Denmark Diamonds’ Emma-Lee Dellar named Football West’s female Coach of the Year

Denmark Diamonds coach Emma-Lee Dellar has been named Football West’s Commbank Coach of the Year for 2025 .

Dellar was delighted to receive her award during Female Football Week at the Sam Kerr Football Centre in Perth on May 9.

She said it was humbling to work with a group of women who “took camaraderie to the next level”.

“I’m actually super privileged to be able to do it,” she said.

“I get so much out of it, seeing players progress and being part of the community.”

When she’s not pitch-side, she is the principal geophysicist for the Fortescue Metals Group.

Soccer has been her first love, and her most recent, but she played Gaelic football while living in Ireland and also represented Australia at gridiron — the American game.

She played soccer as a child in the Pilbara and in the United States where she spent a year of high school.

However, her playing career ended after suffering a cruciate ligament injury playing at Curtin University, where she was studying geophysics.

After a break, she decided the time was right to transition into coaching.

She has since completed her foundation level certificates and said she loved embracing the challenge of coaching a group of women in a country town.

“It’s great to see people bonding through sport,” she said.

“It gets women engaged in the community, they are able to express themselves physically and it’s great for everyone’s mental health.

“We have a super profile in the town — a town of 6000 people supporting four women’s soccer teams is extraordinary.”

Known as Dells to the players, her coaching is not about systems and tactics.

“For me, it’s about setting the scene and delivering philosophies,” she said.

“A coach can make you feel included or excluded and it’s that sense of inclusion that is most important to me.”