“ … And Genoveva Añonma scores again. She has been an outstanding player in this tournament. Who would have thought?! Equitorial Guinea now leads the ‘bayana bayana’ by 3 unreplied goals…”
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“ … And Genoveva Añonma scores again. She has been an outstanding player in this tournament. Who would have thought?! Equitorial Guinea now leads the ‘bayana bayana’ by 3 unreplied goals…”
That was a commentary during the 2012 Africa women’s Championship- now known as the Total Africa Women’s Cup of Nations. Equitorial Guinea went on to score another goal and emerged winners of the coveted trophy. Their second time of winning it after emerging victorious in the 2008 edition.
The South African players, like almost everyone else, were stunned and couldn’t believe it. They had previously lost to this team in the group stages and now had been beaten twice in the same tournament by this underdog team. Their Disbelief was understandable. Afterall, they were a powerhouse in African female football alongside the Super Falcons of Nigeria, and the Black Queens of Ghana but to mention a few for comparisons sake and couldn’t believe they had once again missed out on raising the cup. They had been runners-up to Nigeria twice and now equitorial Guinea, twice.
That particular Year, saw Nigeria -who were 8-time champions at the time, lose out to Cameroon -that had a record of 11 total top 4 finishes but never champions, in the Third-place fixture by a lone goal. Ghana -had been runners-up three times,didn’t even get to qualify for the tournament.
Equitorial Guinea -who coincidentally were also the host nation, had a wonderful run to the trophy and had many pundits and Football lovers alike applauding their camaraderie and sportsmanship. Their victory showed that ‘favorites’ were no longer guaranteed in the trophy as usual if they didn’t prepare well enough, as the so-called underdogs were hungry and ready to challenge while also showcasing the promise of development in Africa’s women Football.
This development has been seen over the years, with debut appearances in the nation’s cup tournament by teams like Namibia and Kenya as well as improved participation to qualify for the final 8 by teams like Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Ivory coast, Mali, Guinea, Tanzania, Senegal and even Zimbabwe and Zambia. Now, there’s a steady rise in the interest and participation of female football in Africa and this is evidently seen by the increase in the number and quality of teams that are participating or have participated in the Women’s African cup of nations over the years.
A record of 36 teams entered for the 2020 qualifying rounds. A huge sign of improvement as against the record of 20 to 26 teams from years back.
Sadly, the competition had to be postponed and inadvertently cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the fact that the Super Falcons of Nigeria still remain the team to beat in the competition and have won a record 11 times- out of the 12 times the tournament has been officially hosted, making the competition’s winners history look like a fluke, the signs of growth of African women’s Football has been evident in on-field quality and performances of participating teams and has only been somewhat delayed by external factors like Team fundings and sponsorships, Hosting abilities and Financial limitations as compared to their male counterpart teams.
Now, even though these problems have not been totally addressed, there’s been significant commendable attention in these departments today as compared to a decade ago. This article is aimed at, Carefully x-raying the challenges and solutions on ground at the moment and how effective they have been over the years, The influence of the western world on African football. It also intends to critically make comparisons on the current strengths of teams in Africa and the promise they hold for the future of African women’s Football.
Challenges And Solutions So Far.
In Africa, limited access to quality education, high poverty rate, and high inequality cases that allows for female specific human rights abuses are a few of the challenges facing the girl child. These cultural misinformation has led to a lack of interest in the female game in Africa until now. Ladies are expected to be more of housewives than career driven individuals. Guardians find it hard to support their interested female wards on their path to playing soccer ( or any sport at all).
Throughout most parts of the continent, the game’s general infrastructures are either mismanaged due to corruption or as a result of poor investments and total neglect.
From corruption-riddled football associations, to poorly maintained stadiums and infrastructures as well as a declining interest in Africa’s own teams in favour of flashy European sides, there still remains a great deal of work to be done to restore African football to its pinnacle.
It is worthy of note to remember that in some parts of Africa, more advanced economies of these territories enable their female clubs to retain some of their best talents who go ahead to feature time and time again for their various national teams. Teams like Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, South Africa always have a wonderful representation of home grown players in their squads as compared to teams like Nigeria who have most of the team players play abroad.
FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS.
Throughout most parts of the continent, the game’s general infrastructures are either mismanaged due to corruption or as a result of poor investments and total neglect. This support for home grown talents serve as a inspirations for aspiring young talents who have most of these stars as their role models or mentors.
While countries like Egypt may afford to support their female clubs with comfortable packages and as thus, keep them playing in the domestic leagues, other countries cannot comfortably handle their Women’s league football talkless of affording such luxury for their female clubs and players.
This is because of the financial limitations leading to poor payments packages/Stimulus on offer in the country. Hence, these talented players look elsewhere and mostly in Europe and Asia, getting signed up by these more successful clubs with strong financial backings thereby entertaining European and Asian football fans at the expenses of the African game.
This truly has affected the growth of the female game in Africa. Now, even though Africa’s women Football has improved somewhat over the years, with better quality players present at continental and international tournaments, with these players now becoming household names in their own light in various countries, much of their successes can be attributed to their individual efforts to shine rather than any deliberate effort by Africa’s FA Chiefs to develop the game.
Most African countries can boast of a good stadium (albeit poor maintenance policies) that proudly host national team matches or international engagements.
But looking further down to the leagues, it’s no surprise that most of these clubs play in very poor facilities called stadiums in front of just a few hundred loyal fans.
There are exceptions though.
South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup resulted in the country having at least a dozen world- class stadiums (even though some of them still have questions about their economic viability). The availability of this state-of-the-art stadiums, in conjunction with well-handled brand-sponsored league formats, have gone a long way in boosting league performances as these players get to play on quality pitches as well as receiving the desired attention to spur their development.
More recently, Ghana and Angola, who have been hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations events, built and renovated their stadiums and still have some quality playing arenas that will serve them well for many years to come.
This serves as a boost for the domestic leagues- both male and female.
Alas, same cannot be said for many other countries and their Football Associations. For example, Zambia, once a power-house in African football, can no longer be seen as such again. Another testimony to the decline of football on the continent.
Its national team plays football in a small 15,000-seater arena in the north of the country because the national stadium, closed more than three years ago for renovations‚ still lies abandoned by builders with its main stand demolished and awaiting rebuilding. Namibia had to suspend its female domestic league the year it was to host the African women’s cup of nations so as to channel funds to the hosting of the event. Another testament of the perils of corruption, mismanagement and financial limitations.
Making the best moves. With deliberate marketing and television rights enabling the rise of the game across the world, much of women’s african football seems to remain stuck in Time.
Due to the collaborations between CAF and big brands like TOTAL, LC2 etc. major tournaments can now enjoy the attention they deserve.
This can be seen in the just concluded inaugural CAF women’s champions’ league that was won by Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies.
Major female football tournaments in Africa (including that of the male too) in recent times has seen commendable partnership and sponsorships even though there’s still room for more.
Of a truth, CAF has raked in alot of millions from these partnership with these sponsoring brands and it is only fair that more investment should be made to put the female game out there and attract attention as much as the male competitions in Africa does.
According to vice president of CAF women’s LOC Isha Johansen, “The stronger the leagues and the clubs are, the better players you are able to produce. “A Champions League representing the continent means more quality players can be showcased on an international level. That is the aim – that our female players get more visibility.”
Increased visibility on Female football in Africa has been on a steady rise with the creation of more female clubs and the genius idea of the maiden edition of the CAF women’s champions’ league. A total of 33 club teams were to participate in the qualifying rounds while 8 got to play the final tournament.
During an interview, Enez Mango of Kenyan side Vihiga Queens that also participated in the maiden edition of the CAF women’s champions league said;
“There are many hidden talents in Africa and this will be a bigger platform to showcase the talent,”
“Most players whose dreams have been to play in Europe or other countries get this opportunity. I think it is the best move ever.”
Supporting female league Football in Africa has been until recently, under the radar per se with only a few reputable clubs like Rivers angels of Nigeria, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies of South Africa, AS FAR of Morocco, Hasaacas Ladies of Ghana and Wadi Degla of Egypt, Canon Yaounde of Cameroon enjoying most of the attention and success of female club Football in their various zones.
Funding has been a major problem for the women’s game in Africa, with most of the funding for women’s football in Africa coming from FIFA, and very little from local national football associations. This has led to quality football players produced in Africa, often leaving their countries to seek greater opportunities elsewhere, mostly abroad, to the detriment of the local leagues.
Now, with the attention that has been drawn to Women’s Football in recent times, and the availability of Big brands taking up sponsorships, women’s league football has also seen increased funding and new clubs have been springing up all over the continent.
And now, compared to a decade ago, female league football in Africa is garnering more attention. Improved sponsorship of various female football leagues by capable brands and organization has led to clubs challenging the favorites to the top league positions. An example of this can be seen in the performances of the Louves Minsproff, AS Awa, and Amazones FAP teams in the Cameroonian women’s championship -now known as the Guinness super league.
This has gone to show that with better sponsorship and attention to the various leagues available across Africa, amazing talents and teams could be discovered and these talents could go on to represent on the international stages and do very well too.
Comments
adamgordon
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miaqueen
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