Cape of good hope

In common with many countries, South Africa retains a significant gender imbalance when it comes to soccer coaches.

Female coaches do exist, not least the likes of national-team coach Desiree Ellis, but the numbers remain small, with opportunities for others few and far between.

One person trying to address this imbalance is Carmen Rene – the first and only female coach active in the Cape Town Premier Futsal League.

In 2021, she took the bull by the horns and launched a free, accredited platform for female futsal coaches in Cape Town, enabling them to gain their coaching license and make them more employable.

Women’s Soccer Coaching caught up with Carmen to find out more...

WSC: How did this all come about? What's the idea behind it?

CR: "It started with me being the first and only female [coach] active in the provincial futsal league.

"On my D and C coaching licence courses, I was the only female among 20 to 50 male coaches and it was quite costly to attend.

"I then did some research and discovered why most females aren't accredited yet. It is because they don’t have the necessary funds to attend these courses.

"That's when I decided to work on a plan to see how I could help women in football.

"The idea is to create a pathway to make these women more employable and grow women’s futsal and football as a whole."

WSC: Who is it aimed at and how have you gone about reaching these people?

CR: "The aim of this course is to provide candidates with an understanding of the techniques and skills related to futsal.

"This course will help candidates organise and deliver basic futsal practices and will provide an introduction to the structure and laws of the game and the role futsal can play in developing underlying techniques.

"The course is aimed at unemployed female soccer players who have a keen interest in becoming coaches, as well as female coaches who are not yet accredited.

"I've used mainstream and social media to reach out to people."