Hervé Renard, the new coach of the French women’s football team, has expressed his discontent over the scheduling of matches that led to his team playing at the same time as the men’s Champions League. Despite his team winning both their games against Colombia (5-2) and Canada (2-1), Renard voiced his frustration with the scheduling, stating that it hindered the progress of women’s football.
Renard believes that more could be done to promote women’s football, and that scheduling conflicts such as the one that occurred during the Canada game could have been avoided. He suggested that the match against Colombia could have been played on Thursday instead, and the Canada match on Monday, thus avoiding a clash with a high-profile men’s Champions League fixture such as Manchester City vs Bayern Munich. The following was transcribed by L’Équipe.
“If we want to move women’s football forward, which it deserves, I think we can do better when it comes to scheduling,” Renard said. “We could have played the match against Colombia in Clermont last Thursday, and this match against Canada on Monday evening. That would have avoided being in competition with a Champions League match, especially a fixture like Manchester City vs Bayern. We need to think about all of this if women’s football is going to progress.”
Renard’s comments reflect a growing concern among those involved in women’s football that the sport is not receiving the same level of attention and support as men’s football. While the women’s game has made significant strides in recent years, there is still a long way to go before it is on equal footing with the men’s game.
GFFN | George Boxall
