshed perspective, Priestman is optimistic about taking on the ‘Nix women’s team.
The Uefa Pro Licence manager led the Canada women’s side to Olympic Gold in 2021, after working as the team’s assistant coach when they claimed bronze at the Rio Games in 2016. As an assistant coach, she helped the England Lionesses to the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup semifinal and has been shortlisted twice for the Fifa’s Best Women’s Coach award.
Though possibly over-qualified for the role – as the Phoenix jumped at the chance to hire her when she was most available – Priestman isn’t viewing the job as a step back.
“People on the outside might see it that way, but from the minute I decided to sign, I haven’t had any doubt or second thoughts about choosing this club.
“It’s totally different. I’m used to international football, where you go into an intense 10–15 days or a tournament month – then come out, reflect, and plan.
“It’s a totally different day-to-day flow, and that’s something I’ll have to learn. It’s going to be challenging for me.
“I want to challenge myself, and I think club football will bring a whole different challenge.”
The club has already signed top Football Ferns Vic Esson and CJ Bott, along with key international signing Sabitra Bhandari, the Nepal women’s captain. It proves Priestman still has the respect of top players despite her actions last year.
She wants football fans beyond Wellington to get behind the team and feels there’s an exceptional opportunity given Auckland FC’s women’s team is in limbo.
“It’s a great opportunity for us. We’re signing Kiwis on long-term deals, which I think is important for succession planning and for the future of the club. I also think it’s an opportunity to be New Zealand’s team, and I really want that.
“I want to create that moment in this country where it stops, everybody gets behind the team, because I think women’s football is yet to have that true moment. We had the Women’s World Cup, and the Ferns across the years have had moments, but I really want to make it New Zealand’s team where the whole country gets behind it.”
Raring to go, Priestman has a spring in her step now and is relieved to be feeling herself again.
“From Christmas onwards, lights started to appear at the end of the tunnel again.
“I didn’t even think that far ahead [last year]. It was just survival, family, crisis management – just getting through the day, really.
“But it’s lovely to be back, and I’m so glad I’m back, ready, and want to get to work.”
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She was named New Zealand’s Best Up and Coming journalist in 2025. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Fever podcast and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.