Central African Republic women's national football team

 Central African Republic
Association Fédération Centrafricaine de Football
Sub-confederation UNIFFAC
(Central Africa)
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Head coach Vacant
Top scorer No goals yet
FIFA code CTA
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current Unranked
Highest n/a (n/a)
Lowest n/a (n/a)
First international
No matches played

The Central African Republic women's national football team represents the Central African Republic (CAR) in women's international football competitions. The team has not played any international matches to date, but the country's youth national team has played in several matches and events, including an Under-19 World Cup qualifying competition in which the team lost in the semi-finals. As is the case across Africa, the women's game faces numerous challenges. Football was only formally organised in 2000, and there are only 400 players competing at the national level.

Women's World Cup record

African Women's Championship

Team

In 1985, only a few countries had women's national football teams, and the Central African Republic was no exception.[1] In 2006, the team trained five times a week.[2]

As of March 2012, the team was not ranked by FIFA due to it not having played any international matches.[3]

The country has a national under-20 side. This team has participated in the qualifying competition for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, which prior to 2006 was an under-19 tournament in which the CAR team also took part.[4][5] In 2002, the qualifiers began with an African Women's Under-19 Championship. The CAR faced Equatorial Guinea in a home-and-away series in the first round, winning both matches by scores of 1–0 and 2–0. The country was set to play Zimbabwe in the quarterfinals, but Zimbabwe withdrew from the competition. In the semi-finals, the CAR met South Africa in a home match, but lost 0–2. The team was scheduled to play a return match in South Africa, but the host country refused to grant the Central African players visas, which led to South Africa's disqualification from the tournament. South Africa appealed the decision and visas were subsequently issued to Central African players, but the team then withdrew from the competition.[5][6][7] In 2010, the Central African Republic women's national under-20 football team participated in the African Women's U-20 World Cup qualifiers. They had a walkover win against São Tomé and Príncipe in the first round but did participate in the second or third rounds.[8]

Background and development

The development of women's football in Africa faces several challenges, including limited access to education, poverty amongst women, inequalities and human rights abuses targeting women.[9][10][11][12] Many quality players leave the country seeking greater opportunity in Europe or the United States.[13] In addition, most of the funding for women's football in Africa comes from FIFA, not the local national football associations.[13]

The Fédération Centrafricaine de Football, the CAR's national football association, was founded in 1961 and became a FIFA affiliate in 1964.[2] In the CAR, there is no national association staffer dedicated to women's football and no women on the board or in the executive committee.[2] With assistance from FIFA, the federation developed a women's programme starting in 2000. A national competition and school competition were later introduced.[14] Football is one of the most popular women's sports in the CAR.[2] There were about 200 registered youth players in the country and 200 registered senior players as of 2006. There are 80 club-level teams with women on them, 20 of which are exclusively for women.[2]

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 5 FIFA (2006). "Women's Football Today" (PDF). Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "The FIFA Women's World Ranking". FIFA.com. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Women U-19/U-20 World Cup". Rsssf.com. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Regulations – CAN U-20 women 2010 – CAF". Cafonline.com. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "African Women U-19 Championship 2002". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Goal! Football: Central African Republic" (PDF). FIFA. 3 November 2009. p. 1. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "African Women U-20 World Cup 2010 Qualifying". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ Richard Giulianotti; David McArdle (2006). Sport, Civil Liberties and Human Rights. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-7146-5344-0. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. 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.
  14. ↑ "Goal! Football: Central African Republic" (PDF). FIFA. 3 November 2009. p. 4. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
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