By Samindra Kunti
November 7 – The Brazilian FA, the CBF, have appointed their first female head coach with Emily Lima (pictured) chosen to succeed Oswaldo Alvarez.
Alvarez, commonly known as Vadão, coached Brazil at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He had led his team to a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games, raising the expectation of success in Rio. Brazil, however, were frustrated by Sweden in the semi-finals and missed out on a medal. They outplayed their Scandinavian counterparts completely, but Pia Sundhage’s defensive approach held firm and the hosts were eliminated on penalties.
Lima will make her management debut in December at a tournament in Brazil’s Amazon city of Manaus when they play Costa Rica, Russia and Italy. At club level, Lima guided her club Sao Jose to second spot in the Brazilian Cup in September.
The appointment of Lima is a historic moment for Brazilian women’s football that has historically been marginalized in the football obsessed country. In 1941 a decree levied by the National Sports Council stated that females “will not be allowed to practice sports incompatible with the conditions of their nature.” Women were prohibited from playing the game until 1979.
Today, the Brazilian women’s game suffers from low attendances and inadequate funding at both the club and national level. Despite this in 2007 Brazil were silver medalists at the women’s World Cup.
At the forefront of the battle for the women’s game in Brazil over the past decade has been five-time world player of the year Marta Vieira.
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