Helena Costa: Blazing trails, Clermont controversy - and what she will bring to Watford (2024)

Watford’s statement outlining the appointment of new technical director Ben Manga featured just nine words in the fourth paragraph about the club’s new head of scouting who would be joining him, Helena Costa.

Yet in many ways, this was just as striking an appointment. The Portuguese has had a trailblazing career in football, taking in a stint with compatriot Jose Mourinho, controversy in the men’s game in France, scouting at Celtic, defeating Rangers in the Europa League final and working under the radar in Qatar.

Costa is 44 and has been a football obsessive since she was a child, growing up near Lisbon, although she was swimming against the tide. “I didn’t have any family influence, my father didn’t watch football at home so I went to my neighbour’s house to watch, but ever since I was born I remember being like this, I’m completely crazy about football,” Costa told The Athletic.

“I was a good striker and when I was 13 or 14 I was invited to go to Sporting Lisbon, but my parents didn’t allow me to go because I had to study and it was seen as being too demanding because I had to go to Lisbon every day.”

It was a big setback but one that hardened the resolve. “That could be the moment where I thought ‘OK, I will do it anyway and I’ll do it in a different way’. I kept studying, kept doing physical education throughfootball, took my masters in football, started my PhD in football and I taught at university in football. It’s been football every day.”

ℹ Watford FC confirms the appointment of Ben Manga as its new Technical Director.

Helena Costa has also joined as Head of Scouting, while further appointments to Manga’s team are likely to follow.#WatfordFC

— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) December 22, 2022

Benfica was Costa’s first footballing home and it was there that she developed her coaching skills. With Benfica’s youth team (male) there was a runners-up finish in the 2005 national championship and a Lisbon championship win with lower league side Cheleirense the following year. In addition to scouting for Lerxoes SC, Costa also won two league titles (in 2007 and 2008) with Sociedade Uniao 1º Dezembro’s women’s side in 2007 and 2008, and a second division championship with Odivelas.

It was while at Benfica that Costa’s path crossed with Mourinho’s, when they played a pre-season friendly against his Chelsea team during his first spell in charge in London. It had been suggested that this initial meeting had led to a ‘work experience’ opportunity with Mourinho — not true, according to Costa.

“I spoke with him directly that one time (at the friendly game in 2005) and I asked him if I could go to Chelsea and do an internship to see how they work,” she said. “I went for one week but it wasn’t specifically with Jose. He opened the doors for me but I wasn’t with him, I was in the academy all the time.”

The success with Sociedade Uniao 1º Dezembro secured Champions League football and Costa’s individual CV — including that internship at Chelsea — received another upgrade, too. Taking a direct route to the UEFA A course in Portugal wasn’t possible — she has subsequently obtained the UEFA pro licence, the top coaching qualification that is a prerequisite to manage in the Premier League — which meant another trip to the UK and a new job opportunity.

“It was really difficult (to get on the course at home), so I went for the licence in Scotland instead,” she explains. “When I was there a Portuguese colleague who was also doing the course asked me if I wanted to do some scouting work for Celtic as they were building their departments and they wanted someone in Portugal to do it. I said, ‘Of course, it’s a top opportunity. Why not?'”

There was a similar response when, in 2009, Costa received a call from Qatar. “The approach was really surprising. The Qatari guy responsible for men’s football wanted to develop women’s football in order to help the bid for the 2022 World Cup. He asked if there was any interest. It took a while until we decided to go forward. It was really interesting and difficult at the same time.”

Costa started from scratch and worked to a deadline, with the Qataris determined to create a women’s team and earn a place on the FIFA world rankings. She visited primary schools and universities scouting for talent, persuaded parents that their daughters should play, then ran training sessions with girls from the age of eight upwards — no easy task given the traditional restrictions placed on females playing football in the country.

“It was really difficult at the beginning because I was alone,” she says. “It was like a revolution for the culture.”

After two years in Qatar, Costa switched to another international women’s team, Iran, guiding the nation to the Women’s World Cup in 2015. Naturally, the ongoing ‘Women, life, freedom’ protests against the oppression of women’s rights in the nation following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini is an issue that has struck a chord with Costa.

“Of course, my girls (that she managed) are suffering the same. When I was there I had to cover my hair, I couldn’t wear all my clothes over there and even when I wasabroad with the team, every time I gavean interview or represented the team in the media I had to cover my hair. So Iknow exactly what they feel. I’m with them 100per cent and I hope they don’t stop and they can finally get the normal life.”

From Iran, Costa’s name was thrust into the spotlight when she became the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in France. “It should help the club into a new era,” said Clermont Foot’s statement when the news was announced on May 7, 2014. France’s women’s minister Najat Belkacem posted on Twitter: “Bravo Clermont Foot for understanding that giving a place to women is the future of professional football.”

The experiment proved short-lived. On June 25, just six weeks later, Costa decided to leave after a disagreement with sporting director Olivier Chavanon. The watershed moment had turned into a nightmare. “The president (Michy) was the one who approached me and explained that for all football things you have to deal with thesports director (Chavanon) directly. It was perfect and natural at the beginning.

“We started speaking about the team and having worked with Celtic I knew the market and we started to exchange opinions (on players). Then suddenly hejust disappeared, didn’t answer the phone. The day before I travelled (from Portugal) to Clermont (for the first day of pre-season) I received an email from the secretary of the club.”

The email explained the itinerary of the initial meet-up with the squad, including cardiology tests for new players. “I knew about one player — a goalkeeper — that we (Chavanon and her) were discussing and we agree both not to sign.”

Other issues started piling up — she had to work with club assistants rather than her own and did not have any friendly matches organised. The scales quickly fell from Costa’s eyes.

“I said to the president, I won’twork with this guybecause he’s already stopping my work before I lose even one match. You imagine what he’ll do when I lose a game! You have to tell me what to do. Do you fire him (Chavanon) or do I have to leave? So I left. That was my position, unfortunately, but that’s it, it’s life. And I don’t have any regrets about doing it. They were a professional club but theywere at an amateur level. It has a world impact. It was huge.”

Chavanon later said he worked with Costa as he would all managers and that he didn’t feel communicating via email during transfer activity was the right process. He also said he had received only one call from Costa.

The experience did not hinder Costa’s career path. She returned to work for Celtic having retained a strong bond with the club; then, during the 2017-18 season, she was recruited by Eintracht Frankfurt to work alongside Ben Manga. Sebastien Haller, Luka Jovic, Ante Rebic and others were acquired and sold at a significant profit during the time Manga was at the club, a point which should bode well for Watford.

“It was a top period of my life,” she says. “Demanding as well because the club grew enormously. When I signed we were (close to) being relegated to the German second division so after that we didn’t have a big amount to invest. It was teamwork and I’m proud of that because the club achieved things they’d never achieved before like winning the Europa League.

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“It was a day that I’ll never forget and going into the Champions League and hearing the music in the stadium, it was top. I enjoyed living in Frankfurt, too. So it was a top moment of my life to be honest.”

The Athleticlearned during the World Cup in Qatar that Costa was in talks to join Manga’s staff, after his appointment had been outlined here at the start of November. Costa now forms a key part of a new-look recruitment team that will include further scout appointments. The departure of Leonardo Gabbanini to Tottenham, who held a pivotal coordinating role in the Pozzo scouting network, accelerated the need to improve the structure.

Although Costa is stepping down from Germany’s top division to the English Championship, the challenge is to emulate that transformational success at Watford alongside Manga. A career spent defying expectations should stand her in good stead.

(Top photo: Helena Costa at her unveiling at Clermont in 2014; Alexander Roth-Grisard/Getty Images)