Former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has spoken about the importance of having more female role models to address the lack of women in coaching roles.

Only nine per cent of managers in professional football are female, something Football Manager’s ‘Missing Manager’ initiative is seeking to change.

Hayes, who is currently the head coach of the United States Women’s national team, is leading the charge alongside Xbox and Sky Sports who are using the power of Football Manager 26 to find the next generation of female football managers.

“One of the things I think I’ve always tried to champion is the visibility piece,” Hayes said in a special edition of the Pitch to Pod podcast.

“It can be so disheartening sometimes when I see so limited females in the space. Not just in coaching, but across the game.

“I do think it’s important for girls and women to have more female role models. So, it’s not just about the coaching piece, it is the role model piece and being guided.

“Particularly if we want girls to stay in the sport and not drop out in early years, we have to have a better understanding of what girls go through and have the right conversations so that we can connect with them.”

“For me, the absence of female coaches plays a massive part in that.”

The campaign is offering women the chance to kickstart their coaching careers with fully-funded professional training.

Hayes believes there are several factors to consider to help bring more women into coaching.

“First of all, we have to position it for a female lens. And so often we copy and paste everything from boys in the men’s game, which I think is a failure of the system.

“I think we have to reflect on what does work for women to be in the game. How can we make it accessible for them to be able to do that?

“I’ve always talked about the importance of maybe job shares or maybe more online courses so that people that, you know, some people are managing families or carers. And so the sacrifices you have to give up, sometimes I think it’s been inaccessible for people to stay in.

“And then, of course, the mentoring piece, mentoring people through that process. So I think it’s the system and there’s every one of us within it. I think we have to be much more intentional in its design to do it.”

‘I had great support – but I was one of the lucky ones’

Hayes also spoke about the support she received after having her son, Harry, in 2018 while she was at Chelsea. Asked whether she would have walked away from the game if she hadn’t the support around her, she said:

“Yeah, 100 per cent. I think I was very fortunate to get the support I did. But I was the privileged one.

“I was the one at the top end of the game that was getting support to be able to do that. But I was also doing it in the dark too. I didn’t have a role model to follow in that situation.

“And I think that’s why I’ve always wanted to be so public about talking about being a parent in coaching to try and normalise it as much as possible.

“But I think that it must be so difficult for so many if you don’t have family support or you don’t have club support to be able to do that.

“I think that whether a youth club, amateur club, pro club, how intentional are you being at not only bringing women into the coaching space, but keeping them there and thinking at it through their lens, not through a male one.”

Gaming can create a new pathway to football

While technology continues to develop both in and out of football, Hayes is hopeful that it can be used to drive more people into the sport.

The Football Manager franchise has seen its audience exponentially grow in recent years, with Football Manager 24 being played by over 19 million people worldwide.

With women’s football being introduced to the latest version of the game released earlier in November, Hayes believes that gaming could help guide more people into the professional game.

“I think you can use gaming as a new pathway into football. That in itself is like exceptional,” The USWNT head coach admitted.

“You have to think that just in 2024, there were only 21 female coaches in the UK with pro licences.

“Can you imagine the impact gaming might have on the interest within the game? And inadvertently, this campaign is one that is offering to educate, fully funded courses for people to do.

“In turn, hopefully that has an impact on the system. That for me is unique, what they’re doing.”

Listen to the full interview on a bonus episode of Pitch to Pod, available wherever you get your podcasts.