{"id":3839,"date":"2022-03-12T10:55:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T10:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football"},"modified":"2022-03-12T15:32:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-12T15:32:38","slug":"three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football","title":{"rendered":"Three nations, one goal: Supporting women\u2019s football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Seychelles. <\/strong><\/span>With its white sandy beaches, blue lagoons and extensive coral reefs, many people consider the Maldives to be a magical place. That includes the country\u2019s women\u2019s national team, as well as those of Saudi Arabia and Seychelles \u2013 albeit for a different reason entirely. In February, the three teams participated in a historic friendly tournament in the tropical paradise.<\/p>\n

The Maldives women\u2019s national team were established in 2003 and went on to play their first official international fixture the following year against Myanmar, which they lost 17-0. They recorded their first victory in 2012, which had a major impact on the perception of women\u2019s football.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that win, the way people and the way society thought slowly began to change,\u201d said Mariyam Mirfath, the first captain of the Maldives. \u201cWe also had a good team back then. After 2012 we drew a few games, won a few and lost a few. But not like in 2004, when we were defeated 17-0. At the moment there are over 100 girls in the FAM (Football Association of Maldives) Academy. I think setting up that academy was good for the future. We\u2019re still lacking a women\u2019s league though.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, practice makes perfect. Regular training sessions, league matches and international friendlies are essential to drive women\u2019s football forward. The three-nation tournament was a further step along this path.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more games, like friendlies for example, because that way more women would take an interest in 11-a-side football,\u201d said Maldives international Shahula Thaufeeq.<\/p>\n

First win for Seychelles under Angeline Chua<\/b><\/p>\n

While Maldives are already on the Fifa\/Coca-Cola Women\u2019s World Ranking (in 152nd place, as of December 2021), Seychelles are still fighting for a rung on the ladder. Coach Angelina Chua\u2019s side travelled to the Maldives in order to improve on their showing at the tournament in Dubai, where they lost twice to United Arab Emirates in September 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we had the opportunity to play our first international game in 16 years,\u201d said Chua, who is also the head of women\u2019s football in the Seychelles. \u201cWe want to make it the norm for the women\u2019s team to play when the men\u2019s team does. I think there are still some obstacles for girls in the Seychelles. We want to try to organise more football activities so that more girls take part and the talent pool grows.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we have three clubs that were founded by women,\u201d continued Chua, who is working on the development and implementation of a long-term strategic plan for girls’ and women’s football. \u201cMost of our players come from these clubs. They\u2019ve played on the street and in school. That\u2019s our talent pool.\u201d<\/p>\n

A talent pool that, after a 1-0 defeat against the host nation, managed to record their first victory under former Singapore international Chua with a 4-0 triumph over The Daughters of the Waves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of what the girls have achieved. We won our first game in the Maldives and we can return home with our heads held high.\u201d<\/p>\n

The task now is to build on that positive development, to drive forward the creation of a national women\u2019s football competition and to push for opportunities to strengthen the role of women in the game, not only as players but also as coaches and officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to establish a women\u2019s league,\u201d said Chua. \u201cIt\u2019s no easy task. If you look at what Saudi Arabia did with their league, they started out with an eight-a-side division, which was our vision too. This year we\u2019ll start with a nine-a-side league. We congratulate Saudi Arabia on making history, and in order to pay respect to them we also gave our best out on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course there are still people who doubt that we can play football. But when a woman or a girl has an objective in life, they can achieve it and just forget about the people who don\u2019t support others.<\/p>\n

\u2018Today is a historic day, not only for them, but for everyone who loves football\u2019<\/p>\n

Chua was referring to Saudi Arabia\u2019s historic moment at the mini tournament in the Maldives when they beat Seychelles 2-0 in their maiden international match.<\/p>\n

The result brought the team and their German coach Monika Staab international acclaim, led by Brazilian football legend Pele.<\/p>\n

Even before the match had kicked off, Maldives Minister for Sport, Ahmed Mahloof, underlined the significance of the occasion: \u201cWe are very happy and very excited that this game is happening in the Maldives. We are very happy to host Saudi Arabia for their first football match.<\/p>\n

“The attention of this match has been expressed by many legends like Pele himself. It shows the importance of women getting the opportunity to take part in sports and other duties as well. We are delighted and we look forward to cooperating with Saudi Arabia and other countries in developing women\u2019s football.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the process of developing 100 football pitches in the Maldives and we have already completed close to 30. One thing we did is to make the salaries of the women\u2019s and men\u2019s national teams equal. I\u2019m very happy that this has been done in the first 100 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Seychelles<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Seychelles. With its white sandy beaches, blue lagoons and extensive coral reefs, many people consider the Maldives to be a magical place. That includes the country\u2019s women\u2019s national team, as well as those of Saudi Arabia and Seychelles \u2013 albeit for a different reason entirely. In February, the three teams participated in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[234,268,233],"class_list":["post-3839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-seychelles","tag-seychelles"],"yoast_head":"\nThree nations, one goal: Supporting women\u2019s football - Seychelles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With its white sandy beaches, blue lagoons and extensive coral reefs, many people consider the Maldives to be a magical ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three nations, one goal: Supporting women\u2019s football\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With its white sandy beaches, blue lagoons and extensive coral reefs, many people consider the Maldives to be a magical ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Seychelles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-12T10:55:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-12T15:32:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/sites\/30\/2022\/03\/img-622cbcfaf087a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1453\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"946\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Three nations, one goal: Supporting women\u2019s football\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-12T10:55:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-12T15:32:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football\"},\"wordCount\":901,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/sites\/30\/2022\/03\/img-622cbcfaf087a.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Seychelles\",\"Seychelles\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/three-nations-one-goal-supporting-womens-football\",\"name\":\"Three nations, one goal: Supporting women\u2019s football - 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