A former Middlesbrough player has made history by becoming the first black manager to win the NWSL.
Seb Hines led Orlando Pride to their first-ever league title with three matches still to play in the campaign.
Seb Hines has made history with his title-winning success with Orlando PrideGetty
Even more impressively, The Pride are so far undefeated and are therefore just 270 minutes from becoming Invincibles.
A former defender by trade, Orlando Pride have conceded just 13 times in 23 league matches so far this term.
Hines is one of just two black managers in the American women’s top flight, meaning that his title win makes him something of a trailblazer for black coaches to make their name in elite sport.
Asked what it means to be the first black coach to win the NWSL, Hines said: “It means a lot.
“When I stepped into this role you always have doubters and people who say that you may not be ready but now I can be a person who was given an opportunity to be successful with the backing of the ownership and Hayley Carter coming in as well.
“You can see that with great support staff you can be successful and you can achieve something and that’s really important to me to have people around.
“Hopefully I can be an advocate for many more black head coaches around the world so yeah, I’m really pleased.”
Born in north Yorkshire and a product of Middlesbrough’s youth academy, Hines broke into the first team setup during Gareth Southgate’s reign at the Riverside Stadium.
It was the former England boss who gave Hines his debut in January 2007 when the defender scored an impressive effort from long range against Hull in the FA Cup.
He played twice in the Premier League for Middlesbrough, however injuries disrupted his early career and limited him to 87 appearances for the Teessiders.
Hines made 83 appearances for Middlesbrough after making his debut under Gareth SouthgateGetty
With an American father and an English mother, Hines opted to leave Middlesbrough to join Orlando City in 2015 and made 59 appearances before retiring in 2017 and moving into coaching with the club’s youth set-up.
He then joined Orlando Pride as assistant coach in 2020, before becoming interim head coach in June 2022 and seeing his role become permanent in November that year.
In 69 matches in charge, Hines has won 31, drawn 14 and lost 24, giving him a win percentage of 45 per cent.
