Corinthians coach urges more women in football leadership: "must be discussed"

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Central do Timão

·27 de febrero de 2026

Corinthians coach urges more women in football leadership: "must be discussed"

By Henrique Pereira / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the morning of Thursday (26th), Corinthians held the official presentation of coach Emily Lima, the new head of the women’s team. After posing alongside Iris Sesso, director of women’s football, and Osmar Stabile, club president, the coach spoke about the presence of more women as coaches in the sport and emphasized the importance of demanding more progress in this area. Currently, the Brazilian Women’s Championship has 18 teams, with only three having a woman as head coach.

“I think it comes a lot from the previous questions, the representation of women within the Brasileirão, within the teams. Today we have three, and two will face each other in this Derby. I think it’s something remarkable. I think it needs to be talked about a lot, and that’s your responsibility (the press), for this to happen more often. So I think it’s going to be really cool, and being able to experience this is something gratifying. I think for me and for Rosana. I think if you ask Rosana, she might say the same thing, because she’s been in football for many years.”

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Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel/Ag. Corinthians

Continuing the interview, Emily Lima spoke about how her experience as a player impacts her football philosophy. The coach pointed out characteristics she brings from her time as an athlete to her work and recalled a specific situation with a former coach that influenced part of her methodology.

“You know, when I went to write my game model for the first time, I thought exactly like a player. So, when I started writing the moments of the game, I put down defensive organization, the way I liked it, right? I liked being an obedient player, tactically, defensively. So, I liked closing the line, I liked taking away spaces, I liked being intense. There’s a photo of me going around, in Portugal, where I’m flying in with my foot. So, I tried to bring those things and started writing. With the ball, how I liked it, I loved having the ball, but having it quickly, so I started writing and my game model came out of that.”, commented the coach.

“Of course, we make a lot of adaptations based on the characteristics of the players, the team we’re going to, and so on. So I brought a lot of what I was, what I believed as a player, to my game model and technical part. Back then, Mr. Zé Duarte used to leave us an hour at the wall passing the ball and would say, ‘You’re going to be technical,’ he knew we would be technical. So, everything we experienced, I experienced as a player, I try to bring today. Not that I leave the girls an hour hitting the wall, that’s not it, but I know that repetition leads to perfection of the movement, so we try to do these repetitions in different situations, but I know that she’s making the same movement several times, so we try to bring a different reality from that time to a much more current reality today and that enhances her on the field.”, she added.

Finally, Emily Lima also spoke about what she hopes to establish as her legacy after completing her journey at the helm of Alvinegro Paulista. The coach stressed that throughout her career she has always tried to leave teams better than when she arrived.

“I always try to leave a place better than when I arrived, and I believe that in every place I’ve been, I managed to leave it better or at least a little better. Corinthians will be no different. I work a lot along those lines and I will strive to leave Corinthians better than when I arrived. It’s something that comes naturally to me, it’s not forced, it’s something I learned at home, I learned that you have to try to be a better person every day.”, she concluded.

A coach since 2010, Emily has built a career at different clubs in Brazilian football, with stints at Portuguesa, Juventus-SP, and São Caetano, before initially taking charge of the Brazil Women’s U-17 National Team. In 2016, after leading São José, she reached the pinnacle of her career and was named head coach of the Brazil Women’s National Team, a role she held from 2016 to 2017. During this period, she led the team in nine matches and achieved four victories. It’s worth noting that during her time with the National Team, she called up and used current Corinthians captain Gabi Zanotti on four occasions.

In 2018, at the helm of Santos, Emily Lima achieved the main — and so far only — title of her coaching career: the São Paulo State Championship. That season, she led the team in 29 matches, with 19 wins, eight draws, and only two losses.

After leaving the Baixada Santista club in 2019, Emily turned her career toward the international scene. Between 2019 and 2022, she worked with the youth and senior teams of the Ecuadorian National Team. Her last victory as a coach came on July 8, 2022, when Ecuador beat the Bolivian National Team 6-1.

Afterwards, she took charge of the Peruvian National Team, where she led the team in six matches, all with negative results. More recently, she managed Levante UD Femenino in Spain, staying for 11 games, with one draw and ten losses.

Even in the face of unfavorable results in her recent jobs, Emily sees her return to Brazil as a chance to get back on the winning track. At Corinthians, she returns to national football after more than six years away from the country. Among the hallmarks of her methodology are the appreciation of structure and internal organization — factors that, as reported and confirmed by her at the time, influenced her departure from Santos in 2019.

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