But it is not that the older, experienced female coach has affirmed her name in the professional football environment, but she is only 22 years old. The event of Turgutluspor club (Turkey) appointing Zeynep Mestan as head coach of the men's football team is attracting attention.
Mestan is not the first female coach in the world to work with a men's team - before her were Carolina Morace (Viterbese, 1999), Helena Costa (Clermont Foot 63, 2014), Corinne Diacre (Clermont Foot 63, 2014 - 2017), Chan Yuen-ting (Eastern, 2015 - 2017), Hannah Dingley (Forest Green Rovers, 2023), Marie-Louise Eta (Union Berlin, 2023 - 2024), Sabrina Wittmann (Ingolstadt 04, 2024). And especially, it should be recalled that at only 22 years old, Mestan already has all the necessary certificates.
Some people succeed, some people collapse early, but there are always mixed reactions. But this story also shows the lessons of management about the bravery of the leader and the culture of behavior in the collective.
In the management environment, female leaders always face great pressure. For older people, they have seniority, experience, and bravery to be respected and united. Conversely, for a 22-year-old female leader, the pressure is multiplied many times over. Not only professional matters but also doubts about competence, or life issues rather than gender views, the pride of the male collective.
The problem in this context is the professionalism of the collective. The men in the team need to show true respect for the title and capacity of the leader. They need to put aside their ego, put aside self-esteem or prejudiced gossip, which is very easy to appear in an environment like football.
In fact, it is the same in life, but football is more specific to gender stories. The fact that a male collective listens and accompanies young female leaders does not mean "favoritism", but it is necessary to clearly define this as work, in the spirit and attitude of civilized and professional work. When each member is aware of their role, adjusts themselves to be a matching piece, the collective will form a united bloc and achieve maximum efficiency.
Young leaders may lack experience, but a professional team will be a solid launching pad for everyone to be satisfied when successful together.
