Emma Hayes, the head coach of the United States Women’s National Team, is taking significant steps to address the underrepresentation of women in football coaching. She’s recently partnered with Xbox and Sky Sports to create an initiative. This is a grassroots program to identify and train the next generation of female football managers. This new effort comes in direct response to a shocking statistic—only nine percent of managers in professional football are women. Hence, we need more role models within the sport to inspire change.
Hayes has a strong pedigree as the former head honcho of Chelsea, taking the Blues to seven Women’s Super League (WSL) titles. Now she’s using her experience and growing influence to effect important change in the women’s game. Launched last week, the ‘Missing Manager’ campaign is an attempt to tackle the dearth of female coaches across the men’s game. In 2024, this figure was just 21 UK female coaches with a professional license, demonstrating the immediate need for action on this point.
A New Approach Through Gaming
Emma Hayes is taking the soccer world by storm! She’s using the world’s best-selling video game, Football Manager 26, to identify and fast track female coaching talent. The life cycle of the franchise has been nothing short of extraordinary, with Football Manager 24 reaching over 19 million players around the world. The newest iteration of the game released just this month. It’s opened up a world of women’s football, making for an intriguing new avenue for interaction.
“I think you can use gaming as a new pathway into football. That in itself is like exceptional,” – Emma Hayes
Hayes would like to see gaming continue to be a bridge to help reach more people as a way to get them connected to the professional game. She’s an outspoken advocate for female representation in the gaming world. Her mission is to motivate young girls and women to get into the coaching profession.
The Importance of Role Models
Hayes stresses the importance of providing that visibility and representation of female role models in football. She advocates raising more women into visible positions of leadership. We hope this move will encourage future generations to be active participants in our industry.
“I do think it’s important for girls and women to have more female role models. So, it’s not just about the coaching piece, it is the role model piece and being guided,” – Emma Hayes
She acknowledges that many young girls drop out of sports early due to a lack of relatable figures and understanding from coaches. To counter this, she calls for discussions designed exclusively for girls, with an emphasis on what they’re going through in the world of sports.
“Particularly if we want girls to stay in the sport and not drop out in early years, we have to have a better understanding of what girls go through and have the right conversations,” – Emma Hayes
Shifting Perspectives in Football
Hayes argues that football must be positioned through a female lens to create an inclusive environment for women in coaching. She takes on the prevailing attitude to mirror men’s football approaches. Instead, she makes the case to prioritize the specific needs and challenges that women face.
“First of all, we have to position it for a female lens. And so often we copy and paste everything from boys in the men’s game, which I think is a failure of the system,” – Emma Hayes
She speaks about her fear that there are so few women in every category of football, not just coaching. This true observation inspires and drives her to improve the status quo.
“It can be so disheartening sometimes when I see so limited females in the space. Not just in coaching, but across the game,” – Emma Hayes
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