STILL A GAME?
MORE than 70 per cent of national women's football teams have male coaches - even though no woman has ever managed a men's team at international level.
New analysis of Fifa's men and women's teams shows there is still a hugely disproportionate gender managing the sport. Some 140 national women's teams are recognised by Fifa - but just 42 of those are managed by women. They include Wales' Jayne Ludlow, the USA'S Jill Ellis, and Japan's Asako Takakura. The 98 remaining teams are all managed by men - including Germany's Horst Hrubesch, Spain's Jorge gap in Vilda and Portugal's Francisco Neto.
The England women's team is currently managed by Phil Neville who apologised earlier this year after he was found to have posted sexist tweets in 2011.
But while Neville coaches the women's team, never in the history of men's national football has a team been managed by a woman.
It came closest when Helena Costa was appointed manager of French second division club Clermont 63.
She resigned after 49 days, claiming that she had been sidelined by men in the club who had made decisions without her permission.
Women's football has generally had a rocky history.
In 1921 the FA initiated a 50-year ban because of reservations around the sport's suitability for women.
It means that no women's team was allowed to play on grounds affiliated to the FA. When England won the World Cup in 1966, women were still five years away from being allowed to play the game. This analysis only includes the 140 women's teams officially recognised Fifa. The women's World Cup kicks off in France next year. by