da bet7： After reaching four successive tournament finals, the Dutchwoman has been linked with a number of top jobs in the men's game

da pixbet： England head coach Sarina Wiegman has long been a history-maker and a record-breaker. Whether in her playing days, during which she became the first Dutch footballer to reach 100 caps, or in her managerial career, which has seen her lead both the women’s teams of the Netherlands and England to their first major tournament triumphs, Wiegman’s incredible achievements have so often been significant milestones. But, as she led England to a first Women’s World Cup final earlier this year, rumours began to swirl of another first, one of an entirely different nature.

No men's international team has ever offered a job to a female coach but, in the build-up to that final, Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the Football Association (FA), said that he believed Wiegman “could do anything she wants in football” when asked if she could be a contender to replace Gareth Southgate, the head coach of the men’s team, in the future.

A few days later, it became evident that the English FA was not the only federation thinking in that manner. A report from said that Wiegman was also being considered in the Netherlands, her home country, to coach the men’s national team.

Having carved out a reputation as one of the best managers in the women’s game, winning the last two European Championship titles and reaching the last two World Cup finals, in some ways it’s no surprise that Wiegman is being linked with such historic appointments in huge jobs. U.S. Soccer is also rumoured to be an admirer of the Dutchwoman as it searches for a replacement for Vlatko Andonovski, who left his post as head coach of the U.S. women’s national team after a dismal World Cup campaign.

But in the men’s game, cases of female coaches are few and far between. If England’s record-breaking leader was to become the latest one, it would certainly be the most high-profile instance to date.

GettyA man’s world

While women’s football has grown massively in recent years, there is still a very small female presence in the men’s game. Female officials, physios and technical staff remain in small numbers, despite that not being the case for men in the women’s game.

In terms of coaches, you have to drop to the 10th tier of the men’s football pyramid in England to find a female manager. At the professional level, every single team is led by a man. Of course, that’s not a massive surprise given that the number of women in coaching remains small in comparison to the number of men, simply because the sport has historically been more welcoming for men than women.

As that begins to change, the hope is that there will be more women coming into the men’s game – in academies, as part of first-team staff and more. Diversity is always positive. It brings different styles, ideas and skills to the table. And as someone like Wiegman has shown, there are some truly excellent female coaches out there.

AdvertisementGetty Images'A stepping stone'

But despite successful female coaches in the women’s game not yet taking up high-profile roles in men’s football, there have been several examples when it comes to male coaches doing so. John Herdman spent seven years in charge of Canada's women's team before being named the head coach of the men's team in 2018. After five years in that job, which saw him guide the North American nation to a first-ever appearance at a men's World Cup, Herdman left to take charge of MLS team Toronto FC just last month.

Phil Neville, meanwhile, had no experience in women’s football when he was appointed the head coach of England’s women’s national team in early 2018. Three years later, he would secure the job as head coach of MLS side Inter Miami.

A few months after it was announced that Neville was to leave the England role, the former Manchester United defender came in for plenty of criticism for comments in which he described the role as essentially a stepping stone to club football. "The fact that you can come out and say you were using our national team as a stepping stone, that disappointed me," Fara Williams, England's most capped footballer, told . "I just think it shows a little lack of respect for our game, and where it was and where we are trying to get it to."

GettyAn 'insult' to women's football

That idea of the women's game being a step towards the bigger honour of managing in the men's game has sadly come up a few times. In recent years, the name of Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has regularly been mentioned when there have been vacancies in men's football. Hayes has transformed Chelsea into the dominant force in English women’s football, winning 15 trophies since joining the club in 2012.

In early 2021, she was linked with the job at AFC Wimbledon, a club third-from-bottom in League One, the third tier of English men's football. In a press conference, it was put to her that there had been talk of a step up to the men’s game, which she wasted no time in shutting down.

“Women's football is not a step down from anything,” Hayes said. "Fran Kirby, Pernille Harder, Beth England, Magda Eriksson, Millie Bright, Maren Mjelde – do you want me to keep going? These are world-class players. It's an insult to them that we talk about women's football being a step down, with the dedication and the commitment and the quality they have.

"When the football world is ready to adhere to the diversity codes, so that BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities, plus women, get the opportunities in football, then I’ll see that as a step forward," she added. "This is not a conversation about Emma Hayes and AFC Wimbledon, but we should be having larger conversations around creating opportunities across the diverse spectrum so that opportunities in the men’s game are not limited to those in privileged positions."

GettySlowly but surely

It’s a huge positive that Hayes and Wiegman have been linked with these jobs. It shows that their quality is being recognised. There is nothing insulting about someone thinking you would be a good coach.

It’s positive, too, that someone like Lydia Bedford, the former head coach of Leicester City’s women’s team and part of the coaching staff at Arsenal, has recently moved into the academy set-up at Brentford, coaching the Under-18 men's team.

Hannah Dingley's appointment as the caretaker manager of League Two club Forest Green Rovers, meanwhile, attracted a lot of attention – some unwanted – when she became the first and only woman to have been in charge of a professional men's team in English football in July. Even though she didn’t get the permanent role, it shone a light on her achievements as the first woman to coach a men's academy team in England.

“It frustrates me that female coaches might think the female game might be their only opportunity in the game,” Dingley told in 2021. “There are lots of opportunities in the men’s game, academy football is massive. I was told I got the job because I was the best person for it.”

The more cases like this, the more that aspiring female coaches can see that there is a path for them into men’s football as well as women’s football. It means there are more opportunities for them to get to where they want to be and more avenues to take. Given how long football has been seen as a man’s game, though, it will take time for a significant increase in gender diversity to become apparent.