World Cup kiss: as Luis Rubiales row rages, striker predicts woman boss of a top European men’s football club within 3 years
- Michael Udebuluzor, who hopes to make his Hong Kong debut this month, has played in Germany under head coach Sabrina Wittman
- He says he will ‘forever respect’ Wittman and backs women bosses to manage at the top level
The Hong Kong-born teenager has played for a woman manager at his German club Ingolstadt, and said he anticipated a woman taking charge of a top-tier men’s team in a major European league within three years.
Having left Hong Kong aged 14 to board at Germany’s DFI football academy, Udebuluzor joined Ingolstadt II’s under-19 team in 2021, just as Sabrina Wittman took over as their boss. She had already been the Bavarian club’s under-17 manager.
He scored 13 goals in 31 games under Wittman – whose side are currently sixth in their Bundesliga under-19 standings – before stepping up to play for Ingolstadt II in Germany’s fifth tier.
“I don’t pay attention to the person’s gender, only the quality of the coaching and management,” Udebuluzor told the Post.
“Sabrina knew how to bring the best out of individuals. It didn’t matter who was on the pitch, she had a way of getting the team to perform at its maximum level. That is not easy as a coach.
“I really believe a woman will coach a top-level professional team in the next three years, then it will become more common.”
While Rubiales has been widely condemned for kissing Hermoso on the lips in the aftermath of last month’s Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, Sarina Wiegman, the head coach of beaten finalists England, only added to her glowing reputation during the tournament. She has since been mentioned as a potential future coach of the men’s national team of her native Netherlands.
Corinne Diacre became the first woman to manage in the top two tiers of a men’s European league when she took charge of French Ligue 2 club Clermont Foot for three years from 2014.
But Diacre’s predecessor, Helena Costa, had resigned without overseeing a match. Costa said she encountered a “total lack of respect” and accused club executives of treating her as a “face of the club”.
Powered by vegan food and renewable energy, Forest Green have a reputation for progressive moves, yet they were similarly accused of grandstanding when opting for Dingley.
Indeed, after her interim spell in charge, a man was named permanent boss before the season began – albeit that Dingley reverted to her previous role as head of the club’s men’s academy, a position no other woman is known to have occupied in the English game.
It served to highlight the glacial progress since Chan’s breakthrough appointment in Hong Kong in 2015.
“Sabrina immediately had our respect, and that meant you felt good going onto the pitch to play for her. I will forever respect Sabrina and she is still doing very well.”
