http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... ance-quits
Just hours after arriving to take up her post as the first female manager of a professional French men's football club, Helena Costa had resigned.
One minute she was there at Clermont Foot 63 making sporting history. The next she was gone.
France's best-selling sports newspaper, L'Équipe, described it as a "theatrical coup".
The statement from the club, based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne region in the centre of France, was brief and to the point: Costa had decided "not to honour her engagement" to the club, it read.
It had been hoped that Portuguese-born Costa would change the position of women in professional football.
She had previously worked with the youth setup at Benfica, and coached the women's national teams of Qatar and Iran, as well as scouting for the Scottish club Celtic. Her appointment as manager to the French club brought international publicity.
Costa had been due to oversee her first training session at the second division club on Tuesday morning.
It was reported that she had not seen any of the players and had not taken part in any of the players' physical testing sessions before she left.
Instead Costa's apparent walkout left everyone wondering what had gone wrong. Claude Michy, the club's owner, said the decision was "sudden and surprising" and he "deeply regretted" it.
Even before Costa's arrival in Clermont-Ferrand, critics had accused Michy of orchestrating a publicity stunt.
Costa is expected to explain at a press conference on Tuesday morning why she decided to leave the club before she had even started work there.
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