| Nickname(s) | Harambee Starlets | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Football Kenya Federation | |||
| Confederation | CAF (Africa) | |||
| Sub-confederation | CECAFA (East and Central Africa) | |||
| Head coach | Charles Okere | |||
| FIFA code | KEN | |||
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The Kenya women's national under-20 football team represents Kenya at an under-20 level in women's football and is controlled by the Football Kenya Federation.
In 2006, the under-19 national team had 2 training sessions a week. [1] [2] The country participated in the African Women U-20 Championship 2006. They were supposed to play Congo-Brazzaville in Round 1 but Congo-Brazzaville withdrew from the competition. In the second round, they played Nigeria in Nigeria, losing 0–8. At home in the return match, they lost 1–2. [3] [4] The under-20 national team competed in the 2010/2011 FIFA U-20 CAF Women's World Cup qualifying competition. They did not advance to the U20 Women's World Cup. [5] In the preliminary round, they tied Lesotho 2-2 in a home match for Lesotho. In the home leg, they beat Lesotho 2-0. In the first round qualifiers, they lost to Zambia 2-1 in a home game for Zambia. They beat Zambia 4-0 in the home leg. In the qualifiers, they lost to Tunisia at home 1–2 in the second round. [6] [7] In 2012, the Zambian side was coached by Martha Kapombo. In the African qualification tournament for the U20 World Cup, Zambia lost to Kenya by an aggregate of 5-2 from the two matches, one home and away for both teams. Zambia lost the second match at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi by a score of 0-4. In a mid-February game, they had beaten Kenya 2-1 at Sunset Stadium in Lusaka. Kapombo said of the second game, "We were not prepared to lose to Kenya; actually we knew that we were going to beat them by four goals like they did to us. They changed most of the players who we played with in Zambia and that made it very hard for us in the midfield which failed to click." The Kenyan coach Florence Adhiambo said of the game ""We have come very far, we've been training hard and now we've seen what good training can do. We have worked hard to be here and the fans really played a very important role into this victory." The leg winner was scheduled to play Tunisia in the second round. [8] The Kenyans played Tunisian on 31 March 2012 at the Nyayo National Stadium in Tunisia. In the lead up to the game, the team had a three-week training camp. They were coached by Florence Adhiambo in the game. Ksh.700, 000 was given to the team by the Kenyan Prime Minister to support their World Cup aspirations. Additional funding came from UNICEF, Procter and Gamble, and Coca-Cola. [9]
Early development of the women's game at the time colonial powers brought football to the continent was limited as colonial powers in the region tended to take make concepts of patriarchy and women's participation in sport with them to local cultures that had similar concepts already embedded in them. [10] The lack of later development of the national team on a wider international level symptomatic of all African teams is a result of several factors, including limited access to education, poverty amongst women in the wider society, and fundamental inequality present in the society that occasionally allows for female specific human rights abuses. [11] When quality female football players are developed, they tend to leave for greater opportunities abroad. [12] Continent wide, funding is also an issue, with most development money coming from FIFA, not the national football association. [12] Future, success for women's football in Africa is dependent on improved facilities and access by women to these facilities. Attempting to commercialise the game and make it commercially viable is not the solution, as demonstrated by the current existence of many youth and women's football camps held throughout the continent. [10] [ page needed ]
Women's football gained popularity in the country during the 1990s. In 1993, this popularity led to the creation of the Kenya Women's Football Federation, who organised a national team that represented the country several times in international tournaments between its founding and 1996. In 1996, the Kenya Women's Football Federation folded under pressure from FIFA and women's football was subsumed by the Kenya Football Federation, with women being represented in the organisation as a subcommittee. [10] : 121- Football is the fourth most popular sport for women in the country, trailing behind volley, basketball and field hockey. [1] In 1999, a woman referee from Kenya officiated a match between the Nigerian and South African women's teams in Johannesburg and was treated poorly by fans when she failed to call an offsides. The game was delayed because of the ensuring violence, which included bricks being tossed at her. [13] In 2006, there were 7,776 registered female football players of which 5,418 were registered, under-18 youth players and 2,358 were registered adult players. [1] This followed a pattern of increased registration of female football players in the country with 4,915 total registered players in 2000, 5,000 in 2001, 5,500 in 2002, 6,000 in 2003, 6,700 in 2004 and 7,100 in 2005. [1] In 2006, there were 710 total football teams in the country, with 690 being mixed gendered teams and 20 being women only. [1] In 2006, there were over 3,000 girls playing in seven different leagues around the country. [14] Rights to broadcast the 2011 Women's World Cup in the country were bought by the African Union of Broadcasting. [15]
Kenya Football Federation was created and joined FIFA in 1960. Their kit includes red, green and white shirts, black shorts and black socks. [1] [16] The federation does not have a full-time dedicated employee working on women's football. [1] Women's football is represented on the federation by specific constitutional mandate. [1] FIFA suspended Kenya from all football activities for three months in 2004, due to the interference of the government in football activities. The ban was reversed after the country agreed to create new statutes. [17] On October 25, 2006, Kenya was suspended again from international football for failing to fulfill a January 2006 agreement made to resolve recurrent problems in their football federation. FIFA announced that the suspension would be in force until the federation complies with the agreements previously reached. [17] [18] Rachel Kamweru is the Kenyan women football national chairperson. [19] COSAFA and FIFA reaffirmed a commitment to women's football in the East African countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania in 2010. [20]
The Eritrea national football team represents Eritrea in men's international football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the Red Sea Boys. It has never qualified for the finals of the FIFA World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations. Local side Red Sea FC are the main supplier for the national team, The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The Burundi women's national football team, nicknamed the Swallows, represents Burundi in women's international football competitions. The team has competed since 2016 in matches recognised by FIFA, the sport's international governing body. A senior national team has been continually inactive, but an under-20 team has played in numerous matches. Further development of football in the country faces challenges found across Africa, including inequality and limited access to education for women. A women's football programme did not exist in Burundi until 2000, and only 455 players had registered for participation on the national level by 2006.
The Djibouti women's national football team represents the country in international competitions. Football is organised by the Djiboutian Football Federation, with women's football formally organised in the country in 2002, and a national team was later created.
The Kenya women's national football team represents Kenya in women's football and is controlled by the Football Kenya Federation.
The Lesotho women's national football team is the national team of Lesotho and is controlled by the Lesotho Football Association.
The Liberia women's national football team represents Liberia in international women's football. It is governed by the Liberia Football Association. It has played in five FIFA recognized matches.
The Madagascar women's national football team is the FIFA recognised senior women's A team for Madagascar. The team played their first FIFA matches in 2015. They were runner-up to Réunion in the 2015 Indian Ocean Island Games. They have competed in the COSAFA Women's Championship, in which they won a game against Comoros in 2019. The development of a national team in the country is problematic because of issues found on the continent and on the island, specifically including the lack of popularity of women's football as a participation sport in Madagascar.
The Mauritius women's national football team is the first women's association football team that represents the country of Mauritius. They are controlled by the Mauritius Football Association and are members of FIFA, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). The development of women's football in the country and in Africa as a whole faces a number of challenges, with a programme for women's football not being created in the country until 1997. FIFA gives money to the Mauritius Football Association, 10% of which is aimed at developing football in the country in areas that include women's football, sport medicine and futsal.
The Niger women's national football team represents Niger in international women's football. It is governed by the Nigerien Football Federation. It has played in four FIFA recognised matches, two of which were losses to Burkina Faso women's national football team in 2007. There is an under-20 women's national team who were supposed to participate in the 2002 African Women U-19 Championship but withdrew before playing a game. There are problems that impact the development of the women's game in Africa that effect Niger.
The Rwanda women's national football team represents Rwanda in women's association football and is controlled by the Rwandese Association Football Federation. It had to date been scheduled to compete in one major tournament, the inaugural Women's Challenge Cup held in Zanzibar in October 2007, but the event was ultimately canceled. It has finally debuted in February 2014 against Kenya. The team is nicknamed The She-Amavubi.
The Seychelles women's national football team is the national team of the Seychelles.
The São Tomé and Príncipe women's national football team represents São Tomé and Príncipe in international women's football. It is governed by the São Toméan Football Federation. It has played in six FIFA recognised matches and has never been internationally ranked by FIFA. The country also has a national under-19 team.
The Sierra Leone women's national football team is governed by the Sierra Leone Football Association.
The Zambia women's national association football team represents Zambia in association football, participating in qualifying tournaments for the FIFA Women's World Cup and other African-based competitions. They made their debut in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, becoming the first landlocked nation in Africa to qualify for a senior World Cup in either men's or women's football. However, they were eliminated during the group stage of the tournament.
Zambia women's national under-20 football team, the Young She-polopolo, represents the country in international U20 competitions. The team, originally a U19 national team until 2006, has competed in the African Women U-19 Championship qualifying competition and the African qualifying competitions for the FIFA U19/U20 World Cup. Because of local conditions related to the whole of women's football on the continent, the team faces challenges for improving their performance.
The Lesotho women's national under-20 football team represents the country in international youth women's football competitions.
The Kenya women's national under-17 football team represents Kenya at an under-17 level in women's football and is controlled by the Football Kenya Federation.
The 2018 African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament was the 9th edition of the African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament, the biennial international youth football competition organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to determine which women's under-20 national teams from Africa qualify for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
Women's football in Seychelles faces several development problems inside the country including a lack of popularity for the sport, and few female players and teams. Women have gained football leadership positions in the country with one coaching a men's team and another umpiring international matches. There are other development issues for the sport that are ones facing the whole of Africa.
Women's football in Madagascar faces several development problems inside the country including a lack of popularity for the sport, and few female players and teams. Women have gained football leadership positions in the country with one coaching a men's team and another umpiring international matches. There are other development issues for the sport that are ones facing the whole of Africa.
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