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Association | Somali Football Federation |
---|---|
Confederation | CAF (Africa) |
Sub-confederation | CECAFA (East & Central Africa) |
FIFA code | SOM |
FIFA ranking | |
Current | NR (25 August 2023) [1] |
Football is the most popular sport for women in Somalia. [2] However, Somalia does not have a women's national football team with FIFA recognition, and have never played in a single international fixture. They are in a region that faces many challenges for the development of women's sport. Football is the most popular women's sport in the country and teams do exist for women to play on though they are few. Participation rates dropped by a large number in 2006. The sport's governing body in the country is not providing much support for the game and faces its own challenges.
In 1985, almost no country in the world had a women's national football team, [3] including Somalia who did not have a FIFA recognised senior or youth team by 2006 [2] and who have never played in a FIFA sanctioned game. [4] The country has not sent a team to compete in major regional championships including the 2010 African Women's Championships during the preliminary rounds [5] or the 2011 All Africa Games. [6] In March 2012, the team was not ranked in the world by FIFA [7] and did not formally exist. [8]
Women's football in Africa in general faces several challenges, 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. [9] At the same time, if quality female players in Africa are developed, many, including Somalis, leave their home countries to seek greater football opportunities in places like Northern Europe or the United States. [10] [11] Funding for women's football in Africa is also an issue: Most of the funding for women's football and for the women's national teams comes from FIFA, not the national football association, [10] which in this case is Somali Football Federation who have not established a women's football programme in the country. [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 is not the solution, as demonstrated by the many youth and women's football camps held on the continent leading to improvements in player skill and increased interest in the sport. [13]
Football is the most popular women's sport in the country. [2] In schools, girls and boys do not play mixed football in Somalia. [2] On the adult level, there are 450 teams, 8 of which are available to women to play as mixed gendered teams and 6 which are women only. [2] In 2000, there were 280 registered female players on the junior and senior levels. This data was not kept from 2001 to 2004. In 2005, there were 1,435 registered female players but in 2006, the number dropped dramatically to 220. [2] This can be contrasted to futsal where there were 175 registered female footballers and 440 unregistered footballers in 2006. [2] In 2005, football was seen as a way to potentially help rebuild the country, with the concept having support from Somali women living abroad. [14] Women from Djibouti have been working to help Somali play football. Muslim extremists inside the country have made it difficult for women to play because of restrictions on what women can do. Inside Somalia, women have been completely prohibited from playing any sport. [15] Rights to broadcast the 2011 Women's World Cup in the country were bought by Al Jazeera, [16] despite the government having banned people from watching the men's competition in 2006 which resulted in several deaths. [17] [18]
Somali Football Federation was founded in 1951 and became a FIFA affiliate in 1962. [2] [19] Between 1991 and 2010 in Somalia, there was no FIFA FUTURO III regional course for women's coaching, no women's football seminar held in the country and no FIFA MA course held for women/youth football. [12] The national federation has six full-time staffers dedicated to supporting women's football, and women's football has representation on the federation's committee. [2] In April 2012, the national football association suffered a setback when its president Said Mohamed Nur was killed in a suicide attack that also killed the president of the country's Olympic Organising Committee. [20]
On 8 July 2019 Golden Girls FC from Mogadishu became the first Somali women’s football team to play an international match. They lost 3-0 to Queen Lozikeyi Academy from Zimbabwe at the 2019 Human Rights Cup. [21]
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The following players have been called up to a Djibouti squad in the past 12 months.
Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club | Latest call-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Djibouti national football team, nicknamed the Riverains de la Mer Rouge, is the national football team of Djibouti. It is controlled by the Djiboutian Football Federation, and is a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The Djibouti national football team's first win in a full FIFA-sanctioned international match was a 1–0 win vs. Somalia in the first round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification.
The South Sudan national football team represents South Sudan in international football and is controlled by the South Sudan Football Association, the governing body for football in South Sudan.
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 Chad women's national football team is the national women's football team of Chad and is overseen by the Chadian Football Federation.
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 Gambia women's national football team represents the Gambia in international women's football. It is governed by the Gambia Football Federation. As of December 2019, it has only competed in one major international competition, the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualification. The Gambia has two youth teams, an under-17 side that has competed in FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup qualifiers, and an under-19 side that withdrew from regional qualifiers for an under-19 World Cup. The development of a national team faces challenges similar to those across Africa, although the national football association has four staff members focusing on women's football.
The Guinea-Bissau women's national football team represents Guinea-Bissau in international women's football. It is governed by the Football Federation of Guinea-Bissau. It has played in two FIFA-recognised matches, both in 2006 against Guinea. The country also has a national under-17 side which participated in the 2012 Confederation of African Football qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Football is the most popular women's sport in the country. A women's football programme was established in 2004, followed by the creation of a women's national league.
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 team is popularly known as Mehalalitoe.
The Libya women's national football team is the national football team of Libya. It does not have FIFA recognition. It is not ranked by FIFA. There are development plans in the country to improve the state of women's football.
The Mauritania women's national football team represents Mauritania in international women's football and is controlled by the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (FFIRM). The team played its first international match in 2019 as a friendly against Djibouti in which they lost three to one. Fatou Dioup scored Mauritania's first international goal.
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 Sudan women's national football team is the official women's national football team of the country of Sudan. The team was established in 2021, and is controlled by the Sudan Football Association (SFA), the governing body for football in Sudan.
The Togo women's national football team represents Togo in international women's football since 2006. It is governed by the Togolese Football Federation (FTF), the governing body of football in Togo. The team has played five FIFA-recognised matches, in 2006 and 2007, before reappearing in the 2018 WAFU Women's Cup, set in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Their manager since January 2018 is Kaï Tomety. Togo's home stadium is the Stade de Kégué, located in Lomé.
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.
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 in Sudan were not allowed to officially participate in sports such as football, until the revolution of 2018–19 abolished the former restrictive public order laws. In September 2019, a women's league with 21 teams from different cities in Sudan was established, with Wala'a Essam al-Boushi, the Sudanese Minister of Youth and Sport, saying the transitional government will "make women's sports one of the pillars of the country's development."
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(help)Nchi nyingine za CECAFA ambazo ni Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, Somalia na Sudan hazina soka la wanawake la ushindani kiasi ya kuwa na timu ya taifa.