French Ligue 2 side name woman boss

Helena Costa: French Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot name woman boss

Portugal’s Helena Costa is to be the highest-profile female manager of a European men’s team after being named head coach of Clermont Foot in France.

Costa, a former scout for Scottish Premiership side Celtic, has coached the Iran women’s team since 2012.

The 36-year-old, who has also coached Benfica’s male youth teams and the Qatar women’s side, will join Clermont officially at the end of the season.

“It should help the club enter a new era,” the French Ligue 2 club said.

Before Costa, the highest-profile appointment of a woman as coach of a men’s team in Europe was that of Carolina Morace, who took charge of Italian Serie C1 team Viterbese for two matches in 1999.

Costa, who scouted for Celtic between 2008 and 2011, has also managed Portuguese lower-league men’s team Cheleirense, where she won the Lisbon regional championship in 2006.

Costa in short

Born in the Portuguese town of Alhandra on 15 April 1978, Costa has a Uefa A licence coaching qualification and a Masters degree in sports science.

She helped Benfica’s youth team to second place in their national championship in 2005 before going on to combine the role with spells in charge of Cheleirense men’s team and the Sociedade Uniao 1 Dezembro and Odivelas women’s sides.

Costa left Benfica when she took over the Qatar women’s team in 2010 and took charge of their Iranian counterparts side in 2012. She left Iran in September last year.

A Celtic spokesperson said: “She did an excellent job for us and we know she will give her new position the same high level of commitment and dedication which she gave to Celtic.”

Najat Belkacem, France’s Women’s Minister, responded to the appointment by posting on Twitter:  “Bravo Clermont Foot for understanding that giving a place to women is the future of professional football.”

Veronique Soulier, president of Clermont Foot’s supporters’ club, said: “It surprised us when we read the club statement. But once we got over it, we all believe that it is a good thing.

“The boys in the team can be difficult to manage. They can be quite sensitive, that is what the other coaches have told us. With a woman in charge, maybe they will be less demanding.”

Costa spent 13 years as a youth coach with Benfica from 1997, in addition to winning two Portuguese national women’s league titles with Sociedade Uniao 1 Dezembro in 2007 and 2008, leading the club into the Women’s Champions League.

She also guided Odivelas to promotion from the Portuguese women’s second tier as champions in 2009.

Costa led Qatar’s women to their first international victory, a 4-1 win over Maldives in 2012, but was unsuccessful in her attempt to guide Iran to a debut appearance at the 2015 Women’s World Cup finals.

At Clermont, she will replace former Montpellier midfielder Regis Brouard, whose contract as head coach expires at the end of the season.

The club are 14th in the French second-tier with two matches to play.

The club started in 1911 under the name Stade Clermontois. Despite little league success in the early days, they reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France during the 1945–46 season. Their professional status was repealed after the 46–47 season due to financial difficulties. The club became professional again in 1966. 1984 saw an expansion, with Stade-Clermontois and AS Montferrand merging to form Clermont-Ferrand Football Club (CFC). The club was placed in the third division.

The club was later renamed Clermont Foot Auvergne, having to start again in the Division Honneur. After 13 years, Clermont Foot got promoted multiple times, from the Division Honneur up to Ligue 2 in 1993. During these 13 years of success, the club had numerous successes in the Coupe de France. One notable cup run was in 1997, when the Auvergne club eliminated three professional sides, Martigues, Lorient and then Paris Saint-Germain, before succumbing to Nice.

More recently, the club won the Championnat National in 2007, being promoted to Ligue 2 again, from which they had been relegated in 2006.

On 7th May 2014 the club made football history when they announced the appointment of Helena Costa as their first team coach. She was the first female to be appointed to a senior coaching position in the men’s game. Costa had previously scouted for Scottish Premiership team Glasgow Celtic, coached Benfica‘s male youth teams and also coached the women’s teams of Iran and Qatar. She will begin her new role from 1st June 2014.

Leave a Reply