Football
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Phil Neville to leave England women's job after run of poor form

Phil Neville will leave his role as England women's manager in 2021, the Football Association confirmed on Friday.

Sources told ESPN the 43-year-old is not seeking an extension to his existing deal, despite the delay of two major tournaments as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The FA's director of women's football, Sue Campbell said: "In light of the impact of current global events on the sporting calendar and in the best interests of the England Women's team, both parties were in agreement that our shared priority was to ensure the Lionesses have continuity of coaching going into the home Euro and looking towards the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

"Once football returns after this difficult period, Phil will continue his work with the Lionesses on the further development of his squad. I will support him fully with that important task whilst moving forward with the crucial succession planning process.

"We will now discuss next steps with the British Olympic Association and the home nations with regard to Team GB Football and we are not in a position to make any further comment at this time."

Neville was due to lead Team GB into this summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo before taking charge of England at the Women's Euros in 2021 on home soil.

He said: "As a result of the changes to the proposed tournament scheduling we will now be working to plan for a revised match calendar once it is safe and appropriate to do so. I am looking forward to getting back to work with the team as soon as possible. We have a fantastic squad of players and there is plenty to work on as we look to progress as a team going into 2021."

Neville, the former England men's international and Manchester United defender, was appointed in January 2018 on a three-and-a-half year contract and led England to a maiden SheBelieves Cup success before securing a fourth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup.

However, they have lost seven of their last 11 games and were dumped out of the SheBelieves Cup this year after losing to the United States and Spain. Against the latter they failed to register a single shot on target.

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