By David Owen
May 7 – A French second division team has named a female manager in a milestone for gender equality in the sport. Helena Costa, 36, from Portugal will take over at Clermont Foot 63, currently 14th in Ligue 2, for next season.
An announcement on the club’s website said the appointment ought to enable it to begin “a new era”.
Costa was most recently coach of the Iranian women’s national team. She has also managed the national women’s team of Qatar and coached Benfica boys and youth teams. In 2005-06, she coached a senior men’s team called Cheleirense in a Lisbon regional league; the team topped the table.
Costa has also performed scouting duties on the Iberian peninsula for the top Scottish club Glasgow Celtic.
Located in a big, industrialised rugby town in central France where the Michelin tyre company was founded, Clermont Foot’s accomplishments to date are relatively modest, although it did knock Paris Saint-Germain out of the French Cup in 1997. A predecessor club, Stade Clermontois, was a Cup semi-finalist in 1945-46.
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