Costa becomes first woman to manage at senior men’s level

That Celtic would welcome the appointment of a former scout for the club to a managerial position in the second tier of French football would normally not merit much in the way of headlines except that, in this instance, the former scout is Helena Costa who, at 39, will become the first woman to manage at a senior level in the men’s European game when she takes over Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot at the end of this season.

In becoming the first female manager of a French professional club, the highly qualified Costa is being rewarded for her successes as coach to the male youth team at Benfica and the women’s national teams of Qatar and, most recently, Iran. But she has also has experience of the senior men’s game as a scout in Portugal and Spain for Celtic from 2008 to 2011.

Congratulating the Portuguese woman on her ground-breaking new role, a spokesman for the Scottish champions said yesterday: “She did an excellent job for us and we know she will give her new position the same high level of commitment and dedication which she gave to Celtic.”