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Hope for RP women’s football |
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Monday, 25 September 2006 |
In case you missed the news, two Asian countries battled in the finals of the under-20 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) women’s world championships in Russia recently.
North Korea crushed China, 5-0, to capture the gold medal in the tournament that is held once in two years and was inaugurated in 2002. The first under-20 women’s titlist was the US and host Canada took second place. In 2004, Thailand was the site and Germany beat China, 2-0, for the crown.
The next under-20 joust is scheduled in Chile in 2008.
Germany is the defending women’s World Cup football champion. Like the men’s version, it is scheduled once in four years. The first women’s World Cup was held in 1991 with the US claiming the championship. In 1995, Norway took the title. The US was back on the throne in 1999 and Germany ruled four years later. The fifth women’s World Cup is scheduled in China with five cities — Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Tianjin and Wuhan — hosting matches on Sept. 10-30 next year.
China has been the dominant Asian country in the women’s World Cup, placing fourth in 1995 and third in 1999.
To further sharpen its focus on women’s soccer, FIFA will launch the under-17 tournament in New Zealand in 2008 with 16 teams vying for honors. That same year, 12 teams will compete in women’s football at the Beijing Olympics.
Throughout the world, more and more females are playing football.
"It’s booming at the youth level," said former Philippine Olympic Committee president Cristy Ramos, now FIFA women’s committee member and Asian Football Confederation women’s committee deputy chairperson. "Even if there are no women’s futsal competitions, no women’s clubs and no confederation championships, FIFA believes the future growth of the sport lies in the women’s side."
With Asian teams figuring in the finals of the recent under-20 women’s world championships, the outlook is bright for more Asian countries to shine in international competitions.
There is probably little hope for a country like the Philippines to ever blossom as a regional power in men’s football but it’s a different story in the women’s division.
At the last Southeast Asian Games, the Philippine women’s football team took fourth place and narrowly missed bagging a bronze. With a little more seasoning, a deeper bench, support and exposure to international tournaments, the sky’s the limit for Filipina footballers.
Last week, 47 delegates from 16 countries converged at the Discovery Suites in Pasig to participate in the first-ever FIFA women’s football seminar for Southeast Asia, Oceania and neighboring regions. Of the 47 delegates, 23 were women, including two from the Philippines — Linda Schaefer and Krishna Hernandez.
The countries represented in the seminar were Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam and host Philippines.
Several FIFA officials flew in to conduct the seminar. Among the visitors were chairman of the women’s football and women’s competitions committee and executive member Dato Worawi Makudi, head of development programs Urs Zanetti, women’s football manager Tatjana Haenni, development manager for Asia and Oceania David Borja, development officer Windsor John and women’s football consultant Dato Yap Nyim Keong.
Borja is half-Filipino, half-German and works out of the FIFA office in Switzerland. He is married to a Filipina.
Last year, FIFA decided to organize seminars in 10 to 15 regions all over the world to orchestrate the growth of women’s football. The topics in each seminar include the structure and management of women’s football in a country, the technical aspects (primarily the staging of competitions) and the marketing factors (for sponsorships and promotions).
Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Johnny Romualdez said it was an honor for the country to be selected as host of the recent seminar. "Women’s football is fast growing in the world," said Romualdez. "Asian women’s football continues to be among the best in the world. Philippine women’s football is also growing fast and has improved tremendously in the recent past. The PFF is happy to have contributed to the growth and improvement of world women’s football."
PFF vice president Tony Chua, who is involved in women’s football, said the seminar was a huge success and after 18 months, the participants will reassemble for FIFA to measure the success of their country programs.
Haenni said there is a need for more dedicated officials to push women’s football at the national and regional levels. She described the link to the National Olympic Committee as vital.
"Let girls play football," she said. "Even if they play five by five. The key message is let them play."
On the marketing side, Haenni said FIFA is promoting more awareness in women’s football and suggested in certain countries, matches in doubleheaders with men.
Zanetti said each member nation must develop an active program. He cited as an example, England where after singling out obesity as a national menace, put up a five million pound fitness budget that led to increasing the women’s football population from 30,000 to 130,000 in less than two years.
Dato Yap said a country like the Philippines has an advantage in women’s football because unlike some other Asian countries, there are neither religious nor social restrictions on females playing sports.
There may never be a Philippine men’s team to qualify for the World Cup but a women’s squad might just be able to make it.
Courtesy of The Philippine Star
SPORTING CHANCE By Joaquin M. Henson
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