12 of the World Cup’s 32 head coaches were women, including Desiree Ellis, whose Banyana Banyana lost 2-0 to the Netherlands in the round of 16.

Women have, however, been very successful on the global football stage. Since 2000, all but one of the major women’s football tournaments – the World Cup, European Championship, and the Olympics – have been won by female-coached teams, according to the Female Coaching Network.

Norio Sasaki, the man who coached Japan to Women’s World Cup glory in 2011, is the sole exception.

“It’s not a competition of being a female coach,” Wiegman said on the eve of England’s round-of-16 game against Nigeria.

“But of course what we hope…is that balance gets right in the future and we are all working on that, at least in England and other countries too to get opportunities, to get more women in the game.

“And, of course, I had hoped that more female coaches would still be in the tournament.”

Wiegman, whose European champions play Nigeria tomorrow, took over as the Lionesses head coach in September 2021, guiding her team to a 30-game unbeaten streak including only five draws. That run ended in a 2-0 loss to Australia in a friendly in April but England are unbeaten in their five matches since.

Two women coaches were ousted in the round of 16 yesterday with Switzerland’s 5-1 loss to Spain (Inka Grings) and Norway’s 3-1 defeat by Japan (Hege Riise).