Burundi women's national football team

 Burundi
Nickname(s) Swallows
Association Fédération de Football du Burundi
Sub-confederation CECAFA (East & Central Africa)
Confederation CAF (Africa)
FIFA code BDI
First colours
Second colours
First international
n/a

The Burundi women's national football team represents Burundi in women's international football competitions. The team, however, has not competed in a match recognised by FIFA, the sport's international governing body. A senior national team is inactive, but an under-20 team has played in numerous matches. Further development of football in the country faces challenges found across Africa, including inequality and limited access to education for women. A women's football programme did not exist in Burundi until 2000, and only 455 players had registered for participation on the national level by 2006.

Team

In 1985, few countries had women's national football teams.[1][2] While the sport grew in popularity worldwide in the ensuing years, Burundi did not have a team more than two decades later.[2][3] By 2009, however, Burundi had a FIFA-recognised senior national team nicknamed the Swallows and a FIFA-recognised Burundi women's under-20 national team.[4][5] The under-20 team played one international match in 2002, one in 2004 and one in 2006.[3]

The senior national football team has never competed in a FIFA-sanctioned fixture and has not competed at the Women's World Cup. The team was one of 200 preparing for a qualification tournament for the cup in 2007, but did not play in the competition.[2][6][7] The team has withdrawn from numerous other events.[8][9][10] Burundi was to play in the 2008 African Women's Championship but withdrew from the tournament, giving the Democratic Republic of the Congo an automatic qualification.[8] The team also withdrew from the 2010 CAF Women's Championship and the 2012 CAF Women's Championship before the first-round qualifiers.[9][10] Burundi has not participated in other major events on the continent, including the 2011 All-Africa Games.[11] As of March 2012, the team was not ranked by FIFA.[12][13][14]

Burundi was scheduled to participate in a competition in 2007 organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Zanzibar. Nicholas Musonye, the secretary of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa), said of the event, "CAF wants to develop women's football in this region in recognition of the milestones Cecafa has achieved over the years. CAF appreciates what Cecafa has done despite the hardships the association has gone through, from financial problems to political instability in member states and poor management of associations. Member states in the Cecafa region have not taken women's football seriously. CAF now wants to sponsor a long-term campaign to attract women from this region into the game."[15] The competition was canceled due to lack of funds.[16]

Background and development

Women's football is now [a] big deal. The standard that we have attained in Africa is good enough. Soon, an African team will challenge seriously for the World Cup. But we need far more support from governments and big business.

Lydia Nsekera, president of the Fédération de Football du Burundi[17]

The development of women's football in Africa faces several challenges, including limited access to education, poverty amongst women, inequalities and human rights abuses.[18][19][20][21] Many quality female footballers leave their home countries for better opportunities elsewhere. Another issue facing women's football is institutional. Most of the funding for the sport in Africa comes from FIFA, not from national football federations.[22]

The Fédération de Football du Burundi, the country's national association, created a woman's football programme in 2000.[2][4][23] By 2006, there were just 455 registered women players, and the absence of a thriving women's game has been an obstacle for the national team.[24] Lydia Nsekera is the head of the national football association.[22]

Outside the national federation, the Commission nationale du football féminin was established by the 1990s, and a league and women's teams were organised in the same period in Bujumbara.[25][26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chrös McDougall (1 January 2012). Soccer. ABDO. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-61783-146-1. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Burundi: Fixtures and Results". FIFA. 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 FIFA (2006). "Women's Football Today" (PDF). Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Goal! Football: Burundi" (PDF). FIFA. 21 April 2009. p. 4. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Foot féminin : Éliminatoires CAN-2012 Le Sénégal affronte le Burundi en janvier" (in French). Yenkini. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2012. Les protégées de Bassouaré Diaby, qui ne se sont jamais qualifiées pour une CAN, tenteront de se racheter face aux Hirondelles du Burundi.
  6. ↑ Ballard, John; Suff, Paul (1999). The dictionary of football : the complete A-Z of international football from Ajax to Zinedine Zidane. London: Boxtree. p. 106. ISBN 0752224344. OCLC 59442612.
  7. ↑ "Vanguard (Nigeria) – AAGM: Over 200 Countries Gear Up for Women's World Cup". Vanguard (Lagos, Nigeria). September 8, 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  8. 1 2 Omorodion, Patrick (December 2, 2007). "Vanguard (Nigeria) - AAGM: Super Falcons Take a Rest as Women Battle". Vanguard (Lagos, Nigeria). Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Fixtures – African Women Championship 2010". CAF. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  10. 1 2 Bakama, James (15 January 2012). "New Vision (Uganda) - AAGM: Crested Cranes in Danger". New Vision (Kampala, Uganda). Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "Groups & standings – All Africa Games women 2011". CAF. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "The FIFA Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  13. ↑ "Classement mondial féminin de la FIFA". fr.fifa.com. 23 September 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  14. ↑ "Tanzania yapaa viwango FIFA" (in Swahili). New Habari. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012. Nchi nyingine za CECAFA ambazo ni Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, Somalia na Sudan hazina soka la wanawake la ushindani kiasi ya kuwa na timu ya taifa.
  15. ↑ "The Nation (Kenya) – AAGM: CAF to Fund Regional Women's Championships". Daily Nation (Nairobi, Kenya). January 4, 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  16. ↑ Olita, Reuben (27 September 2007). "Cecafa Puts Off Women Tourney". New Vision (Uganda).
  17. ↑ Olajire, Ademola (November 5, 2006). "Vanguard (Nigeria) - AAGM: Wesley Canvasses Greater Support for Women Football". Vanguard (Lagos, Nigeria). Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  18. ↑ Jean Williams (15 December 2007). A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women's Football. Berg. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-84520-674-1. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  19. ↑ Richard Giulianotti; David McArdle (2006). Sport, Civil Liberties and Human Rights. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-7146-5344-0. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  20. ↑ Chris Hallinan; Steven J. Jackson (31 August 2008). Social And Cultural Diversity In A Sporting World. Emerald Group Publishing. pp. 40–41. ISBN 978-0-7623-1456-0. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  21. ↑ Jean Williams (18 December 2003). A Game for Rough Girls?: A History of Women's Football in Britain. Routledge. pp. 173–175. ISBN 978-0-415-26338-2. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  22. 1 2 Gabriel Kuhn (24 February 2011). Soccer Vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics. PM Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-60486-053-5. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  23. ↑ Tom Dunmore (16 September 2011). Historical Dictionary of Soccer. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7188-5. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  24. ↑ FIFA (2006). "Women's Football Today" (PDF): 40. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  25. ↑ "Burundi - Lydia Nsekera, la "Madame Thatcher du football" à la Fifa" (in French). Slate Afrique. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012. Elle a beaucoup œuvré pour inciter les femmes du Burundi à pratiquer ce sport. Dans les années 1990, en tant que présidente de la Commission nationale du football féminin, elle a mis en place des équipes féminines à Bujumbara et a créé un championnat de football uniquement dédié aux femmes.
  26. ↑ "Fifa : Lydia Nsekera, première dame du foot mondial" (in French). Jeune Afrique. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012. Elle a assouvi sa passion par procuration et contribué largement à changer les choses en créant des équipes féminines à Bujumbura, la capitale de cette ancienne colonie belge. À la fin des années 1990, la Fifa, pour encourager le développement du football au Burundi, se tourne naturellement vers Lydia Nsekera.

External links

Listen to this article (info/dl)


This audio file was created from a revision of the "Burundi women's national football team" article dated 2012-5-6, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
More spoken articles

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, September 17, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.