Another issue in soccer is getting attention after going unnoticed. Emma Hayes hasn’t been focusing just on pitch-wise activities in sports, but also off it. While equal pay and recognition for players have already hit the awareness button, it’s the cross opportunities across the sport that have brought concerns. After Emma Hayes was ‘baffled’ about the men’s teams not giving women the chance to coach them, the former France international dissented with Emma Hayes with a counter idea.

Speaking on Futbol Americas 1998 World Cup winner Frank LeBoeuf expressed his disappointment with Hayes’ opinion citing the history of French club Clermont Foot. He said, “I’m sad to hear Emma saying that because the United States represents something that you can open up and develop in a way that, since we saw Barack Obama becoming the president, everything is possible.”

And knowing that saying that it’s not possible with women to be a coach of a male team I’m sad about it,” claiming that the US was the best place where such a thing could be possible since it was done in the past in France.

Then, in the second division of French soccer, Clermont Foot made a revolutionary move by hiring Helena Costa in 2014. The former Qatar and Iran women’s national team coach became the first woman and managed to lead a men’s club in any European top two tiers. Yet, she had a short-lived tenure and resigned because of personal reasons. However, reports suggested she wasn’t treated well by her male colleagues who did not cooperate.

But it was the next move that impressed LeBeouf. After Costa, the club signed another woman lady coach, Corinne Diacre, who stayed with the club for three years. Diacre, a former French women’s captain who led them from 2014 to 2017, also stated that a few people outside were initially pessimistic about the matter.

Nonetheless, she reportedly clarified, saying, “It got easier over time as people got used to it. Within the team, it was completely normal.” Under her tenure, the team saw slight improvement to the previous manager finishing 7th in the 2015-16 season. Hence, the former Chelsea defender expected the USWNT coach to be more upbeat about the issue.

Frank Lebouf’s optimistic message for Emma Hayes

Emma Hayes earlier stated that the situation of hiring lady managers for men’s clubs was looking bleak. The English coach says that the problems lie with the higher-ups and not the players themselves, suggesting that there should have been noticeable women managers already. However, after claiming it was possible, he proclaimed the athletes would respect the female managers more.

He further said, “I’m encouraging everybody to think that’s true. I would have never had any problem to be coached by a woman. And even more, I would have more respect for a woman than for a man simply because she’s a woman because you have to respect a woman. And so it would create something special in the dressing room.”

Nevertheless, with people like Hayes opening up, soccer fans will love to see progress on the matter. With Hayes and the USA already bringing a lot of change through equality and innovations like the CBA contract, there could be hope for a solution.