Silvia Neid, Germany
Football
Silvia Neid has an insatiable desire to serve women’s football in Germany. She was one of the country’s most successful players, then managers, yet after calling time on her coaching career in 2016 – immediately after leading Germany’s women’s team to Olympic gold in Brazil – she slotted straight into a role at the country’s football federation, the DFB, where she is now the head of the women’s and girls’ scouting department. There’s probably no one better for the role. Neid, after all, won the German league title seven times and the UEFA Women’s Championship three times as a player, then added the World Cup in 2007 as a manager. Given that she’s been reigning supreme over German football for over 30 years anyway, putting her in a position with that exact level of influence seems fitting. And her acumen will be tested immediately: this summer brings the World Cup, which Germany have not won since Neid managed the triumphant 2007 team. Apart overseeing the national team’s progress from afar, there is perhaps one frontier left for the German legend to conquer: men’s football. In 2008 she had said that in 10 years’ time, the Bundesliga might be ready for a female coach. But asked to follow up on that declaration when those ten years were up, last year, Neid said that nothing had changed in the years that had gone by, admitting that the battle was far from over. It’s happened elsewhere. In France, Corrine Diacre took charge of men’s second division side Clermont Foot for three years from 2014 to 2017 – a tiny hole being cut in the glass ceiling. If Neid isn’t the one who breaks through it completely, she’ll at least have inspired plenty to follow in her path.
– Silvia Neid was named the FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year for a record third time in 2017.
– Neid is one of three women to have both played in and coached in a World Cup.
– The Olympic gold medal Germany won under Neid’s management was the first women’s football gold in the country’s history.
Did you know…
Neid was involved in all eight of Germany’s UEFA Women’s championship titles and two World Cup triumphs, as either a player, assistant coach, or manager.
“Women’s football hasn’t had its heyday yet.” – Silivia Neid
