On the English Meadows, players have now proven to be very high levels and are quite active in their sport. But what about off the field? While more and more women are occupying positions of responsibility, football is still largely a matter of men in power.
What is the common denominator between Germany, England and France? They are all favorites for the Euro final and their coach is a woman.
But Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, Sarena Wegmann and Corinne Deacon are exceptions: only 6 countries qualified for this competition with coaches versus 10 coaches.
Among those men running the women is the Danish coach of Switzerland Nielsen and his opponent in the first Swiss women’s match at the Euros, Portugal’s Francisco Neto. “As a coach, I don’t care about gender as long as people are competent and passionate”, He says. But Neto explains that in the women’s team it is also important to have women on the coaching staff: “I have two assistants with me to lead the sessions”Portuguese launches.
man’s work
In fact, he doesn’t really have a choice. Determines UEFA in its own euro regulations It is mandatory for a woman to lead the women’s national team with at least one coach or assistant.
This is also the case with the Swiss team’s staff with several women around coach Nils Nielsen. “That’s fine, but in the national or international structures, in the committees where decisions are made, there are a lot of women missing.notes Tatiana Heaney before adding: It’s something we have to change very quickly, because it will help football in general.”.
The director of women’s football in Switzerland knows what she’s talking about. She is the only woman among the 8 members of the management of the Swiss Football Association, whose central committee also consists of 8 people, all of whom are men.
We soon realize that the female voice is still confined to women’s football because Tatiana Heaney’s voice is not represented on this committee.
Quota solution?
The Zurich native sees a solution to address this structural problem of inclusion: “I am campaigning for the establishment of a quota system, because until now it has not been possible to do so in a natural way.” According to Tatiana Heaney, the presence of women in football decision-making bodies will change the overall perspective of men’s football. This would ultimately benefit women’s football.
Quotas are also a procedure established by UEFA that at least one woman is represented on its Executive Committee, the top body of the European body made up of a total of 20 members. when we consult UEFA websiteWe think French Florence Hardwin seems pretty lonely…
take over
But among the women who occupy positions of responsibility within the European body, there are still quite a few, including Nadine Kessler. After hanging up her boots, the German is now the UEFA Women’s Football Director. When she is indicated that she is surrounded almost exclusively by men in her institution, this person does not communicate with him: “I think we can’t just press our fingers to change the system, we have to be more proactive and above all, attract women into football, whether as players, as fans or as leaders.”
Before we left, I removed another small arrow in a half-word: “We need to create chances and so far we can’t say we’ve done a good job. At UEFA, the federations and national clubs have to be more inclusive.”
A European champion as a player, Nadine Kessler must now be fighting off the field. Like her, after taking power in the meadows, women claim power on the sidelines or at the top echelons of Swiss and European football.
Leeds, Stefan Rina
