By Michael Preston

Germany’s Nicole Manthey is the only female head coach leading a nation from the sidelines this weekend in the 2023/24 IFAF Women’s European Championship.

Despite being appointed earlier this year, the A-License coach is on familiar ground having previously served as competitive sports director for women at the AFVD.

“I got a call in January asking if I wanted to be the head coach and I was kind of surprised,” she admits. “Because I’d been involved with the national team before, it was like having a baby who had been born and now you’d come back to nurture it. The national team didn’t go the way I wanted it to in the past, so now I have the chance to come back and change things and that’s quite exciting.”

A changing of the guard at the German federation brought about Manthey’s return and an opportunity to establish her nation among Europe’s elite, and to ultimately improve on a fifth-place finish at last year’s IFAF World Championships.

“I can really judge the difference between the old board and the new board,” coach Manthey explained. “Before, they never cared and just old us to do whatever we wanted, but now we’re getting a lot of attention and a lot of help. I’ve never had anyone call me from the AFVD before and ask how I’m doing. For me that was quite nice.

“I took over in January and we had very few weekends available to us in the schedule, and we scored only one touchdown (at the World Championships) and that wasn’t good enough, so we have made changes.”

The playing career of captain Claudia Heddergott, who plays on the offensive line, has spanned both administrations and tournaments.

“As players we feel that something is different as well, but it’s in the background,” she explains. “There are small things, even if it’s just jerseys to wear for practice. They’re small steps, but they’re in the right direction.

“We are taken seriously now as women in a men’s sport, but we still have a situation where we have players on our team who have babies and they have to look after them and often also have a job, so time is very limited for them. I couldn’t see men doing that and still play their games!”

Coach Manthey’s career has spanned 20 years, first as a player with the Hamburg Snappers and Hamburg Amazons and later among the coaching ranks within the NFL flag program, and as head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach with the HH Blue Devilyns and as offensive coordinator with the Hamburg Junior Devils.

Heddergott of the Saarland Hurricanes did not start playing until she was 30 years old in unusual circumstances.

“I was not involved in football at all until one of my friends took me to a game and he said to me ‘we need big girls to play’ so he was pretty charming!” she laughs. “He told me I had to play offensive line and that’s what I’ve always done.

“He got me interested in this. Before, I was looking after my grandma but then when I had time on my hands, I started football in 2016. Since then, even though it was tough during Coronavirus, I’ve been playing all the time. We did the tryouts for the world championships, and I made that team. Now, this is a second chance to play against Great Britain.”

Germany takes on the team that won silver at last year’s World Championships and has already dispatched Sweden 40-0 in the Euros, hoping that home field advantage will play a part at the Walder Stadion in Solingen. (Watch the live game stream here)

“They did a great job last year and against Sweden as well, so you could say we should be scared, but we’re not. We’re optimistic,” Claudia added.

“We all work hard through the season and the offseason. We’re all good football players as well, even though we haven’t played together as long as Great Britain. We are on our way, and we can get there as well, so we will work them hard to play against us and I’m excited just to be here. We want to win of course, otherwise we wouldn’t play football. I’m excited to see how far we can take it.”

Coach Manthey added: “We are a team under construction. We will bring the best version we have right now and then see where we are against a very good Great Britain team.”

The revised format of the 2023/24 tournament – played as a round robin rather than hosted by one nation – has its pros and cons in the opinion of both coach and captain.

“I like that we get to play for two years and that we have goals,” says coach Manthey. “If we have some players who are injured for one game, they will not be in the 45 of the squad, but they will probably be available a few months later for the next game, when we go to Spain in August. On the other hand, there are a lot of challenges and it’s going to cost a lot more money than if we played a tournament all in one place. There’s also a lot of work to do whenever you’re the home team besides only playing football.”

Claudia observes: “You don’t have the chance to get that connected with the rest of the squad. When you’re in the bus and on the practice field a few times in a row that connection among players and with the coaches is easier to create, when you’re in one place for a long time. But with the games as they are now, it’s easier to get four days of time off four times a year, rather than three weeks at one time when some of your colleagues might also be on holiday.”

Whatever the challenges, whether logistical or on the football field, there is a clear determination in the German camp to become a continental and world force.

“This is a great chance to do something I really want to do with the women’s national team,” says coach Manthey. “It will take time, but we need a revolution and an evolution and to change a lot of things.”

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