Zinédine Zidane aims to add women to France staff as gaps persist | OneFootball

Zinédine Zidane wants to add women to his France men’s staff, particularly in data, performance and press, and is due to unveil his team in early September. It would mark a shift in a landscape where women are largely absent from men’s sides.

Apuestas Deportivas reports that in 2020 women comprised 2.12% of backroom personnel across the Big 5. The Bundesliga had 13 among 353 staff, Ligue 1 nine among 262, the Premier League and La Liga three among 138 and 287, while Serie A listed none.

Under Didier Deschamps, France had no women among 21 staff covering technical, medical and operations. No woman has held a technical post with the men’s team. Among FIFA’s top 10 nations, only England has a woman in the technical area, analyst Katie Sorenson.

Across Ligue 1’s wider departments, there are 22 women and 318 men. Only two are embedded in coaching, Juliette Demoly and Sanou Faye, both data analysts at PSG. Others work in nutrition, physiotherapy, administration, medicine and podiatry.

Sports sociologist Béatrice Barbusse says barriers remain entrenched, with high-level sporting roles still treated as male domains.

There are pioneers. In April, Marie-Louise Eta briefly led Union Berlin, the first woman to coach a Big 5 men’s side, for five matches. Before her, Corinne Diacre managed Clermont in Ligue 2 for three seasons until 2017, while Hannah Dingley led Forest Green Rovers in 2023 and Sabrina Wittmann coached FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third tier. Barbusse hopes Zidane now backs words with conditions that allow women to thrive in a non-sexist environment.

Source: L'Équipe