Posted on 15.03.2023 at 11:09 by Boubacar Sidiki HAIDARA
Women’s football is still far from being a priority in Mali. The players, who drag their spleen, expatriate or give up, and the leaders have put the cursor elsewhere.
Under other skies, notably in North America, the time has come for equal pay for male and female national teams. The Americans, who are more successful than their male counterparts, secured a historic deal in May 2022. It has been emulated. In early 2023, the Canadian women decided to strike to demand pay parity between them and the men’s selection and obtained an agreement in principle. In Mali, we are still far from it. Women’s football is struggling to take off and, according to our interlocutors, decision-makers are not scrambling to change the situation. “The championship is sloppy. It is organized just to say that there is one”, judge, bitter, Zeinabou Sidibé, former player of FC Amazones who now lives in Canada for her studies. 12 teams make up the championship of 1time division. They are divided into 2 groups of 6 and the first 2 compete in the final. Last season they played one way, this season two ways. A choice that has the gift of annoying. Before, when Fatou Camara was at the head of the Central Women’s Football Commission, discipline made its way. The former player and captain of the national team had succeeded in organizing a 22-day championship, with regional teams and matches played in national stadiums. But since she flew to Dakar in 2018 to take charge of the FIFA Regional Office, the situation has changed, assures Sidibé. “Women’s football has no value in the eyes of the leaders”.
Difficult preparation
From this “precarious” championship, the national team suffers. The best players move abroad as soon as the opportunity arises and others give up, especially since societal conservatism does not look favorably on a female footballer. At the start of competitions, for lack of stadiums, the players train on “amateur” grounds. As a result, the national team chained bad results. The horizon is far from rosy. For an analyst who requested anonymity, this is not surprising. The economy around women’s football is still precarious, if not non-existent. “It doesn’t make the crowds stand up. It’s no wonder leaders build on what works.
