FIFA Commits to Expanding Growth of Women’s Football at all Levels
FIFA has expressed its high commitment to the development of women’s football through capacity building initiatives such as workshops, coach education and scholarships.
Speaking at the official opening of the first-ever three-day capacity building workshop for administrators of the FAZ Women’s Super League Clubs, FIFA expert Doreen Nabwire says the initiatives being implemented are aimed at equipping different coaches from across the globe with the much-needed knowledge to steer the growth and development of the women’s game.
“These initiatives seek to accelerate the growth of women’s football through different programs that look at introducing new leagues if need be or enhancing the already existing leagues to ensure that they are competitive within their regions and also help in steering the growth of women’s game,” Nabwire said.
“We saw Zambia make its maiden World Cup appearance, which is a success not only locally, but also for Africa as a whole because previously it was only Nigeria and Cameroon that were dominant and constantly qualifying for the World Cup. But now we are getting more African teams qualifying, which is a success for the continent. Zambia’s success is the continent’s success because the idea is not to leave anyone behind.”
Nabwire urged administrators to ensure that the country continues to grow, develop and nurture talent from the grassroots to the top to ensure that Africa remains competent and competitive and leave a mark at the global stage through teams like the Copper Queens.
FAZ president Andrew Kamanga praised administrators of the elite women’s league for having been persistent in pushing for a joint FIFA/FAZ workshop in their quest to acquire knowledge and keep abreast with modern trends of football administration.
“It is public knowledge that despite the lack of sponsorship, which is receiving due attention, the women teams have gone to produce some of the greatest players to our senior national team that have also gone as far as competing at the highest level of women’s football like the World Cup, Olympics and WAFCON,” Kamanga said.
“With sufficient investment, we will see the women’s league churning out more world class players as we have already done with the likes of Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji.”
Zambian Premier League chairperson Kephas Katongo revealed that the women league’s sponsorship is top of the ZPL agenda as the league aims at alleviating the financial challenges clubs continue facing.
In giving a vote of thanks, Elite Ladies FC chief executive officer Oliver Shalala thanked FIFA and FAZ for empowering women’s football administrators with necessary tools to succeed in women’s football administration.
“There has been some good financial improvements from FAZ in our league. FIFA also supported us with kit and balls which we use as match balls. We would love to receive more next season,” Shalala said.
“We want to thank FAZ for organising the workshop, we are happy with where we are and we hope to continue on the same trajectory,” Shalala said.
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