Yanez Named NWSL Coach of the Year

Release courtesy Racing Louisville Communications

Racing Louisville FC’s Head Coach Bev Yanez has won the NWSL Coach of the Year award. The league announced her selection and presented the award on Wednesday evening at the 2025 NWSL Awards, presented by AT&T, in San Jose, Calif.

Yanez, 37, is the first American and first former NWSL player to win the award. She played at Miami from 2007-09, appearing in 53 career matches and serving as team captain as a senior.

“I’m shocked. I’m so grateful,” Yanez said in her acceptance speech, broadcast on ESPN2. “I’m so grateful for the team — for the team believing in me, trusting in me. I couldn’t be up here without them. I couldn’t be up here with the staff that’s invested so much time and belief in the vision that we had this season.

“And my family,” Yanez added. “They’ve always believed in me and always told me to follow my dreams no matter what they were.”

In her second season as a head coach, Yanez led Louisville to a historic campaign in 2025. The club finished in seventh place, its highest-ever league standing, earning the first playoff berth in Racing’s history. The team set club records for: wins (10), points (37), goals scored (36) and road victories (5).

In making the postseason, Yanez became the first person to reach the NWSL Playoffs as both a player and a coach. She was also the first American female coach to make the postseason since 2013.

Yanez won the award of two over two other finalists: Vlatko Andonovski of the Kansas City Current and Adrián González of the Washington Spirit.

In the preliminary round of voting, players, owners, general managers, coaches and the media voted on individual awards to determine the finalists. The preliminary round used a weighted scale, broken down by players (50%), owners, general mangers and coaches (25%) and media (25%).

Yanez won the final round of voting, which utilized a weighted scale of players (40%), owners, general mangers and coaches (25%), media (25%) and fans (10%).