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Au Revoir

Friday, 28th March 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Ever since Hotpotgate, speculation has been swirling about the firing of Elizabeth Loisel, head coach of China's women's football (soccer) team. And over the past week, domestic media have published conflicting reports about whether she had been fired.

Now, the news that's appeared inevitable since the team's ninth-place finish in the Algarve Cup seems to finally be official: Loisel is out.

Shang Ruihua
Shang Ruihua
And it appears that over the past several days she was as confused as the Chinese sports media. An official from the China Football Association sent her an e-mail earlier this week saying that her services were no longer needed, but she could not immediately determine whether it was an actual official notification. After confirming it, she canceled her plans to return to Beijing this week.

Not surprisingly after the recent instability (seven coaches in four years), the Chinese Football Association is reportedly bringing in a veteran of the Chinese coaching world. Sixty-four-year-old Shang Ruihua (商瑞华) led China's women in the 1991 World Cup, and has been coaching the Zhejiang women's team since last year.

Loisel, former head coach of the French national team, was hired just five months ago. She followed the Swedish Marika Domanski-Lyfors as the team's second foreign coach. But it proved difficult for her to adjust to the Chinese system, where a powerful group of officials exercise great control over the coach and team.

Image: China Daily

Tags: football, Loisel, women's soccer

Women's Soccer Slumping, Coach's Future in Question

Wednesday, 12th March 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

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China's women's soccer (football) opened the Algarve Cup in Portugal by suffering a 4-0 rout by the U.S. team, and followed that with losses to Norway and Italy. The poor performance has brought on renewed calls for the head of coach Elisabeth Loisel.

From Xinhua: French coach's days appear to be numbered

Image: BOCOG

Tags: football, Loisel, soccer, women

Loisel Escaping the Axe?

Sunday, 24th February 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Going into the East Asian Cup, Chinese media was abuzz with the inevitability of the demise of Elisabeth Loisel, the French coach brought in last fall to replace her Swedish predecessor as head coach of the women's national soccer (football) team. In the weeks leading up to the cup in Chongqing, she'd been fined by the club for tardiness, and offended officials by forbidding players from attending a hot pot dinner they were hosting. Win the tournament, the conventional wisdom was, and she just might keep her job. Well, China didn't win. They looked in good form beating South Korea and then went on to tie North Korea. But then they lost 3-0 to Japan.

In the two days after the loss, no word is out on her status and Loisel spoke to the media about her hopes for the Olympics in August. Have the problems been sorted out, or are team officials just waiting to see how the team fares in the upcoming Algarve Cup in Portugal?

Here is the Agence France-Presse story of Loisel's reaction to the East Asian Cup loss.

Tags: football, Loisel, soccer, women