Equal opportunities in France

By Christian Châtelet

France's participation in the finals of UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ this summer is reward for four years of dedication to developing the women's game by the French Football Federation (FFF).

Further afield
When France's men won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, not everyone saw it as the pinnacle of what French footballers could achieve. Having watched the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States, FFF president Claude Simonet and technical director Aimé Jacquet were inspired.

Important funding
After witnessing the quality of the play and the size of the crowds, the two men were resolved to redouble their efforts in raising the profile of the female game in France. Thus, with some of the money they made from hosting the 1998 World Cup, the FFF embarked upon a four-year plan.

French know-how
"Elite and grassroots development were the main aims of the programme," said Bernadette Constantin who headed the FFF's women's committee and helped manage the project. "We relied on the same French know-how training which had proved successful with male footballers."

Grassroots schemes
Among the grassroots measures adopted on the scheme, which ran from 2000 to 2004, the FFF offered financial incentives to clubs who formed women's teams, created national cups for Under-13 and U17 girls' teams and set up 26 footballing academies in high schools.

Specialist coaches
In addition, 20 specialist coaches were deployed to the French regions to monitor women's football, while the existing two-tier women's league was rejigged to create a three division system, with the FFF providing funding to help teams honour away fixtures.

Clairefontaine entrants
"We wanted to give French women's football a high profile," said Constantin. "For that reason, we needed to boost the top levels and the French national team." That focus on excellence was underlined when the first women were admitted to the famous Clairefontaine national technical centre near Paris. Girls aged 16 to 19 now train there twice a year.

Impressive results
The results of this intensive activity were impressive. Four years after the project began, the FFF had 46,000 registered women players - "40 to 50 per cent more than four years ago," according to Constantin. A dramatic rise, but considering the FFF boasts 1.5m male players, more work needs to be done.

Further efforts
"That's why the FFF's amateur football division will be continuing to follow a plan which will be totally focused on grassroots women's football," Constantin continued. "But it's a fact that our situation cannot not be compared with United States or the Nordic nations where women's football is much more widespread."

National successes
Grassroots development will help in the long term, but the success of the senior national team in the same period has provided an inspiring example. They have reached both of the last two WOMEN'S EURO finals, and also beat England in a play-off to reach the 2003 Women's World Cup.

Daily training
"In the past few years, financial help offered to clubs has allowed them to focus on training," said Constantin. "Nowadays, top-level players train daily which was not the case a few years ago. They have also improved in tactical terms and have gathered experience of big international encounters."

'Good going'
The question now remains as to whether France can crown this rapid development by winning the UEFA European Women's Championship this summer. "It will be hard and would be a surprise, but not so long ago we were losing 6-0 against Germany and Norway and now we've reduced the gap," said Constantin. "That's good going."