Corinne Diacre received a bouquet of flowers from her opposite number but ended up on the losing side when she became the first woman to coach a men’s soccer team in a competitive professional match in France on Monday.
Diacre, celebrating her 40th birthday, also became the first woman to coach in a game in the top two divisions of European soccer as she made her debut with Clermont Foot in their Ligue 2 match away to Brest. Despite taking an early lead, her side conceded two second half goals to lose 2-1.
“We made two mistakes on the goals that we conceded, but we did some good things which are promising for the future,” Diacre told reporters.
“Brest were in charge of the game and we had to chase the ball too much.