With the women’s World Cup set for Brazil next year, the writer notes that men will still dominate the sidelines and the officiating crew, even in a tournament meant to showcase women’s football. She says this is not a complaint about FIFA appointing six women to the World Cup staff, nor about the federation’s efforts, begun at the Qatar World Cup, to close gender gaps in refereeing. Those steps, she writes, are important and welcome.
The broader point is that equality in sport is not only about the players on the pitch. When boys and girls dream of football careers, they usually imagine playing, not the support roles around the game. But for many, especially women, those roles, refereeing, coaching, commentary and other football jobs, may be the main path into the sport after playing. The writer argues that physical differences matter less in these jobs, yet women remain too rare as coaches, analysts and referees, especially in men’s football.
She says football must open these doors more widely, and not only in the women’s game, because these are also the careers that can continue after retirement from professional play. Female players deserve the same professional horizon as men, using the experience and knowledge they built on the field. In practice, she says, that does not happen often enough, and the industry is still run by men and does not really wait for women.
The article cites Israel as an example, where many players prepare a parallel career outside football because their salaries are too low to support them, unlike their male counterparts. Many effectively start their second careers while still playing, and this can lead to early retirement. The writer says the situation does not have to remain this way, and points to a 2024 development in Germany: Marie-Louise Eta’s appointment as coach of Union Berlin made her the first woman on the staff of one of Europe’s five leading men’s leagues. She argues that the more common such sights become, the more natural they will feel, and the more they will help raise the profile of women’s football worldwide.
