CECAFA asks member associations to invest more in women football

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) has asked member associations and stakeholders to invest more in women football.

Auka Gecheo, the CECAFA executive director challenged subscribing countries to increase funding in women football, which will help female players to exploit the availed opportunities to excel on global platforms.

While addressing journalists about the progress of the on-going CECAFA Women’s U-20 Championship at the Njeru based FUFA technical center on Monday, Gecheo said women teams have the capacity to make breakthroughs and easily feature in global tournaments compared to their male counterparts. He therefore asked CECAFA members to prioritize more resources for women football related activities.

This years’ CECAFA Women’s U-20 Championship attracted six countries namely; Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burundi, Eritrea and Djibouti. A record 52 goals have been scored so far throughout the 12 games played in the tournament.

Uganda which currently leads the table with 12 points and 21 goals, is closely followed in the second position by Ethiopia’s side who have also won all their four games and have since earned 15 goals.

Gecheo argues that with such competitiveness and football skills exhibited by each of the participating teams, the presidents of member federations ought to lobby for the increase of resources invested in women football so as to increase the visibility of the sport throughout the region. He also notes that this tournament has been a training platform for the four teams of Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Burundi which are preparing their players ahead of the fourth coming U20 Women’s world cup qualifiers.

Meanwhile, this year’s CECAFA Women’s U-20 Championship local organizing committee chairperson, Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi has called upon Uganda’s government to prioritize salary payments for all female players and their coaches alike, featuring in the different national women’s’ teams within the country.

Nakiwala Kiyingi argues that salary enhancements will attract bigger numbers of homegrown talents within the country’s women football space.

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