Female coach leads men’s team to elusive league title in HK
HONG KONG — At 27, Chan Yuen-ting is younger than several of the players she coaches at Hong Kong football side Eastern Sports Club, yet she has already secured a unique place for herself in soccer history by becoming the first woman to lead a men’s team to a top-division national championship.
HONG KONG — At 27, Chan Yuen-ting is younger than several of the players she coaches at Hong Kong football side Eastern Sports Club, yet she has already secured a unique place for herself in soccer history by becoming the first woman to lead a men’s team to a top-division national championship.
Chan, who has never played professionally, took charge at Eastern in December on a one-year contract, with the club not having won the Hong Kong league for 21 years. Last month, the team clinched that elusive title and made their female coach the talk of the town.
“I’m really lucky,” said Chan. “Now I make history and I have to say thanks to the club that they trust me, give me support and also the players encouraged me a lot this season.”
Chan is one of the few women in the world coaching a men’s professional team. The most well-known is Corrinne Diarce, who is coaching French Ligue 2 side Clermont, who are currently chasing promotion.
Chan had impediments in her path: A family that was sceptical about her career choice, conservative views about women’s involvement in men’s sports, and her own anxieties about whether she could command authority with male players.
“When I was like, maybe, 13 years old, and I wanted to play football, my family didn’t allow it, because in Chinese culture, girls or women shouldn’t play football, you should go to dance or you go to draw something, something like this,” said Chan.
A couple of years after that knockback by her family, Chan forged her mother’s signature on a form to apply for a summer training programme, and joined her local club at Sha Tin.
Though her path into the sport and her subsequent climb to the top of the game in Hong Kong was littered with hurdles, her initial inspiration to get involved in soccer was a common one for teenage girls at the time — a love for David Beckham.
“Why I play football is because I love David Beckham,” said Chan, who twice lost coaching jobs at another club, Pegasus, previously, when sponsors pulled out. “Yeah, every time I want to quiz something, I watch Beckham’s match video and just try to get some message or positive energy, messages from him.”
She also paid tribute to her players for their support. “I’m still learning, but fortunately, my players didn’t always challenge me, or ask a lot of questions. They just trusted me and followed my plan.”
Eastern’s title win gives it a shot at next year’s Asian Champions League, and club bosses have promised to invest in the squad to pursue further success in 2017, but Chan has ambitions beyond Hong Kong.
“I want to go to another country, maybe as an assistant coach, to get more knowledge,” said Chan, who plans to get an AFC Pro Licence soon. “Hong Kong’s football level is not very high compared with like Japan, Korea, so if I have (the) chance, I want to go.
“I want to learn something and then bring something to Hong Kong football.” AP