Background and development
The kind of football we have seen here shows that women [sic] football can no longer be regarded as novelty. I am proud to be a woman, watching these ladies display skill and ability that are even rare to see in the men's game. My call is to governments and big companies in Africa to grant women's football more support. If the men are going anywhere to play, the government will find the money. But when it is the women, you see them talking about lack of funds. When our national U-20 team was to play Algeria in the Fifa World Cup qualifiers, the government said they didn't have any money. But I went to Fifa and got them to fund our trip. But after we beat Algeria and then drew with Nigeria in the first leg of the last round of qualifiers, suddenly everyone wanted to be part of the trip to Nigeria. Suddenly the money became available for government officials to travel to Nigeria. There is a lot of insincerity in the way we deal with the women. That should be stopped.
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. [3] 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. [4] When quality female football players are developed, they tend to leave for greater opportunities abroad. [5] Continent wide, funding is also an issue, with most development money coming from FIFA, not the national football association. [5] Future, success for women's football in Africa is dependent on improved facilities and access by women to these facilities. Attempting to commercialize 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. [3]
The national federation, Liberia Football Association, was founded in 1936. It became a FIFA affiliate in 1962. [6] Women's football is represented on the committee by specific constitutional mandate. [7] In 2009, the organization did not have any full-time staff members specifically dedicated to assisting women's football. [7] [8] Their kit includes red shirts, white shorts and red socks. [8]
Football is the most popular women's participation sport in the country. [7] A women's football program was first organized by the national federation in the country in 1988. [9] In 2000, there were 264 registered female players in the country. In 2006, there were 277 players. [7] In 2006, there were only two women's only teams available for women to play on while there were 43 teams for men to play on. [7] By 2009, regional and national women's football competitions had been established, but no competition had been organized for UL or schools. [9] Rights to broadcast the 2011 Women's World Cup in the country were bought by the African Union of Broadcasting. [10]
Jamesetta Howard has served as the country's Minister of Youth and Sports. The national football association president was Izetta Sombo Wesley. The country's president was Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. All were women and all supported the women's national team. [5] In 2007, Izetta Wesley was named a member of the FIFA Women's Football Committee and that of FIFA Women's World Cup, with her term starting in 2008. She has also served as the Match Commissioner of CAF and FIFA, and Vice President of the West African Football Union (WAFU). [11]
The team
In 1985, almost no country in the world had a women's national football team, [12] including Liberia who did not play in their first FIFA recognized match until February 2007 [13] though the team played three non-recognized games in 2006. [7] [13] National team matches have been played at Antoinette Tubman Stadium. [6]
On 18 February 2007 in a game in Monrovia, Liberia lost to Ethiopia women's national football team 0–3 after having been down 0–1 at the half. [13] On 10 March in a game in Addis Abeba, Liberia lost to Ethiopia 0–2 after being down 0–1 at the half. [13] In 2010, the country did not have a team competing in the African Women's Championships. [14] The country did not have a team competing at the 2011 All Africa Games. [15] On 13 February 2011 in a game in Monrovia, Liberia lost to Ghana by a score of 0–4. [13] On 27 February in a game in Accra, Liberia lost to Ghana 0–7. [13]
Liberia's international ranking improved in the late 2000s before falling in the early 2010s: in 2007, it was ranked 144; in 2008, 117; in 2009, 92; in 2010, 128; in 2011, 136; [16] and in 2012, 130, while holding 35th place in Africa. [17]
2 (7 August 2025) [1] 
Liberia 0–3 Ethiopia 
