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On Wednesday, the Bay Collective group revealed the recruitment of Van Ginhoven, England's general manager working with head coach Sarina Wiegman, as their global women's football operations director. The freshly established multi-club ownership body, which includes the San Francisco-based Bay FC as the initial addition in its portfolio, has prior experience in bringing in talent from the national football governing body.

The selection in recent months of Kay Cossington, the well-respected ex-technical director for the FA, to the CEO role acted as a signal of intent by the collective. Cossington is deeply familiar with female football comprehensively and currently has gathered an executive team that possesses extensive knowledge of women’s football history and filled with experience.

Van Ginhoven is the third central staffer of the manager's inner circle to leave this year, following Cossington departing before the European Championships and assistant coach, Veurink, stepping down to take up the role of manager of Holland, however her move was made earlier.

Moving on proved to be a shock to the system, yet “I’d taken my decision to exit the national setup some time back”, Van Ginhoven states. “The terms lasting four years, similar to Arjan and Sarina did. Upon their extension, I had already said I didn’t know if I would do the same. I had grown accustomed to the notion that post-Euros my time with England would end.”

The tournament became a sentimental event due to that. “It's sharp in my memory, discussing with Wiegman where I basically told her of my choice and then we said: ‘We share a single dream, how amazing would it be that we win the Euros?’ In reality, it's rare that dreams come true often yet, remarkably, ours came true.”

Dressed in orange, she experiences split allegiances after her time working in England, during which she contributed to securing consecutive European championships and worked within the manager's team for the Netherlands’ triumph at Euro 2017.

“The national team will forever have an emotional connection for me. So, it will be challenging, particularly now knowing that the team will be arriving for the upcoming fixtures shortly,” she comments. “Whenever the two nations face off, where do my loyalties lie? Today I have on orange, but tomorrow I'll be in white.”

You can change direction and move quickly in a speedboat. With a compact team such as ours, it's effortless to accomplish.

The American side was not in the plans when the organisational wizard concluded it was time to move on, however everything aligned perfectly. Cossington began assembling the team and mutual beliefs were key.

“Essentially upon meeting we connected we had that click moment,” says she. “There was immediate understanding. We have spoken at length regarding multiple aspects related to developing women's football and what we think is the right way.”

Cossington and Van Ginhoven are among several to uproot themselves from high-profile jobs in the European game for an uncharted opportunity in the United States. The Spanish club's technical director for women's football, González, has been announced as the organization's global sporting director.

“I was highly interested to that strong belief regarding the strength within the female sport,” González explains. “I've been acquainted with Kay Cossington for an extended period; back when I was with Fifa, she was the technical director of England, and such choices are straightforward when you are aware you are going to be surrounded by individuals who motivate you.”

The profound understanding in their team makes them unique, notes she, as Bay Collective one of several recent multi-team projects which have emerged over the past few years. “This is a key differentiator for us. Various methods are valid, but we are firm in our belief in incorporating football expertise,” she adds. “Each of us have traveled a path within the women's game, for most of our lives.”

According to their online statement, the ambition for the collective is to champion and pioneer a progressive and sustainable ecosystem of women’s football clubs, founded on effective practices to meet the varied requirements of women in sport. Succeeding in this, with collective agreement, eliminating the need for persuasion for why you would take certain actions, provides great freedom.

“I liken it to moving from a large ship to a fast boat,” remarks Van Ginhoven. “You are essentially navigating in uncharted waters – a common Dutch expression, not sure how it comes across – and you must depend on your individual understanding and experience to choose wisely. You can pivot and accelerate rapidly in a speedboat. In a lean group like this, that is simple to achieve.”

González notes: “In this role, we have a completely white sheet of paper to build upon. For me, our work involves shaping the sport on a much broader level and that clean start allows you to do any direction you choose, within the rules of the game. This is the appeal of our collective project.”

The ambition is high, the executives are expressing sentiments the football community hope to hear and it will be compelling to observe the evolution of this organization, Bay FC and future additions to the group.

For a flavour of what is to come, what are the key aspects in a high-performance setting? “{It all starts and ends with|Everything begins and concludes with|The foundation and culmination involve