Losing start for French football's first female coach

PARIS (Reuters) - Corinne Diacre received a bouquet of flowers from her opposite number but ended up on the losing side when she became the first woman to coach a men's football team in a competitive professional match in France on Monday.





Diacre, celebrating her 40th birthday, also became the first woman to coach in a game in the top two divisions of European football as she made her debut with Clermont Foot in their Ligue 2 match away to Brest.

Despite taking an early lead, her side conceded two second half goals to lose 2-1.

"We made two mistakes on the goals that we conceded, but we did some good things which are promising for the future," Diacre told reporters.

"Brest were in charge of the game and we had to chase the ball too much.

"I'm still happy with my players because they gave so much," added Diacre, who was presented with flowers by Brest coach Alex Dupont before the game.

"I'm proud of their performance tonight. Clermont will have to be taken seriously this season."

Souleymane Sawadogo gave Clermont an eighth minute lead before Brest replied with goals from Bruno Grougi and Alexandre Alphonse after halftime.

Diacre, former captain of the France women's team, took over at the end of June following the surprise resignation of Portugal’s Helena Costa.

Costa became the first female to be named coach of a men's team in the top two divisions of European football but quit before taking charge of a game, saying the club had hired players without her knowledge.

Clermont finished 14th in the 20-team table last season.





(Reporting By Brian Homewood)


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world