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Jeff Kassouf
The North Carolina Courage has officially appointed Mak Lind as their new head coach as of Saturday.
Lind, who is 37 years old, joins the Courage after his tenure at Swedish club BK Häcken Women.
He shared with ESPN that he was drawn to North Carolina’s possession-oriented style of play.
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“There are many ways to approach football, but alignment between the club’s and coach’s vision is essential,” Lind explained to ESPN.
“The Courage have a commitment to playing possession-based football, which aligns with my current approach. I aim to implement line-breaking, purposeful possession football where every action on the ball matters.”
Since the firing of Sean Nahas in August, North Carolina has been without a full-time head coach. They concluded last season in ninth place, just one point away from playoff contention.
Lind is the third head coach for the Courage franchise since its relocation to North Carolina in 2017. (Previously, the team was known as the Western New York Flash, based in Rochester, New York, where they won an NWSL championship in 2016.)
Under Lind’s guidance, BK Häcken secured the 2025 Damallsvenskan title, Sweden’s premier league, and reached the quarterfinals of the 2023-24 UEFA Women’s Champions League.
“Our search was thorough and global, and we are confident that Mak is the ideal candidate to guide our technical efforts and restore the club to its championship standards,” stated Courage chief soccer officer Ceri Bowley.
Bowley also noted that Lind’s background as a professional player allows him to connect uniquely with athletes.
Lind revealed that he had been interested in the U.S. and the NWSL, despite considering other opportunities in Europe and discussions with a different team in the NWSL.
He arrived in North Carolina just in time for the team’s preseason kickoff on Friday. Speculation linking Lind to the Courage began last November, when Swedish media suggested his move was imminent.
He inherits a historically successful team that clinched NWSL Championships in 2018 and 2019, along with three consecutive NWSL Shields from 2017 to 2019, and has typically excelled in possession.
However, the Courage faced challenges last season. Following a major offseason acquisition of U.S. international Jaedyn Shaw, they struggled to integrate her effectively into their system. Shaw was subsequently transferred in September to Gotham FC for an NWSL-record fee of $1.25 million and went on to flourish, helping Gotham win the NWSL Championship.
The Courage are currently on the lookout for a reliable scorer, even though Manaka Matsukubo achieved near-MVP form in 2025 as a top contributor.
Lind expressed that he has a strong focus on scoring goals and doesn’t believe that the scoring responsibility should rest on one individual.
He emphasized his history of developing goal-scoring forwards, assuring that he believes he already has solutions in mind.
On Friday, the Courage announced they had signed Swedish forward Evelyn Ijeh from AC Milan, with a reported transfer fee of $450,000. Ijeh’s contract extends through the 2029 NWSL season.
While at AC Milan, she emerged as one of Italy’s leading attacking talents, finishing as a top contender in the Golden Boot race for the 2024-25 season with 12 goals.
Bowley commented that Ijeh was a top priority for the team during the offseason and that they had nearly signed her last summer.