USA Coach Jill Ellis Named Women's Coach Of The Year

The World Cup-winning coach beat England and
Japan counterparts Mark Sampson and Norio Sasaki to the honour at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Zurich on Monday World Cup-winning USA coach Jill Ellis has been named Women's Coach of the Year at the Ballon
d'Or ceremony in Zurich. Jill Ellis took charge of the USA national team in 2014 on a full-time basis on 2014, after two previous interim spells, and led the squad to their third Women's World Cup win in Canada last year.

Carli Lloyd scored a 13-minute hat-trick as Japan
were beaten 5-2 in the final, adding their winners' medal to those won at the Algarve Cup earlier in 2015, where they beat France in the showpiece.
"Wow, a true honour," Ellis said. "First let me
congratulate all the nominees here this evening. It's such a thrill to be part of such an amazing football family.
"To Mark [Sampson, England coach] and Norio
[Sasaki, Japan coach], thanks for making it hard and thank you for continuing to elevate the game and leaders in women's football.
"This certainly represents a whole lot of people so, certainly, to my players, our captions, the staff back in the US right now, it's my sincere gratitude for your commitment and your effort and belief in this team.I really, truly believe this is a team award. "To my friends and family, my dad was my first coach so it's great to have him in the crowd tonight."