“It’s nice when someone remembers that you can be Mourinho in a dress, right?” Helena Costa said with a smile as she spoke to Competitor On the balcony of a luxury Spanish hotel.
The nickname, coined more than a decade ago in her and Mourinho’s native Portugal, is one piece of a global puzzle built by a trailblazer.
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Costa, 47, has broken new ground in countries where women’s rights are restricted (Qatar and Iran), taken controversial principled stands, won a European trophy with Oliver Glasner and shattered glass ceilings at every turn.
Her latest first achievement is becoming the only female sporting director in the men’s game globally.
Not that she would let any of this go to her head.
“This must mean something. But for me, it was also natural,” she said. “I don’t think it had any impact on my life, but it was important to open up. “
She paused and clarified: “But it’s also a responsibility because it has to work. Otherwise, it’s not going to open the door anyway.”
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She has been with Estoril in Portugal’s top flight for just over a year and was speaking in Malaga a day after an event hosted by TransferRoom, an online platform that facilitates transfers between clubs. Watching Costa socialize with 200 to 300 colleagues and participate in 15-minute “speed dating” style meetings couldn’t be easier.
Why? Because she was easily spotted, being one of only two women in the large conference room.
She said taking on her role was a “big step” and hoped to “change the way people think”, even though it wasn’t supposed to be that way. “If you’re a teacher, whether you’re a woman or a man, you have to be competent and good at what you do,” she said. “Very happy too.”
The nickname “Mourinho in a skirt” emerged when Costa became the first female coach of a men’s team when he took charge of French side Clermont in 2014. “That’s when he really became successful,” she said. While crass and lazy, the nickname at least has a connection to the reality of when her male counterparts excelled.
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Costa, who appeared in a special transfer-themed episode of The Athletic FC podcast, began her coaching journey at Benfica’s academy in the late 1990s, just before Mourinho took charge of the Lisbon club’s senior side for the first time (he rejoined the team last September). She spent time analyzing Chelsea’s academy set-up during his first spell as Chelsea manager, following a chance meeting between the pair at a pre-season friendly in 2005. He opens the door, but she is the one who has to prove herself.
The cornerstone of her career comes from more than ten years coaching in Benfica’s youth system, lower league teams Cheleirense, Sociedade Uniao 1° Dezembro and Leixoes, where she also took her first steps in recruiting players. In Scotland she gained her UEFA A license (she has since achieved UEFA professional standards) and linked up with Celtic, who hired her as one of the first female scouts in the world.
Through the Qatari and Iranian women’s teams, she got a chance at Ligue 2 side Clermont Forte. FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised the historic step, but it quickly turned into a nightmare.
Within six weeks, Costa was gone, falling out with the club’s hierarchy over transfer issues. “I could have stayed, but I didn’t accept something that I thought no one would accept,” she recalled. “So that’s why I don’t care if it has an impact on the world like it did.”
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As the first female coach of Europe’s top two men’s teams, the decision – which she calls a “huge learning moment” – is as bold as the original appointment.
“This is having a crazy impact all over the world – Brazil, Mexico, China, Japan… I can’t leave my phone around,” Costa said. “But I showed my character because I don’t accept something just because I have a senior job. All coaches do that.”
It was a victory for those who had doubted the appointment in the first place.
“Maybe it closes some doors away from Clermont, but you have your principles,” she said. “That’s what I believe, if it was a man, he would do the same thing.”
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The oddity in the story is that Clermont appointed a female successor, Costa.
Corinne Diacre spent three seasons in charge before becoming head coach of the French women’s football team. Others have also coached men’s teams at the lower levels: former Italy internationals Carolina Moraes (Vitebese, Italy), Imke Wuppenhorst (Kloppenburg and Sporting Friedrichshafen, Germany) and Hannah Dingley (Forest Green Rangers, England) were among the few who got the chance.
Costa thinks there will be more.
“As a coach, the impact of the first time is very important. They have expectations, they have doubts, but once you start working, everything has to be natural,” she said. “People may see you as a woman, but they have to judge how good you are. After that, acceptance comes naturally.”
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Only two women in Major League Soccer have held general manager roles, the equivalent of European sporting director positions at some of its teams: Lynne Meterparel served as general manager at the San Jose Earthquakes in 1999, while British woman Lucy Rushton has held analyst and recruitment roles at Watford, Reading and Atlanta United in MLS in 2021. He served as general manager of D.C. United in 2011 and entered women’s soccer the following year.
There are many women working in football’s agencies, such as Erling Haaland’s representative Rafaela Pimenta – who spoke about sexism in football boardrooms in an interview. Competitor 2025 – and Melissa Onana, sister of Aston Villa midfielder Amadou.
But others are following in Costa’s footsteps, taking on scouting and recruitment roles at the club.
Julia Arpizou runs the scouting department at French Ligue 1 side Toulouse, while Amy Woff is a senior position analyst at Arsenal, completing UEFA’s Elite Scouting programme.
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Marila Nisotaki was instrumental in helping Norwich City identify and recruit Emiliano Buendia – a player later sold to Villa for £38m ($52m) – and rose from first-team scout to head of emerging talent after spells at Swansea City and Greece. She is now the head of talent acquisition for Southampton in England’s second tier.
“It’s great to have someone like that,” Nisotaki said of Costa. “Helena is not afraid to step out of her comfort zone and experience different challenges. That’s what inspires me personally. She’s done a great job and deserves to be where she is.”
UEFA’s Sports Directors Program is due to launch in 2025, but only four of the 35 participants are women, and they all work in the women’s game. FIFA and the FA run similar courses. Costa wants more people to try and — importantly — get the chance, so she’s not an outsider.
Costa did it all despite being told by his parents not to pursue football. “It wasn’t normal — it still isn’t normal,” she said. “They were trying to change my mind and go in a different direction.”
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But she was undeterred, and with the support of a PhD in exercise science, she chose to coach rather than play. Last year, her father accompanied her to the game for the first time.
“Now everyone accepts what my family said,” she admits with a smile, “and yes, they are very proud now.”
Estoril is one of a handful of clubs owned by American businessman David Blitzer’s Global Football Holdings, which includes Augsburg (Germany’s top flight) and Beveren (Belgian second division).
“You have to rely on someone who remembers you and believes in you,” Costa said of the opportunity. “It’s a culmination of everything else I do. Coaches open doors and then scouts go to chief scouts and chief scouts go to athletic directors. It’s a very small world.”
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There are many sporting and technical director roles within a club, but Costa’s is all-encompassing. “This can be a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job that requires no effort,” she said. Player trades come naturally. and managing a “tight” budget. But that’s combined with “developing young players, hiring doctors, physios and managing the turf”.
Thanks to Estoril’s multi-club structure, she now has an indirect link to the man with whom she previously had great success: Crystal Palace manager Glasner. Blitzer remains a minority owner of the south London club.
After leaving Clermont, Costa returned to Celtic and worked with the Austrians at Eintracht Frankfurt. Costa’s links with Portugal have helped the German club in their bid for success in the 2021-22 Europa League. Four of the six group games were against teams coached by her compatriots Vitor Pereira (Fenerbahce, Turkey) and Pedro Martins (Olympiacos, Greece). Frankfurt remains unbeaten in these games, recording two wins and two draws.
“My involvement was to help a little bit and translate the press conference and what they were thinking,” she explains. “We created something that still exists today. I keep in touch with him (Glasner) sometimes. It’s funny how it happened.”
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Like Estoril now and Eintracht Frankfurt before him, Costa often finds himself in need of a change of direction for his club and country.
She spent 18 months as Watford’s chief scout in the Championship, working alongside Ben Manga, whom she followed from Eintracht Frankfurt. She arrived in 2022 after the club was relegated from the Premier League. She called it “a very important moment” and had to deal with “different personalities” and “financial circumstances” without parachute payments.
She said coaching the Qatar women’s team was “the hardest job of my life” “because of the culture”. Costa has been tasked with securing a place for her team in the FIFA world rankings after the Gulf nation secured the right to host the 2022 Men’s World Cup. “We have to build it and develop women’s football, but in a very short period of time,” she said of her 2010 appointment.
Despite Qatar’s traditional restrictions on girls and women’s participation in football, we also identify talent at primary schools and universities, organize training sessions for girls from eight years old and above, and convince parents to let their daughters play football. “I couldn’t film the girls and show what they were doing or how quickly they learned,” Costa said.
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She reunited with many of the young players she helped in the 2022 men’s tournament opener.
Costa also keeps in touch with those she coached in Iran.
“People I’m in contact with have had their homes affected by bombs; it’s a really sad day,” she said of the 2025 U.S. airstrikes.
Costa remains staunchly supportive of the Women, Lives, Freedom protests that began ahead of the 2022 World Cup following the death of 22-year-old Mahesa Amini.
“They just want to have their own individuality, the freedom to choose their own daily life,” she said. “They were looking forward to this revolution and wanted to have freedom. So what happened (their protest against oppression) was natural.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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