New Zealand Football has confirmed that John Herdman is stepping down as Football Ferns head coach after five years in the role to take up the head coaching role of Canada's women's national team.
Herdman, who joined New Zealand Football in 2006 after four years working in a regional development role, will also step down from his role as NZF Director of Football Development to begin his new role with the eighth ranked Canadians next week.
While a difficult decision to make, Herdman says ultimately a fulltime coaching role building a team for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, to be held in Canada, was too good to turn down.
Under Herdman the Football Ferns achieved their best results since the 1980s, breaking a 15 year drought for a win outside their own Oceania confederation.
Since 2008, New Zealand has claimed the notable scalps of Argentina, Netherlands, Italy, Scotland, Wales and Colombia, while notching draws against Japan, Canada and England and Mexico.
The Ferns qualified for FIFA Women's World Cup in 2007 and 2011, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, won two Oceania championships, were runners-up in the 2010 Cyprus Cup and are currently two games away from completing qualification for the 2012 London Olympics.
