IFFHS NEWS AND STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 36
Picture : the US Women stars Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn fighted for Equal Pay since 2015 and opened the possibilities for all other countries.
EQUAL PAY
Brazil became the latest last week to make the equal pay move, that will see the Brazil Women Players paid the same as the male players for representing their country, same daily and prize amounts for taking part in preparations and games.
Stefan Johansen and Maren Mjelde signed the Equal Pay for women and men for Norway in 2017.
Brazil joins a select few who've made the Equal Pay declaration since Norway kicked off the tide in 2017 and South Africa made a similar ahead of the 2019 Women's World Cup. The select few :
- Norway since 2017
- New Zealand since 2018
- Australia since 2019
- Netherlands
- Finland
- South Africa
- England since 2020
- Brazil
The USA Women's national soccer team is continuing to fight for the Equal Pay since a few years and is confident to be the next country to win this battle.
NEW GENERATION OF INDIA’S WOMEN FOOTBALL
Four years ago the Indian Football Association started their first ever professional Women's football league. As expected, first IWL witnessed the lack of proper management and grass root system. In the light of those results, women's football authority decided to bring many changes including to welcome more young generations to it. A difficult task in India, where sports is just a game, not a bread winner. This mission ensured more grass route academies within two - three years and many young profiles emerged from it. Neha Yadav is one of them. The coach of She Kicks football academy, Delhi - represents the new face of the Indian Women's football.
Born in a family with Military background, Neha grew up in the National capital New Delhi. She showed her sporting skills at a very young age. She used to appear in different sports such as Basketball, HandBall, Judo and Karate at District level. When she was 14, got an opportunity to play for the U 17 Delhi State team changed her life. Since then she appeared for more state level matches in the senior category. She played with Delhi University team for four year. Also she led the university team on her last year there.
At first her family did not support her in playing football. They said, there is no future in Women's football, and nobody even knows there is a National Women's football team. They yielded to her happiness, when they saw her playing with the Delhi U17 team. As a solid left back she famed suddenly at national level. A gifted player with good techniques, Neha got the attention from national selectors. When her career was going well in full swing, everything turned down unexpectedly. Just before an expected international call up, another life changer came to Neha in the shape of ACL injury. She went through surgeries. After a brief time, she came back with the same passion and played three more years. However, she understood there is a depletion in her performance and another National call up will be a dream.
Neha was devastated by this reality. It was her father who gave her another idea to devote to her football career. He told her to get a coaching license from the National Institute of Sports. At this point she thought " Why can not groom young girls to International Level, which she lost." An iconic decision, which can be followed by other young Indian girls. Neha received her D and C coaching license in football from the National Institute of Sports, Patiala during her football playing career. Admission in that academy is arduous but her skills and tactics helped to finish as topper.
Neha began her coaching career with Indian Super League club Delhi Dynamos FC (Now Odisha FC) at grass root level. She started to train young girls and boys there. She saw the potential in young prodigies. Which demanded her to prepare more in her coaching career. So she went on a Premier league phase 1 course with DDFC. This course gave more importance to grass root football. Neha opened a new chapter there to follow. She led DDFC girls teams as assistant coach in the Subroto cup (Air force cup).
In 2018, Indian Goalkeeper Aditi Chouhan came forward to make another platform for young girls. She starts the prestigious Women's football academy named She Kicks in New Delhi to groom young girls in professional ways. Which gave a new dimension to Women's football in India. Neha joined there as head coach. Since then she dedicated her efforts to grow women's football in India. At She Kicks academy Neha trains young girls at the age of 4-5. According to Neha, Indian women's football is growing in the right way now, more and more girls are getting opportunities which were not available some years back. Many clubs have now started to make their own girl's teams. Still, a lot of things are yet to be done. There is a lack of infrastructure in Women's football. Less matches are being played which does not enhance their performance.
IWL saw more participation in last edition, with some good overseas players. Surely this will help to see Women's football seriously. However, the grass roots are still not intact. For that we need to have more tournaments and leagues so that more girls can play professionally. Still there are other factors to improve. IWL is a huge tournament in Indian women's football, yet the media coverage is diminished one. Most people do not know anything about IWL. Women's football has no money, they are not paid equal. So, those who are playing in India do not encourage the young girls to play football. In India football fans are thinking at world level but in reality it is not.
Since she started her coaching career, Neha has been working mostly towards women's football only. She has a great ideology in it. In her words " We must provide our best to the game which has given us so much.I want the girls to be confident in and out of the field.They should be able to make their own decisions.I like working on their personalities along with technical and tactical abilities. Yes, it is crucial.Team building is an important aspect.That I try to build it. Also, reading every player and learning about their background helps me a lot to work towards them. To give them different situations during training sessions. Where they ascertain the solutions for themselves first, In She Kicks Academy we try to give the most comfortable environment to the girls."
From a military background Neha chose a football career rather than following her father's step. Neha dreamed of playing for India. Unfortunately she failed. Now she has two ultimate plans. First to finish the remaining License courses and later to manage the Indian Women's team. She is optimistic about it. The U 17 Women's World Cup will be held in India next year. Neha hoped that it would give more opportunities to the young girls. More clubs will try to make girls teams. Equal payments. Moreover, give them the opportunity to play professionally.
CAMEROON CALL 30 TO CAMP FOR 2021CHAN AMID COVID-19 UNCERTAINTY.
The hosts of the African Nations Championships, CHAN 2021, Cameroon have summoned 30 players drawn from the domestic professional league for the first phase of preparations for the championships, to run from September 15th to 29th. The manager, Yves Clément Aroga today published the list comprising, 3 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, 13 midfielders, and 6 attackers with whom he will work during the 2-week period at the end of which 23 will be retained for the next and final phase of preparations for the CHAN the country absolutely want to win.
On the sidelines of preparations for the championships initially scheduled for 2019 but stalled with the outbreak of the new corona virus, Covid-19, Cameroon authorities are running rings around what should be done for better handling of the way forward with respect to facilitating preparations for CHAN 2021. It would be recalled that last August 21st the Sports Minister wrote to his colleague of Public Health informing him that the Secretary General of the Presidency had ordered a dismantling of specialized structures set up in three CHAN 2021 football stadia to cater for Covid-19 patients so as to facilitate preparations for the CHAN. But then, the latter has not respected the order arguing that the said health facilities had been set up at those centers on the instructions of the President of the Republic.
EGYPT FA IN SEARCH OF MISSING AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS.
In an official statement by the Egypt Football Association, EFA, yesterday, Friday September 4th, the trophy won for keeps by The Pharaohs after wins in 2006, 2008, and 2010 has been found to be amongst some old trophies in their historical collection, and so have began investigation into their whereabouts. The said trophies had been moved into a storeroom following the 2013 fire attack on the EFA headquarters in Cairo, and were now scheduled to be moved to a gallery at the entrance of the EFA entrance, currently being renovated, to display the country’s multiple football cups.
Former EFA Vice President and former Egypt goalkeeper, Ahmed Shobeir has been quoted as revealing that the loss of the trophy was made known as preparations were made to build a museum to host all the trophies won by Egyptian football. Former EFA member and dead ball specialist, Magdi Abdelghani went further in indicating that the trophy was destroyed by a fire at the EFA headquarters seven years ago.
The former official and player said: “EFA is now investigating the trophies’ disappearance to determine if those old trophies were saved after the building was burnt…or if they were lost when the building was exposed during this incident.”
Reports earlier suspected former captain, Ahmed Hassan who captained The Pharaohs in three successful AFCONs in 2006, 2008, and 2010, as keeping the missing trophy; but such reports were later rebutted.
7-time winners of the African Cup of Nations, The Pharaohs of Egypt, as well as 5-time winners, The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, and 4-time winners, Black Stars of Ghana, are the only three squads to have won the trophy for keeps. In 1978, Ghana won the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem trophy, named after the first CAF President, for the third time, and so for keeps. In 2000, Cameroon won the African Unity Cup for keeps. And Egypt won the third-ever AFCON trophy in 2010 for keeps.