U.S. women's national team head coach Emma Hayes said there's a lot of work to be done before female coaches have a chance in the men's game.
Hayes is one of the most successful coaches in women's football, having won multiple titles with Chelsea and most recently winning gold at the Paris Olympics with the US women's team.
But when asked by BBC radio's Today programme on Thursday whether the owners of men's football teams were prepared to have a woman as manager, he replied: “Absolutely not, otherwise it would have happened already.”
Fourth-tier Forest Green Rovers became the first professional football team in England to appoint a woman as head coach when Hannah Dingley was given the job on a temporary basis last year.
“I've said it a million times: you can find a female pilot, you can find a female doctor, you can find a female lawyer, you can find a female banker, but you can't find a female coach working in men's football, coaching men. It just shows how much work there is to do,” Hayes said. “And that, for me, is why that's the one to ask.”
Hayes won seven Women's Super League titles in her 12-year reign at Chelsea. During that time, the men's team had 11 different managers.
“People often don't think a woman can manage a dressing room full of male characters,” Hayes told the BBC.
“I work with about 25 men every day. They're just the staff I work with. I never thought the players would be the problem. I think the players want to be coached. And if there's a coach available who's a woman, they'll understand that, just like they do with anything else in life.”
In 2021, he was reported to be in contention to take charge of Wimbledon's third-tier men's team.
At the time, she said it was an “insult” to describe women's football as a downgrade from men's.
