Africa-Press – Seychelles. ‘We have to ensure we put the Seychelles national team on the global map of Fifa women’s world ranking’
Q. How long have you been in Seychelles and what have you observed with regard to women’s football in general since you have been here?
Q. How much real interest is there in women’s football in Seychelles, from the side of players as well as spectators?
Q. What are some of the unique challenges faced by women as opposed to men in this sport globally and in Seychelles specifically?
Some unique challenges women face globally are they aren’t given the same level of professionalism in the sport. Such as, the facilities, staff support, salary, and organisation. Furthermore, childbearing is also one of the barriers that needs to have a proper planning, even so it means missing a full year / season with the respective clubs or national team.
Q. How do you think these can be overcome?
In Seychelles, women participate in both the household and earning of wages to sustain their family and life. Therefore, it is important to look into the best support we can provide financially as well as flexible schedules to keep women in the game.
Q. How do you think you will increase interest in women’s football?
Women’s football must go in line with the Seychelles Football Federation’s mission and visions. This is to improve the consistency and stability of the women’s football programme from grassroots, youth football, senior football and eventually professional football. When there’s stability and prospect in this area, it will naturally attract people to want to be part of women’s football.
Q. Does Seychelles have “talent” among the women participating in this sport?
Q. What are the main goals and objectives for women’s football in Seychelles?
The main objective is to put in place a player’s pathway for women’s football in Seychelles. This is to ensure an overall structure from increasing the pool of girls’ participation through grassroots football and youth football that involves all the schools from Mahé, Praslin and La Digue. The senior football would include the post-secondary schools and encouraging more men’s football clubs to set up a women’s team to participate in the domestic women’s league. It is such an important step because it affects the eligibility to qualify for the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Champions League.
Furthermore, to ensure success for the programme we need to encourage more females to be coaches, match officials and administrators to create a sustainable long-term outcome.
Q. What’s next in women’s football?
The Seychelles women’s league was supposed to kick off end-January 2022, however it has been postponed due to Covid-19. Nevertheless, we are hoping to get it up and running soon. The game format is set at 9 vs 9. We would like to take this opportunity to invite all the men’s clubs to help with the local women’s football scene and make a team of minimum 9 players to join the league. There will be a winner’s cup, medals and prize money which will give a boost to the clubs overall. For anyone interested on needing more details please do not hesitate to contact me on 2817985 or write an e-mail to [email protected].
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