Forest Green's Hannah Dingley becomes first woman to manage pro English men's team

LONDON - Fourth-tier side Forest Green Rovers appointed Hannah Dingley as caretaker manager on Tuesday (July 4) following Duncan Ferguson's exit, making her the first woman to manage a men's professional team in England.

Forest Green, who were relegated from League One last season, said earlier on Tuesday that Ferguson had left his role after six months in charge.

Dingley's first game in charge will be a friendly at non-league side Melksham Town later on Wednesday.

"I'm really excited for this next step of my career," Dingley, who has a Uefa pro licence, told the club's website. "I am grateful for the opportunity to step up and to lead such a progressive and forward-thinking club."

Dingley joined the Gloucestershire club in 2019 to take charge of the academy and remains the only woman to manage a club academy in the English men's league football. She also launched a girls' academy in 2021.

The 39-year-old previously coached women's teams at Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and Lincoln and was head of coaching at League One side Burton Albion's academy.

"Hannah was the natural choice," club chairman Dale Vince said. "She's done a fantastic job leading our academy and is well aligned with the values of the club.

"It's perhaps telling for the men's game that in making this appointment on merit, we'll break new ground."

In March, Dingley told the BBC that she felt that a woman managing a men's professional team was on the horizon.

She said then: "It will come in sooner than you think. The success that the Lionesses are having, that Emma Hayes is having at Chelsea.

"There are others, really good female coaches out there who I have more than faith in, would be more than capable of coaching at a men's level."

She added: "You've got a responsibility as the first to open the doors for others and to encourage others.

"You always say if you don't see it, you're probably not going to be it. The fact that I do this I hope it encourages more females to come into coaching, into football, into different roles. I feel a great responsibility to talk about that."

She also previously told The Athletic in 2021: "It frustrates me that female coaches might think that the female game might be their only opportunities in the game. There are lots of opportunities in the men's game, academy football is massive."

While Dingley is blazing a trail in England, there have been others who have previously taken charge of men's teams elsewhere.

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Corinne Diacre in 2014 became the first woman to coach a men's professional football team in France when she took over at second-tier Clermont. She stayed till 2017, when she left to take over the French national women's team.

Her predecessor at Clermont was also a woman, Helena Costa. But she quit before helming a single game, alleging her male colleagues sidelined her. She also claimed that she was appointed as a "face" to attract publicity.

Closer to home, Chan Yuen Ting became the first female coach to win a top-tier league title with a professional men's side when she led Eastern to the Hong Kong Premier League crown in 2015/16.

In 2017, she became the first woman to helm a men's side in a top-flight continental competition, after Eastern qualified for the Asian Champions League.

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