The revolution in women’s football also involves coaches – 11/17/2023 – Marina Izidro

Do you know Emma Hayes? Maybe not. But know that the coach of the Chelsea women’s team is part of the generation of coaches who are helping to revolutionize the sport. She will be the new commander of the United States women’s team, four-time world champion. The announcement of her hiring raised the debate: why are there still few professionals like her in football?

Hayes arrived at Chelsea in 2012, a fundamental period in the development of English women’s football. I’ve already said here that a turning point was at the London Olympic Games, when Great Britain x Brazil in front of 70,000 people, at Wembley, showed the potential of the sport. Investments, sponsorship, titles came. The Women’s Super League (WSL), the new format of the first division, was starting. The success of the WSL and the national team catapulted the popularity of football among women.

Hayes is an integral part of that. He won 13 major titles with Chelsea, including six in the WSL. Its athletes grow at the club and shine on the national team. She is not afraid to take a stand and her opinion is also respected as a commentator for men’s games. She maintains unwavering professionalism. When she lost one of her twin sons, while pregnant, she only told the players a month later, when they won the FA Cup. Harry was born days later. Hayes says that his son knows that football keeps his mother away, like on his third birthday, the day after the Champions League final in which Chelsea lost to Barcelona – the only big achievement he doesn’t have for the club.

When she takes over the American team at the end of the English season in May, she will be the highest paid football coach on the planet. The salary of US$ 1.6 million per year (almost R$ 8 million), according to the English press, will be three times that of former coach Vlatko Andonovski, fired after his early elimination in the round of 16 at this year’s World Cup. . A milestone that could influence better contracts for other coaches.

Hayes and Sarina Wiegman, Eurocup champion and world finalist in charge of the England national team, lead the group of most important coaches in the world. There are those who advocate that Wiegman take over the men’s team in the future. The Dutch woman said that when she was a teenager there were no female coaches to look up to. Today is an example.

At the same time, the success of both shows the distance between the space occupied by men and women in the position. In the WSL, five out of 12 coaches are female. Only 12 of the 32 teams in the Women’s World Cup were led by women.

I believe it is part of the growth journey of women’s football. Naturally, men have been technicians for longer.

Fortunately, there are good initiatives in Europe, such as investment by federations in coach training programs. Athletes are more aware that they can pursue coaching positions when they retire.

This week, former player Marie-Louise Eta became assistant coach at Union Berlin, an unprecedented feat for a woman in the Bundesliga. In England, Lydia Bedford leads Brentford under-18 men.

Jonas Eidevall, Arsenal women’s coach, asked: “We have prime ministers, but not a woman coaching in the Premier League. Why? There is no reason for that.”

I hope it’s a matter of time.

As part of the Todas initiative, the Sheet gifts women with two months of free digital subscription

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.