Mark Richard David Parsons (born 8 August 1986) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager who is the former head coach of American club

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

. He previously managed top-level teams including the Netherlands women's national team, the

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

, and the Washington Spirit in a previous stint. Parsons is currently the sporting director of

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The formation of the team was announced on July 21, 2020; it beg ...

. Parsons holds USSF and UEFA A and B Licenses, a USSF National Youth License, and a NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma.

Early life

Parsons was born and raised in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and played youth football in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

Managerial career

Chelsea academy, women's reserves

Parsons spent six years in multiple coaching roles in England. Parsons's first experience came as a volunteer boys' coach in Surrey, then as a community coach with the Chelsea Foundation. He then held several coaching roles at Chelsea, counting Reece James and

Conor Gallagher Conor John Gallagher (born 6 February 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Atlético Madrid and the England national team. Beginning his career with Chelsea, Gallagher spent time on loan at EFL Champi ...

among the youth players he trained at the academy level. His first experience as manager was for Chelsea women's reserves from 2008 which he led to an unprecedented treble in his first season.

Culpeper (Va.) Soccer Club

Parsons, seeking a job in the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

area, accepted the role of technical director at Culpeper Soccer Club in 2010 and moved with his wife to the United States.

D.C. United Women Under-20s

Former Chelsea striker

Lianne Sanderson Lianne Joan Sanderson (born 3 February 1988) is a current broadcaster and former English professional footballer who played as a forward. She won 50 caps for the England national team. At the international level, Sanderson made her debut for E ...

, then playing for D.C. United Women, contacted Parsons about a vacant coaching role with the club's under-20 team. In 2012, Parsons led the D.C. United Women Under-20s to the 2012 Super-20 League final, which they lost to Colorado Rapids Women.

Washington Spirit Reserves

Parsons was signed by

on 16 March 2013 to manage their reserve team for the 2013 W-League season.

Washington Spirit

Following the dismissal of

manager Mike Jorden in July 2013, Parsons was promoted to be the first team manager. The team was at the bottom of the table halfway through the 2013 season when Parsons took over, but he led them to their first two home wins in 2013 and into the playoffs in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Parsons stepped down from his position as head coach and general manager of the

on 30 September 2015.

Portland Thorns

On 5 October 2015, Parsons accepted the position as head coach of

. He led a new-look team through a 12-game undefeated streak (a team record) from the beginning of the 2016 season. The team finished as the regular season champions, winning the

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

, but fell to the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

in the Thorns' first-ever home playoff match on 2 October 2016. The Thorns repeated in securing a home playoff match in the 2017 season despite suffering numerous injuries to the first XI throughout the season, including the long-term absence of star

Tobin Heath Tobin Powell Heath (born May 29, 1988) is an American professional soccer player and entrepreneur. Playing primarily as a forward and midfielder for the United States national team, she won gold at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 2012 Lon ...

from a back injury. After beating the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...

4–1 in the semifinal, the Thorns won the

NWSL championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

by defeating the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acqui ...

1–0 in the final. In March 2020 Parsons signed a new multi-year contract with Portland. In 2021 Parsons led the Thorns to the

for the second time. In addition, the team also won the

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup is an annual supercup competition organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), a division 1 women's league in the United States soccer league system. The current (2025) cup holder is the Washington Spirit, who ...

, beating

NJ/NY Gotham FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sk ...

in the final, and the

Women's International Champions Cup The Women's International Champions Cup (WICC) is an annual club women's soccer invitational tournament in the United States. Launched by Relevent Sports Group in 2018, it features four women's soccer teams from America and Europe competing for ...

, beating

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

in the final. The team also set the NWSL single-season record for shutouts, with 13 out of 24 games played. Overall, Thorns FC under Parsons made the playoffs all five seasons, won two NWSL Shields and one NWSL Championship, and scored 182 goals, more than any other NWSL team in that time.

Netherlands

On 20 May 2021, the

KNVB The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women ...

announced that Parsons would succeed Sarina Wiegman as head coach of the

Netherlands women's national football team The Netherlands women's national football team () represents the Netherlands in international Women's association football, women's football, and is directed by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), which is a member of UEFA and FIFA. ...

after the conclusion of the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

; he continued to coach the Portland Thorns until November 2021 after the season finished, when the position was taken over by

Rhian Wilkinson Rhian Emilie Wilkinson (born May 12, 1982) is a Canadian professional soccer coach and former player, who currently coaches the Wales women's national team. She was previously the head coach of Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer Le ...

. On 10 August 2022, Parsons' contract with KNVB was terminated by mutual consent, after the Netherlands team failed in the defence of their 2017 title in the

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champio ...

competition.

Return to Washington Spirit

On 21 November 2022, Parsons was announced as the head coach for the Washington Spirit, succeeding Kris Ward as head coach and Albertin Montoya as interim head coach. At the conclusion of the 2023 NWSL season the Spirit announced Parsons will not return as head coach.

Angel City

On 16 January 2025, Parson was announced as the new sporting director for NWSL side, Angel City. As part of this role Parsons also operates as general manager.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

Parsons is British and also holds US citizenship.

Honours

Portland Thorns FC *

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

: 2017 *

: 2016, 2021 *

: 2021 * NWSL Community Shield: 2020 * WICC Championship: 2021 Individual * NWSL Coach of the Year: 2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Mark 1986 births Living people People from Cranleigh Sportspeople from Surrey English football managers National Women's Soccer League head coaches Washington Spirit head coaches Portland Thorns FC head coaches English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Netherlands women's national football team managers UEFA Women's Euro 2022 managers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff D.C. United non-playing staff