Why are there so few coaches in women's football?

• The Euro starts on Wednesday in England, and Corinne Deacon's France is one of the favorites.

• The coach is one of the few women to coach a selection.

  A situation that we also find in D1 and D2 women.

Imagine yourself, for a few seconds, on the set of “Questions for a champion”.

In front of you, the lively Samuel Etienne, his little yellow card in hand, ready to ask the question that will put you in all your states.

As a result, the encyclopedia of symbols (ed. LGF): "Top, I am the common point of countries like France, Austria, Italy, Austria, Germany or Finland during the Euro football which starts on Wednesday.

Out of 16 nations, only 6 have this feature, I am, I am, I am...?

“A coach at the head of the national team, of course (we knew you would have it). 

Corinne Deacon, who also prefers the term coach to the chagrin of the corrector of

, is therefore one of the few women to lead a female selection.

And it is not necessarily a surprise to see that, in the French championship, the "norm" is the same.

Of the 45 teams grouped in the first two divisions, only 7 are coached by women.

The elected are Sonia Bompastor (Lyon), Sandrine Soubeyrand (Paris FC), Amandine Miquel (Reims), Rachel Saidi (Lille), Jessica Silva (Metz), Sonia M'Barek (Lens) and Soraya Belkadi (Montauban).

The trend is the same in Europe (only one female coach in German D1 for example). 

"It's very masculine to speak with certainties"

Faced with this observation, a simple question then comes to us, without a dictionary to win this time, or need to call on Samuel Etienne: Why?

"It's not because I'm a woman that I have the answer," Corinne Deacon told us briefly during a press briefing before the Euro.

And, if I had it, or at least just an idea, I would have shared it with my colleagues from the Federation or the DTN.

Soraya Belkadi has a much clearer answer:

Men are often chosen for positions of responsibility.

And I think it's because they manage to sell themselves better, that they exude better confidence than some women who nevertheless have at least the same skills.

It's very masculine to speak with certainties.

On the other hand, there is sometimes a gap between the insurance of the interview and what is proposed afterwards.

»

The manager of the Tarn-et-Garonne club also mentions the low number of women on the labor market or the reluctance of clubs to hire coaches without experience.

Jessica Silva, FC Metz coach, also talks about the life choices of former players, who “did the same thing 7 days a week for a very long time.

Sometimes you want to change lanes.

Or do you have other parts of football that interest you?

And, there are also all these clubs which prefer to opt for coaches from men's football, without necessarily having a greater background than women, and especially without knowledge of women's football, such as Reynald Pedros (OL) or Frédéric Mendy (Montpellier ), few years ago.

A new diploma set up by the FFF

"Anyway, when you're a woman, you always have to prove more," laments Soraya Belkadi.

Regardless of the sector, if women are in the minority, they will be much more watched.

What will pass in a man, in the lot of the mass, will not pass in a woman for similar behavior or facts.

“Which made Corinne Deacon say that “the job of coach is already difficult, but it is even more so for women”.

The coach was referring in particular to the media treatment of which she was the victim, which could "not make you want" some women to embrace this career.

Those who have started the profession can also benefit from support from the FFF, which launched the CEFF, the Women's Football Coach Certificate, launched last year.

If it is open to all, we found more women (7) than men in the first class of 10 students.

This type of diploma makes it possible to "master all aspects of the management of a first or second division team and to raise the level of skills of our highest level coaches", explained Elisabeth Loisel in a clip from the FFF.

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A member of the first vintage, Soraya Belkadi sees in this CEFF a major asset for the development of women coaches: “There are, in women, physiological aspects to which special attention and management must be paid.

Those who come from men's football do not take these elements into account.

And the training gives concrete elements.

A trainer told us that a woman or a man who knows how to train women will have a better percentage of success with men, while the reverse is not true.

»

A springboard to the BEPF

Above all, the CEFF also serves as a springboard to the BEPF, the ultimate diploma, sought after by all coaches who want to evolve at the highest level, with a UC (out of four for the BEPF) validated at the end of the training. .

Which could push more women towards this prestigious diploma.

Because, since 2016, only three women have been received at the BEPF (Corinne Deacon, Sarah M'Barek and Sonia Haziraj), for 66 men.

Soraya Belkadi, who aspires to have this diploma, develops: 

The BEPF is not easily accessible, especially for women.

For the few women who were able to access it, at the start of the women's football development plan launched by the FFF, it brought them to light.

But they were candidates who had the potential, who had worked in women's football, who had positions of responsibility, who were already at a high level.

Not all of them could have been, because you had to have a certain number of years of experience at that level.

»

But there is not this only way to break into the French championship.

If she was good in the promotion of the CEFF, Amandine Miquel built herself.

After a very modest football career, the current Stade de Reims coach climbed the ladder little by little before landing in Champagne, where she managed to raise the club to D1.

"It's a job in the making"

Another club, another trajectory: the Quebec coach of FC Metz Jessica Silva, she knew everything in Canada (university, selection, club), after serious injuries which ended her career as a player very early on: “J love football so much and had always wanted to come to Europe, so this was the next logical step.

Above all, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, I wanted to grow, to be better, to surpass myself.

And France was the best possible destination for women's football.

»

We don't really know what the future will hold for female coaches, but hope is there.

“There are more and more women who are training and believing in the profession, because there are more and more high-level examples, analyzes Jessica Silva.

It is a profession in the making.

This is something that will become more and more common over the years.

Ah yes, yes, yes, yes, as the flamboyant Juien Lepers would say.

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• Women's football

• women's euro football

• Soccer

• Corinne Deacon

• French women's team

• D1

• Olympique Lyonnais (OL)

• Sport