--- title: Helena Costa Becomes First Female Coach of Major Men's Soccer Club description: French Men's Football Club Hires Female Coach canonical: https://time.com/92826/first-female-soccer-coach-for-major-mens-team/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-08T19:46:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:15.689Z og:title: Helena Costa Becomes First Female Coach of Major Men's Soccer Club og:description: French Men's Football Club Hires Female Coach og:url: https://time.com/92826/first-female-soccer-coach-for-major-mens-team/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1066c7e59e57557/69868e89d0b6f2519b30432e/helena-costa-female-football-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Helena Costa Female Coach og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Helena Costa Becomes First Female Coach of Major Men's Soccer Club twitter:description: French Men's Football Club Hires Female Coach twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1066c7e59e57557/69868e89d0b6f2519b30432e/helena-costa-female-football-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # French Men's Football Club Picks First Female Coach in Historic Hire > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 8, 2014 7:46 PM UTC  Portugal's Helena Costa in action as coach of Qatar's women football team on May 26, 2012. Portugal's Helena Costa in action as coach of Qatar's women football team on May 26, 2012. AFP/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 8, 2014 7:46 PM UTC Helena Costa became [the first woman to coach a men’s professional soccer team in France](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/sports/soccer/hired-by-clermont-foot-helena-costa-sets-major-soccer-milestone.html?smid=tw-nytimes&%5Fr=1) on Wednesday, when she was hired to coach the Clermont Foot 63, a second-division club in Germont-Ferrand. “I think this is about more than Helena Costa as a football coach,” Costa told the New York _Times_ in a telephone interview from her home country, Portugal. “I think it’s very good for all the women in sports, especially in football of course. It could have been someone else. And I hope this is only the first step. I opened a door today and more women will walk through on my back. That’s what I hope.” Before coming to France, Costa, 36, managed the women’s national teams of Qatar and Iran, was a scout for Scottish men’s club Celtic and a manager for boys’ teams at Benfica in Portugal. This won’t be her first time coaching adult men: she coached a men’s team in Portugal that competed at the regional level. No woman has ever coached a men’s team in the top two levels of Europe’s five major professional leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. And there has never been a female coach in the United States’ MLS. Costa will take over as manager later this month when the team’s current season ends. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/sports/soccer/hired-by-clermont-foot-helena-costa-sets-major-soccer-milestone.html?smid=tw-nytimes&%5Fr=1)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/92826/first-female-soccer-coach-for-major-mens-team/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/92826/first-female-soccer-coach-for-major-mens-team/"},"headline":"French Men's Football Club Picks First Female Coach in Historic Hire","datePublished":"2014-05-08T19:46:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:15.689Z","description":"Helena Costa, who has managed the women's national teams of Qatar and Iran, will be the first woman to coach a men's professional soccer team in any major European league when she begins her role with Clermont Foot 63","url":"https://time.com/92826/first-female-soccer-coach-for-major-mens-team/","keywords":["Living","feminism","Soccer","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1066c7e59e57557/69868e89d0b6f2519b30432e/helena-costa-female-football-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1066c7e59e57557/69868e89d0b6f2519b30432e/helena-costa-female-football-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Helena Costa Female Coach","caption":"Helena Costa Female Coach","creditText":"AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/92826/first-female-soccer-coach-for-major-mens-team/","name":"French Men's Football Club Picks First Female Coach in Historic Hire"}}]}] ```