AfricaPress-Tanzania: NATIONAL women’s football team ‘Twiga Stars’ Head Coach Bakari Shime said lack of scouts in women football is the main factor depriving players to play professional football outside the country.
Shime has had a perfect time at the helm of Under-17, Under-20 and senior team football sides to put the country on the world map as far as women’s football is concerned.
Speaking in a telephone interview, Shime pointed out that the market for women football players in the country is high only that scouts have not seized the opportunity to venture in women football.
“We have potential players who can do well on international scene but lack of agents and scouts to help our players cross the borders is one thing contributing to that situation.
“The other thing is that in women football, players are mostly seen on the world face when playing for their national team since there are no major league competitions that bring them on one platform like CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup in male football,” Shime noted.
He added that with the success of the national teams (U-17, U-20 and Twiga Stars), most players are now getting the chance to be seen in many parts of the world, which he said is a good thing for the players.
Moreover, the coach said they have put in place good measures to rebuild the national team Twiga Stars, so that they can positively compete in Africa Women Cup of Nations and in FIFA Women’s World Cup insisting that it will be a potential market for the women payers to be seen.
“We have full backing from the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) which is eager to uplift women football in the nation that is why the federation has focused a lot in the development of the women’s league. “Within the next three years, Tanzania will make a big step in women’s football on the continent and the entire world,” he said.
On his part, TFF Director of Competitions Salum Madadi concurred with Shime, saying the country will be giant in women’s football within three years.
He said they have put in place strategic measures to ensure that women’s football is developed saying they have started achieving that from the grassroot level for the measures to be fully realised.
“We have already made a big step on the continent bearing in mind that Tanzania is among the few countries running women’s league and what I can say is that we are on the right path to make it big,” he said.
The U-17 women’s team was bundled out of the 2020 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers after losing 5-0 to Uganda in the return leg battle played in Kampala, Uganda.
The national side won 2-1 in the first leg encounter at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
