Bay Collective Strengthens Leadership Team with Key Appointments in Global Recruitment and Performance & Research

James Honeyman joins Bay Collective as Global Director of Recruitment and Dr. Naomi Datson joins as Global Director of Performance & Research

LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, CA – February 12, 2026 – Bay Collective, a multi-club ownership group, today announced the appointments of James Honeyman as Global Director of Recruitment and Dr. Naomi Datson as Global Director of Performance & Research. Honeyman and Datson will both work under the leadership of Kay Cossington, MBE, CEO of Bay Collective and Head of Global Women’s Football at Sixth Street. These strategic appointments underscore Bay Collective’s commitment to building world-class clubs that win on the pitch, thrive off it, and set new standards for the sport worldwide.

Honeyman joins Bay Collective with extensive experience in global women’s football. He most recently served as Head of Player Development at Arsenal Women FC, the winners of the 2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League. At Arsenal Women FC, Honeyman led the Arsenal Women pathway, which enabled the successful transition of numerous players to the first team during his tenure. He previously served as Academy Manager at Arsenal Women FC, England U15 Assistant Coach and Talent Technical Coach at the English Football Association, and Head Coach of MK Dons Women.

Datson is a leading women’s football performance specialist and brings deep expertise in applied sports science and shaping multidisciplinary approaches to drive athletic development at the international level. Prior to joining Bay Collective, she was a Senior Lecturer in Applied Sport Science and Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as a member of the Fitness Advisory Board at UEFA and a Mentor for the FIFA Women’s National Team Physical Preparation Programme. In her new role at Bay Collective, Datson will remain affiliated and work closely with the Institute of Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University for joint projects. Earlier in her career, she worked at the English Football Association as a Sport Scientist for England Women and later as Head of Sport Science for the England women’s teams. She is a Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (CASES) accredited sport scientist, with over 20 years of experience providing performance support services to elite women’s football players. She received a Ph.D. from Liverpool John Moores University focusing on the physical demands of elite women’s football and the physical characteristics of players.

“James and Naomi are renowned leaders in their fields, with deep expertise and a shared commitment to the women’s game, and I am thrilled to welcome them to Bay Collective,” shared Cossington. “Their insights and knowledge will be instrumental in driving our recruitment and performance strategies as we work to build a global network of clubs that will elevate the sport, inspire the next generation of players, and showcase the incredible talent in women’s football.”

As Global Director of Recruitment, Honeyman will be responsible for designing, leading, and operationalizing Bay Collective’s scouting and recruitment strategy across all affiliated clubs, starting with the professional women’s soccer team Bay FC, representing the Bay Area in the NWSL. Bay Collective will provide strategic support to each club’s local scouting network, ensuring that club-level recruitment benefits directly from Collective-wide technical standards, insights, tools, and expertise.

“I am excited to join Bay Collective and work with Kay and the entire Bay Collective team to implement a cutting-edge, data-driven scouting network that spans the globe and creates new opportunities for players and clubs to excel. Bay Collective’s mission and values are closely aligned with my own, and I look forward to growing the platform’s network of clubs, supported by a robust recruiting pipeline that nurtures players at every stage of their development, from grassroots to elite levels,” said Honeyman.

As Global Director of Performance & Research, Datson will lead the establishment of physical, medical, sports science, and athlete wellbeing standards throughout Bay Collective’s network of clubs. In collaboration with clubs, Bay Collective will implement consistent performance systems and enable each club to benefit from the platform’s expertise, shared intelligence, and standards of practice.

“Having spent my career in high-performance sports science, primarily within women’s football, I’m honored to join Bay Collective to design and implement our global performance and research strategy. Bay Collective deeply understands and believes in the power of women’s football, and I look forward to working closely with our clubs to support athlete development and wellbeing through science-backed, athlete-centered frameworks,” said Datson.

Bay Collective aims to build world-class women’s football clubs through bold investment, smart partnerships, and an unwavering belief in the athletes and the product. With these appointments, which follow the recent hires of Patricia González as Global Sporting Director of Bay Collective and Anja van Ginhoven as Director of Global Women’s Football Operations at Sixth Street, Bay Collective continues to strengthen its leadership team and reinforce its commitment to football excellence, talent development, and the growth of women’s football worldwide.

About Bay Collective

Bay Collective, launched in 2025 by Kay Cossington, MBE, former Women’s Technical Director at the English Football Association, is here to raise the bar for women’s football. And then keep moving it higher. As a multi-club ownership group, the focus is simple: build clubs that win on the pitch, thrive off it, and set new standards for the sport worldwide. Backed by Sixth Street’s global platform, the ambition isn’t incremental, it’s transformational – for athletes, staff, and the communities that support them.

The Bay Collective team believes in the women’s game because they have lived it: its talent, its momentum, and the hard work it takes to scale sustainably. Clubs join a collective that protects their identity, amplifies their strengths, and connects them to world-class infrastructure and know-how. The mission: nurture excellence and prove that women’s football can be both culturally powerful and commercially robust at a global level. Learn more at BayCollective.com.

About Sixth Street

Founded in San Francisco in 2009, Sixth Street is a global investment firm with over $125 billion of assets under management and committed capital. Sixth Street is the founding lead investor in Bay FC of the National Women’s Soccer League and is a strategic investment partner to the San Francisco Giants, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, the New England Patriots, San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics. Sixth Street uses its long-term flexible capital, data-enabled capabilities, and One Team culture to develop themes and offer solutions to companies across all stages of growth. Sixth Street has more than 700 team members including over 300 investment professionals around the world.¹ For more information, and additional disclosures, visit www.sixthstreet.com, and follow Sixth Street on LinkedIn.

¹ Total Sixth Street employees as of 10/31/2025