Celtic Football Club is delighted to announce that it has appointed Elena Sadiku as the new Head Coach of Celtic FC Women on a 2-and-a-half-year contract.

Elena will start in the new role on Monday, with David Haley – who will continue in the role of Assistant Manager alongside Elena – taking charge of the team for Sunday’s home match against Montrose.

Elena joins Celtic from her role as Head Coach of Everton’s WSL Academy and brings a wealth of experience of working within the women’s game.

A former professional footballer with FC Rosengård, Kristianstad DFF, Eskilstuna United and Hammarby IF, Elena also represented Sweden at various youth age groups before she was forced to retire from football at the age of only 23 through injury.

Turning her full attention to becoming a successful coach, she has experience at all levels of the game, from setting up the Girls Academy structure at Hammarby IF through to coaching the Swedish champions at FC Rosengård and gaining experience in the UEFA Women’s Champions League during her time at Fortuna Hjørring in Denmark.

An exciting, young manager who already has over seven years of experience coaching in a number of top women’s leagues and clubs around the world, Elena is ideally positioned to assist with all aspects of the continued development of Women’s and Girls' football at Celtic.

Excited to be joining Celtic, Elena said: “This is such a great day for me and my family, to join a club of Celtic’s standing and stature at such an exciting time for our women’s team.

'It is a real honour to be given this wonderful opportunity and I can’t wait to get started, particularly with so many important games coming up.'

“The league in Scotland has really developed in the last few years and I’ve seen that the team at Celtic have had great success.

"My role now is to continue this, working for and with the players to achieve greater success in terms of the league and European competitions in particular.

"I also relish the chance to positively develop and grow the wider structure and environment across all our teams and academy.”

“I will bring passion, energy and dedication to this role and I can’t wait to get started.”

Michael Nicholson, Celtic’s Chief Executive added: “Everyone at the Club is delighted to welcome Elena to Celtic.

'Following an extensive process, Elena was identified as an outstanding appointment and someone who has the experience and profile to both deliver on the field for Celtic and also to oversee our wider development as we strive to take our women’s team forward.'

“Elena has worked across Europe and beyond in a variety of roles and in different environments and we are sure Celtic will benefit from these experiences.

"This will be particularly helpful as we integrate the girls’ teams into the wider Celtic Academy and prepare for the transition into our new training complex later this year”.

“We look forward to working together to build on what has been achieved in recent years.”

Celtic appoint Elena Sadiku as new Women's Head Coach