As previously mentioned, this article is a follow up to my previous blog post-Female coaches in the NBA. Furthermore, as I carry on with my duty of emphasising the importance of diversity and inclusiveness in the world of sports, I wanted to re-assure that I am not an investigative journalist nor do I strive to be one. My main goal with these series is changing the view of those who think that female cannot be a manager of Real Madrid, cannot be a part of locker room, sports icon or any other way rank higher than heterosexual male.
England (Premier League)
-None.
Yes, if you google female coaches in the premier league some articles pop up and the fact that Newcastle United’s Natalie Henderson and Swansea’s Nia Davies are coaching at the academy is worth mentioning. Additionally, on 26th of April, 2019, during the press conference Chelsea Woman’s manager Emma Hayes mentioned that it is only matter of time that there will be a female manager in the Premier league. Nearly a month later, Chelsea FC hired Frank Lampard to fill the vacancy of their manager position. Regardless of optimism, I fear that there is no evidence that there could be an actual female manager in the Premier League in near future. In my opinion, firstly, we should see a female in the assistant coach position, but such thing hasn’t happened, at least in Premier League.
Germany (Not Bundesliga)
As I was utilising my German skills during this research, an interesting name popped up and it turns out that there is a female manager in the German Football. It is Imke Wübbenhorst, the manager of BV Cloppenburg. Imke was appointed in the fall of 2018 and one year later, is still the coach and BV Cloppenburg and holds 9thposition from 17 team. The sad part of this story is the fact that her team is competing in the 6th tier national league and we can only speculate how professionally the soccer is played there.
Spain, France, Netherlands, etc.
Unfortunately, I could not find any data on the female coaches in any other powerhouses in the European Soccer. My assumption is that there should be some, at least in the grassroots or academy level, but there weren’t any publications on any of them.
Comparison with NBA
The list of Female coaches in European Soccer is rather short. In comparision, as mentioned in previous article, NBA has 11 female assistant coaches among 30 teams. While doing the research, I failed to even find 1 female coach at the top-flight clubs among the European Leagues. This trend of the European Soccer not adopting to the latest liberal standards continue among issues like racism, LGBTQ community rights, religion, etc. In my honest opinion, there is a massive issue with the European Soccer and the problems start at the organisational level (FIFA). Hopefully, this blogpost serves as a food for thought and we, as society start to notice the value and importance of diversity and inclusiveness.
Sports Blog by Henriks Diure 