By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
The just concluded FIFA Women’s World Cup final in Australia and New Zealand has showcased the strides made in women’s football on the field in recent years just as it has exposed some of the notions held by some people especially the advocates of “only women can manage the affairs of women footballers”.
They argued that coaching and administration of the women’s football should be left exclusively for the women in a world that the gap between what men can do and what women cannot handle has narrowed significantly. It has become as clear as death that whatever men can do, women are doing it even better.
There is no sphere of life or any venture, including sports, which can be argued that it is an exclusive preserve for men or women. Either men or women can undertake and excel in any venture or sports. This includes coaching and administration of women’s football from the grassroots to the highest levels.
Also, this explains why most of the sporting activities in the world today including athletics, swimming, boxing, karate, judo, basketball and king of sports-football, are being competed for and managed by men and women from amateur to professional levels.
Aside being players or athletes in several sports, women have since joined in coaching and administration of these sports including football even as many of them have led teams or athletes to win laurels at big events including the World Cup.
For example, in women’s football, the history will not be complete without mentioning
Jill Ellis (born Jillian Anne Ellis), an English-American veteran football coach who did what male coaches have not been able to achieve in women’s football, winning back-to-back FIFA Women’s World Cup titles with United States. The country has won four times, followed by Germany with two titles, and Norway, Japan and Spain with one title each.
Currently the President of San Diego Wave FC, Ellis coached the United States of America (USA) senior women’s national team from 2014 to 2019 and won two FIFA Women’s World Cups in 2015 and 2019, making her the second coach to win consecutive World Cups. Only a coach had achieved that feat in the male World Cup.
Ellis stepped down as the team’s head coach in October 2019 and currently serves as an ambassador for the United States Soccer Federation, with her focus being on working with the federation to help raise the number of women in coaching. She has also served as head coach for various college and United States national youth teams over her career.
Before Ellis emerged in the scene, male coaches have led their countries to lift the World Cup and in the nine World Cup tournaments won by five national teams.
Those who won the FIFA Women’s World Cup considered the most prestigious women’s association football tournament in the world are: Anson Dorrance-199, United States; Even Pellerud-1995, Norway; Tony DiCicco-1999- United States; Tina Theune-Meyer- 2003, Germany; Silvia Neid-2007, Germany; Norio Sasaki-2011, Japan; Jill Ellis-2015, England/United States; Jill Ellis-2019, England/United States and Jorge Vilda-2023, Spain. READ ALSO:
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In all, eight different managers have won the World Cup and all winning managers led their own country’s national team. Two other managers finished as winners once and runners-up once. They are Even Pellerud (winner in 1995, runners-up in 1991) for Norway, and Norio Sasaki (winner in 2011, runner-up in 2015) for Japan respectively.
Also, Even Pellerud of Norway holds the records for both most matches managed (25) and most matches won (16) while Anson Dorrance of USA is the youngest manager to win the World Cup, being 40 in 1991. Japan’s Norio Sasaki is the oldest coach to win the World Cup, being aged 53 years and 54 days in 2011.
Five male coaches have lifted the trophy while three women gaffers have won the titles at different times with Jill Ellis the only one to litft the trophy twice at a stretch.
However, when the drums were beating louder for women coaches to continue to dominate their men counterparts in Australia and New Zealand, men gaffers stormed to the finish line like thunderbolt and by the time the competition reached the business end at the Round of 16 stage, only three women coaches were left in the hunt for podium finish.
The first 32-team Women’s World Cup began with no fewer than a dozen women Head Coaches in Down Under with Sarina Wiegman who took England to the final against Spain on Sunday the leading light of women coaches.
Among women coaches who crashed out with their teams are Canada’s Beverly Priestman; Vera Pauw of Republic of Ireland; Brazil’s gaffer Pia Sundhage; Martina Voss-Tecklenburg who led Germany to disastrous outing and Italy’s Milena Bertolini.
China’s first female Head Coach, Shui Qingxia and ex-Norway captain, Hege Riise could not take their teams to the knockout stage just as South Africa’s Head Coach, Desiree Ellis; Inka Grings of Switzerland and Hege Riise of Norway whose teams reached Round of 16 could not go further as they were knocked out by Netherlands and Spain respectively.
As the tournament heads into the quarter-finals, England boss Sarina Wiegman is the only woman left on the touchline even as the semi-final was dominated by male coaches namely Jorge Rodríguez Vilda, a Spanish football coach and UEFA Pro Licence holder, who has been the Head Coach of the Spain women’s national football team since 2015.
Vilda is also Sporting Director of the Spanish FA’s (RFEF) women’s national-team system and tactical instructor at their National Coaching School.
Others are Peter Gerhardsson, Sweden’s national women’s football team. Appointed in 2016 to replace Pia Sundhage and Australia’s women’s football team Head Coach Tony Gustavsson, one-time Assistant coach of USA under Pia Sundhage from April 2012 and returned from 2014 to 2019, won two FIFA Women’s World Cup trophies with USA in 2015 and 2019 and hired by Australia on September 29, 2020.
The 2019 Women’s World Cup final was the second, after 2003, to feature a woman in both dugouts as that did not repeat this year after Hege Riise’s Norway, Inka Grings’ Switzerland and Desiree Ellis’s South Africa were all beaten in the last 16.
Wiegman is the standard-bearer for woman managers, having won the European Championship with her native Netherlands in 2017 before taking them to the World Cup final two years later. She then won the Euro again last year with England.
The Lionesses were the favourites to lift the 2023 FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand but it was not to be as Spain ran away with 1-0 victory to deny Wiegman the honour being the third woman coach in a row to win the World Cup after Jill Ellis.
Meanwhile, 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup showed clearly that it is not totally true that only women can manage women’s football teams or players as many countries have full compliments of men in the coaching crew, medical personnel, backroom staff and administrative support staff like Media Officers.
For example, the Media Managers of England women’s football team, the Three Lionesses are men. David Gerty and Callum Davies respectively.
While Gerty operates as the Head of Women’s Football Communications and Lead, Communications and Media Relations for the England’s women’s teams, Davies is the Communications Officer of England’s women’s team, Three Lionesses.
Also, seven out of eight Sarina Wiegman’s backroom staff are men including three assistant coaches, Arjan Veurink, Geraint Twose and Darren Ward who is a Goalkeeping Coach as well as two medical personnel, Ritan Mehta (Women’s Lead Performance Doctor/Team Doctor) and Martin Evans (Physical Performance Pathway Lead).
The involvement of men in women’s football dates back to several years and continued after the maiden FIFA Women’s World Cup final in 1991 in China. And till 2011 World Cup final in Germany, the then President of Football Association of Thailand (FAT), Mr. Worawi Makudi was the Chairman of FIFA Committee for Women’s Football.
Makudi, a FIFA Council Member piloted the affairs of women’s football and the game witnessed alot of growth under his leadership including the introduction of the FIFA Women’s Football Symposium held every four years.
This writer was the only Nigerian journalist who participated in the 2nd FIFA Women’s Football Symposium held at Los Angeles Convention Centre, California, USA in 1991 with the ongoing growth and development of the women’s game the primary focus.
Luckily, Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum, who has spent much of his career coaching women’s teams at college level in the United States, told international media outlets in Australia that there needed to be investment and a change of mindset in women’s football if it must match men football.
According to him it is not that men should not be coaching women’s football teams but believes that if they love the women’s game and they are invested in it, then they should have the opportunity to do it, insisting that there must be need for bigger investment in women football and women coaching too.
This argument is apt as some people in the corridors of power especially at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have always claimed that only women can be seen around the three national teams namely Flamingos (U-17); Falconets (U-20) and Super Falcons respectively.
Such people who do not mean for the development and growth of women’s football in Nigeria will insist that men do not have anything to do with the management of women’s football, arguing that FIFA and CAF told them that they must put women incharge of Nigeria’s women football teams.
This argument has now fallen flat on its face if the composition of England’s senior women football team, Three Lionesses as stated above are anything to rely upon.
The world is moving forward and Nigeria should not be left behind as the NFF is now condemned to follow the world trend by allowing qualified Nigerians, male of female to work with the country’s women football teams for the “Good of the Game”.
This is the way to go.
By Harry Awurumibe is Women’s Football Aficionado
