A match in Kilimanjaro’s crater has been followed by one on the shores of the Dead Sea, as Haneen Khateeb and Yasmeen Shabsough seek to tear down barriers and get girls playingIt started as a joke. After a five-hour climb and 90 minutes of football in thin air, the players from Equal Playing Field sat back. At 5,714m above sea level, in the crater at the top of Kilimanjaro, they had secured the world record for the highest-altitude football match. Why? To highlight gender inequality. To show that women are strong, ambitious and deserving of equal opportunities. Elated after their epic journey, they jested about the next stage of their campaign. The highest altitude? Let’s do the lowest, they mused.Except with...
The female teams and WSL viewing figures are on the increase, but falling attendances are a cause for concernOne year ago the Football Association gathered the media at Wembley with little detail on what would be discussed beyond “women’s football”. There, the new head of women’s football Sue Campbell, chief executive Martin Glenn and head of participation Kelly Simmons outlined their Gameplan for Growth – a bold plan to transform participation, support and success on an international stage. It was hard not to absorb the enthusiasm.One year on a lot has changed. For a sport that has struggled for media presence, the distasteful handling of off-field events has dominated headlines. Yet while the FA’s actions in those cases has been...
Former university footballer now managing a second division men’s club is determined to take herself even higher up the ladderThe Brong-Ahafo region in Ghana is not unused to producing sporting talent. It boasts Ghana captain and former Sunderland record transfer, Asamoah Gyan, among its former inhabitants, as well as the former West Ham, Fulham and Leicester defender John Paintsil and a number of top footballers plying their trade across Africa.At a second division club located in the capital of the region, Sunyani, a new star is emerging, a star standing on the touchline rather than the pitch – as head coach of the men’s club DC United. She is a 27-year-old woman: Mavis Appiah. Related: From the ashes: South American...
Despite the time it has taken, the news that one of the game’s superpowers are launching a pro women’s team is welcomeFinally. The announcement that Manchester United are to launch a professional women’s team and have bid for a place in a newly restructured second tier next season has provoked a variety of responses but overall it is deeply welcome.Why? Because whatever you may think about United’s late arrival to the party, one of the superpowers of world football entering the arena will boost the profile of the game and show that women’s football has reached the point where it must be taken seriously. And United, seen by many as stubborn and out of step, will benefit from an enhanced...
Man City are searching for form but should still reach the semis while Wolfsburg and Chelsea are likely to complete the line-up(21 March, Academy Stadium, and 28 March, Linköping Arena) Related: Pernille Harder: ‘I was the only girl in the team but they wanted to play with me’ | Suzanne Wrack Related: It is time for female footballers to be treated as equals | Suzanne Wrack Continue reading...