Sandrine Soubeyrand the only female head coach in Première Ligue this season | OneFootball

Only one female head coach in Arkema Première Ligue this season, Sandrine Soubeyrand at Paris FC, a setback the FFF says it must tackle, with feminisation a priority.

At the start of September the league's Instagram posted 12 head coaches, Soubeyrand the only woman. L'Équipe notes this is the fourth time in the past decade representation has been this low, after Sarah M'Barek left Lens at the end of last season.

DTN Hubert Fournier acknowledged the issue, stressing club autonomy but saying the federation wants more women to step into coaching. He highlighted assistant Élise Bussaglia at PSG and female staff in academies, while accepting more support is needed to remove barriers and that progress is gradual.

After FIFA introduced in March a rule requiring at least one woman as head coach or assistant at its women's competitions, Fournier did not rule out a similar directive to boost numbers in domestic staffs. He said the championships are still young and such measures are under consideration.

Abroad the picture is scarcely brighter, except in England where eight of 14 coaches are women. Spain has three of 16, Germany four of 14 and Italy two of 14. Lens president Andreea Koenig said more opportunities are needed in youth teams and players cannot be asked to coach for free.

The FFF trialled in 2020 a Women’s Football Coaching Certificate, free for women and a first step for some. The challenge now is seeing more of them take the reins.

Source: L'Équipe

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