Hannah Dingley: Who is the first female manager of a men’s professional football team? | OneFootball

Hannah Dingley has made history as the first female manager of a professional men’s team in English football.

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The 39-year-old was made interim manager of League Two side Forest Green Rovers after Duncan Ferguson was sacked following a six-month tenure.

Dingley had joined the club in 2019 to become the academy manager, and remains the only woman to head up a men's English Football League academy.

While it remains to be seen whether Dingley will be given the first team managerial position on a permanent basis, her temporary appointment has still made history and has been praised across the world of sport.

GIVEMESPORT runs through everything you need to know about the trailblazer, including her early life and her route into men’s football.

Hannah Dingley’s early life

Dingley was born on July 19, 1983, in Carmarthenshire. She grew up in a small village in the Welsh county, surrounded by a football-mad family.

In an interview with GIVEMESPORT in 2021, Dingley explained how football took centre-stage during her childhood.

"When the World Cup was on telly, we'd all get around and watch it and get nice food in, or I’d be able to stay up late on a Saturday to watch Match of the Day,” she said. "It was a really big thing in my household."

Dingley was unable to play football at school, but eventually joined a recreational women’s team when she was 16-years-old.

She went on to attend the University of Loughborough and studied Sports Science. Dingley initially went down a teaching route, but started coaching on the side.

"I coached teams at university, I coached non-league teams, I coached women's teams, I coached kids teams, basically anywhere I could get experience, and tried to do my qualifications as I went along," Dingley told GIVEMESPORT.

Hannah Dingley’s route into football

Dingley, who now has a UEFA Pro Licence, held coaching roles with a number of non-league sides, before earning a full-time coaching opportunity at Burton Albion in 2013.

She worked as a coach for the club’s senior men's team from 2016, but Dingley could not resist the academy manager role offered by Forest Green Rovers in 2019.

The Gloucestershire-based club are known for bucking the trend. They became the first vegan football club in the world in 2015, and their stadium is known for its various eco-friendly innovations.

"It was a really exciting project because there weren't a lot of things in place, it was sort of a blank canvas," Dingley told GIVEMESPORT. "I could really go and make it into what I wanted it to be.

"It’s been a really exciting opportunity, and it's a club that, as you well know, is really keen to do things differently, and not sort of do it the same way because that's how it's always been done.

"I think that's a really exciting sort of place to work, where you have the freedom, and almost the support and encouragement to be creative and to think outside the box and to do things differently."

Dingley has also set up an academy for girls during her time at Forest Green Rovers. The initiative was launched in 2021.

Hannah Dingley’s experience of sexism while working in football

Dingley told GIVEMESPORT about her experiences of sexism within football, which has often come from outside her working environment rather than her from her own colleagues.

"I remember vividly going to a non-league game once, and almost not being let in," she said. "He was like, 'are you coming to support?', and I was like 'no, I’m one of the coaches, I'm not turning up two hours before kickoff in my boots!'

"You get mistaken for a physio, or a medical person. It’s those little things that have always been frustrating."

Dingley also revealed that she suspected she had been overlooked for roles because of her gender, particularly because she already had a wealth of experience and a UEFA Pro Licence under her belt.

Hannah Dingley’s first match in charge

Dingley’s first match in charge of Forest Green Rovers will be on Wednesday, July 5, at 7:30pm.

The fixture is a friendly encounter against non-league side Melksham Town F.C.

Dingley will likely still be at the helm for subsequent pre-season friendlies against Coventry City on July 18, and Plymouth Argyle on July 22.

It remains to be seen whether she will still be in charge for the start of the League Two season, however.

Forest Green Rovers are set to start their campaign against Salford City on August 5, followed by a Carabao Cup clash against Portsmouth on August 8.

Will there be another female manager in English men’s professional football?

Prior to Dingley’s appointment as interim boss at Forest Green Rovers, Rosi Webb was the highest-ranked female manager in men's football.

Webb is in charge of Stanway Pegasus in the Eastern Counties Football League, which is tier 10 in the English football pyramid.

There is subsequently some way to go until female managers are prevalent in men’s football, particularly in the Premier League.

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes, the most successful manager in Women’s Super League history, has been touted as a potential hire for a Premier League team.

Hayes was tipped for a position with League One’s AFC Wimbledon in 2021, but she said describing such a move as a "step up" was an "insult". She also claimed the club could not afford her.

Sarina Wiegman and Jill Scott are among others who been mentioned as women who could potentially take up a managerial role with a men’s team.

One thing’s for certain, Dingley certainly won’t be the last female coach blazing a trail in the men’s game. Her appointment as caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers will be remembered for years to come.