“For the feminization of the staff, we will come back…” On August 13, when the first 22 names of Zinedine Zidane’s technical staff at the Blues were revealed by the FFF, the tweet from journalist Estelle Denis did not go unnoticed, pointing out a terrible observation: among the twenty or so collaborators announced to accompany ZZ in his new adventure there was no woman. Despite the evidence, the journalist was the target of severe attacks.
The problem is certainly not new. There were no more in the staff of Didier Deschamps, the predecessor of the former Ballon d’Or on the Blues bench, nor even in that of Raymond Domenech, the former companion of Estelle Denis.
But at the end of July, The Team revealed that the new French coach, keen to bring a new sensitivity within the group, had a clear ambition: to integrate several women into his staff. The video analysis, nutrition and data sectors were targeted to accommodate these female skills. A desire which should make it possible to break the glass ceiling above the ultra-masculine ecosystem of the selection.
A larger problem
Reading the list revealed this Tuesday is ultimately final. Twenty-six names. Twenty-six men. From loyal assistants like David Bettoni to fitness trainers, analysts, doctors, physios and data specialists. Zinedine Zidane’s will has evaporated, giving way to a 100% male organization chart.
If this observation is of concern in the wake of Zidane, the problem is in reality much larger and more structural. The absence of women within the Blues staff is only the symptom of a dysfunction rooted throughout the national landscape, including in women’s football itself. You just have to look at the elite of the French women’s championship, D1 Arkema, to measure the extent of the gap: out of the twelve benches in the first division, only one woman occupies the position of head coach, Sonia Bompastor, coach of Olympique Lyonnais.
