António Gedeão’s poem, Pedra Filosofal, already said that “the dream rules life”, but to be a footballer, says Sónia Bompastor, coach of the women’s team of Lyon (a club that has won six of the last seven editions of the Champions League ), except that it is essential “to make your dreams come true as a little girl”, “there must be equal opportunities” and that girls feel supported when they decide they want to become a player: “Surround yourself with people who support you” .
Daughter of parents from Póvoa de Varzim, but already born in France, the now 42-year-old coach was one of the best French footballers of her generation. He represented France 158 times, including at the 2003 and 2011 World Cups and at the 2001, 2005 and 2009 European Championships. But the beginning “was very difficult”, he said during a lecture at Cidade do Futebol, in Oeiras, on Monday.
Starting with the first conversation with her mother, who soon tried to dissuade her from the idea of becoming a footballer by letting her play handball, tennis and even ping pong. Having a soccer referee father and a soccer brother only made my passion grow. and the discussions about football at home. Long playing with boys in his childhood and adolescence gave him great strength and allowed him to discover his real abilities.
It was in Lyon that Sónia Bompastor achieved her greatest successes as a player, being French champion eight times and winning the Champions League twice. There she later took on the role of technical coordinator (from 2014 to 2020), before taking over technical management.
And it was also with the historic French emblem, before she took on the position of coach, that she felt a certain amount of discrimination. They asked her if she would have time for such a demanding job, referring to the fact that she was a mother of four children. To which she replied, “Would you ask that question to a coach who has four kids?
“have women in decision-making positions”
At the event organized by the Portuguese Football Federation, dedicated to women’s football and women leading in football, Vanda Sigurgeirsdottir, President of the Icelandic Federation, Nuria Martinez Navas, Team Manager of the Spanish National Team, and Raquel Rosa, FIFA Agent, pointed out the secret of success and the evolution of the modality: “Never give up the fight.”
Even if the fight starts very early and starts with little things like the order of entry into hotels. “I was 10 years old when I started to realize there were differences. And later, I would have been around 20, playing for my national team, I imposed myself when I saw male footballers coming into hotels first and we had to wait, on the bus,” said the Icelandic manager, former player and coach.
Vanda Sigurgeirsdottir now has a seat at UEFA and defended the importance of “women where decisions are made”, especially when those decisions concern women’s football, which is undergoing major changes: “Women should be in these positions. That’s how it was in Iceland: they decided in that direction. And diversity has enabled us to work better.”
Spain’s Nuria Martinez Navas, the only woman to sit on a bench at the last 2022 World Cup, agrees with the idea of paving the way for more women in elite football, “not least because, at the end of the day, football is for all of us”.
Businesswoman Raquel Rosa, on the other hand, defended that women should believe in their skills and not get caught up in matters that have nothing to do with competence and work capacity. “We have more and more agents in women’s football and there will be more. The work of an agent is very hard, we have to move from one side to the other, we have to be very careful with the network, with the forces, otherwise we won’t last long,” he added, adding: “I didn’t get where I got because I was a woman or a man, but because I was always very focused on the objectives. “
For Raquel Rosa, women’s football shouldn’t replicate everything men do: “I don’t want to have a beer at one in the morning or discuss contracts over a glass of wine. I have to fight for negotiation and goals in a different way than what people do. We must discover these resources ourselves.’
And start changing something as banal as the way of communicating. “For example, the names of competitions change. Why do we call the Women’s World Cup and only the World Cup if it’s just men’s football? It is not said that Nuria is “from the men’s team, it is said that she is from the Spanish national team” ” said Vanda Sigurgeirsdottir.
The event took place days after Portugal’s women’s national team achieved an unprecedented qualification for the 2023 World Cup.
Source: DN
