Football is the most popular team sport in the world. In England, football is the most popular team sport, with over 1.8 million people playing it every week (Sport England, 2013) and with around 25 million people in England watching football regularly, this suggests that it is a very popular and therefore important sport. throughout the country. Football has historically been a male-dominated sport, with 12 men to every woman (Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, 2012). However, women's football is now the fourth largest team sport in England after the men's team sports of football, rugby and cricket (The Football Association, 2012), and the number one women's team sport with 253 600 female football players regularly each month (Women's Football Association, 2012). Sport and Fitness Foundation, 2012), these participation figures enabled the FA to support 6,600 women's and women's 11s teams across the country. The Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (2012) found that one in ten footballers are coached by a female trainer. Over 27,000 women successfully completed an FA coaching qualification in 2012 (The Football Association, 2012) and the number of female coaches doubled from 25,000 in 2009 to around 50,000 in 2012 (The Football Association, 201 2). . With this recent popularity of soccer and the increase in female participation and coaching, research has begun to focus more frequently on women in sports. Football teams are made up of a large number of roles; players, coaches, managers, specific position coaches, treasurers, even physiotherapists depending on the level of football the team plays. The most common roles in grassroots football teams are known to be players only...... middle of article...... so the aim of this research project was to try to establish a better understanding of female soccer players' perceptions of male and female coaches and whether coach gender affects the coach-athlete relationship. This study aimed to answer the following research question: “Is the coach-athlete relationship improved if the coach is of the same gender as the athletes?” this was conducted in the form of a questionnaire with data collected from the University of Worcester Women's Football Club, first and second teams. The results of these groups are expected to make an important contribution to the field of sports coaching and the psychological aspect of the coach-athlete relationship. A full discussion of the coach-athlete relationship is beyond the scope of this study, with previous research being reviewed and new research being created..