The English coach Martin Ho has signed a three-year deal as Tottenham Hotspur’s head coach until 2028, the Guardian understands.
The 35-year-old had been in charge of the Norwegian club Brann’s women’s team for two years, since leaving his role as the assistant coach at Manchester United women in July 2023.
Ho is Spurs’s replacement for Robert Vilahamn, whowas sackedin June after the club finished second from bottom in the WSL last term.
He leaves Brann second in the Norwegian top flight midway through their 2025 season, after a second-placed finish last year. He took Brann to the 2023-24 Women’s Champions League quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by the eventual champions, Barcelona, which was the furthest a Norwegian side have progressed in the competition.
Ho had spent three and a half years at United, initially working with the under-21s in the second half of the 2019-20 season alongside the now Bristol City head coach, Charlotte Healy. Ho then moved up to be Casey Stoney’s assistant with the first team in July 2020 and, after Marc Skinner replaced Stoney as head coach in 2021, he spent two years as Skinner’s No 2, including a second-placed finish in the WSL in 2023.
Born and raised in Mossley Hill in Liverpool, Ho previously had spells working at Everton – as assistant manager – and at Liverpool, where he was the under-21 women’s team’s head coach.
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Spurs are understood to have been impressed by Ho’s passion and his track record of player development, as well as by his results in the Women’s Champions League with Brann. Sources have told the Guardian that the club received strong references from around the world in support of Ho.