FIFA announces a Women's Confederation Cup to be held at the end of 2018 | 19.12.2017
According to the French website footofeminin, fr, FIFA has proposed the creation of the first Women's Confederations Cup to be held towards the end of 2018 on the island of New Caledonia in Oceania, said president, Gianni Infantino, during his visit to Noumea, the capital of the oceanic archipelago, during an executive congress held there by FIFA.
In this congress, it also focused on the reform of competitions at the women's level, such as a Women's World League that would replace the U-20 and U-17 world championships, and would be played each year with the participation of 48 countries of 6 confederations starting in 2020. Infantino's ambitious project would be debated and voted on March 15 and 16 in Bogota, during the session of the FIFA Council.
The objective: "to involve more nations and allow young women to live a World Cup in all its evolution", according to Infantino.
As for the Women's Confederations Cup, the president of the Football Federation of New Caledonia, Steeve Laigle assured that he is delighted to organize this tournament. It will be a format similar to the masculine one that is played since 1992, where the champions of each confederation participate, plus the absolute world champion and the organizing country for a total of 8 competing countries.
For the specific case of the new tournament would participate: New Caledonia as host country, the United States as world champion of 2015 and the Netherlands , current champion of the European Women's Championship. The remaining five spots will be known from the continental tournaments that will be played in 2018 such as: Copa America, CONCACAF World Cup, Asian Cup, African Cup and Oceania Cup.
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AtlĂŠtico de Madrid and Santa Fe will play for the Copa Hispanoamericana on January 31 | 23.11.2017
AtlĂŠtico de Madrid and Independiente Santa Fe, champions of the Spanish League (Liga Iberdrola) and Colombia (Liga Ăguila), respectively, will play next January 31 in Madrid for the first Copa Hispanoamericana in history.
"We reached an agreement with the Spanish League so that the champion of the women's league, in this case Santa Fe, will play in January against the champion of that country: AtlĂŠtico de Madrid," said Jorge Perdomo, president of the Colombian Football Division. The South American entity has signed a series of agreements with China, Germany and Spain on issues of selling players, television and advertising rights among other aspects, to which this party would be linked.
The clash should have been played on August 31 but was postponed because it could not fit the schedule of both teams. The Colombian team is currently on vacation after concluding its participation in the Copa Libertadores tournament in which it was eliminated at the group stage.
Although the main core of Santa Fe is composed of Colombian players, the squad has six foreigners of four different nationalities : Kimika Sanell (Trinidad and Tobago), MarĂa Alejandra Peraza and Oriana Yoselyn Altuve (Venezuela), Carol SĂĄnchez and Daphne Melissa Herrera (Costa Rica) and Chinyelu Asher (United States).
The Directorate of Competitions of the South American Confederation of Soccer announces that it has decided to postpone for 72 hours the continuation of the CONMEBOL Women's Libertadores 2017 in Paraguay, after analyzing the report sent by the Local Organizing Committee to the Medical Commission of the CONMEBOL.
This report diagnoses a possible food poisoning of athletes of some clubs participating in the continental club competition, so the CONMEBOL Competition Directorate has asked the Local Organizing Committee, organizer of the event, to carry out the relevant investigations and corrective measures.
The decision to reschedule the matches seeks to protect the athletes and facilitate their complete recovery from a medical and competitive point of view. The competition will restart on Thursday the 12th, following the previous schedule, adjusting some dates to double days, to allow time to get back in schedule and form with the previous match program.
The new schedule will be released tomorrow, thanking all the protagonists of the competition, the understanding of this serious situation.
Lewes FC become first professional club to pay women and men equally | 12.07.2017
Lewes FC have become the first professional or semi-professional football club to pay its womenâs team the same as its menâs team, as part of its Equality FC campaign.
The club, whose menâs side play in the Isthmian League Division One South and the womenâs in the FA Womenâs Premier League Southern Division, announced the news on Wednesday, with the Lewes FC director Jacquie Agnew saying: âWe believe that there should be a level playing field for women in football.
âBy committing to paying our womenâs and menâs teams equally, and providing equal resource for coaching, training and facilities, we hope to spark a change across the UK that will help put an end to the excuses for why such a deep pay disparity has persisted in our sport. Together with our owners, donors and sponsors, Lewes FC can show that equal pay can be implemented to the benefit of both women and men in sport and beyond.â
The East Sussex club set out their aims as follows:
⢠Raising and setting the playing budgets for the womenâs and menâs first teams at an equal level.
⢠Providing equal resource for coaching, performance and strength & conditioning staff.
⢠Upgrading equipment and facilities to meet the standards required by higher football divisions.
⢠Investment in local grassroots outreach to drive equal participation in football from girls and boys.
The clubâs new campaign, Equality FC, aims to raise awareness about gender inequality in football and encourage more support for womenâs and girlsâ football across the UK and around the world.
John Donoghue, the womenâs first-team manager, said: âI am proud that Lewes FC has stepped up to launch the Equality FC campaign. Every day I see the passion and commitment our players have for the game, and I am sure this is mirrored across the country in womenâs football.
âFor female players to have the same rewards as their male counterparts for doing the same job is a fantastic leap forward for womenâs football. This sends a powerful signal to not only our players and our club, but to the whole UK football community that womenâs football deserves an equal voice and support to menâs.â
Darren Freeman, the menâs manager, added: âWe use the same pitch, the same facilities, the same ball. As football fans we all want our team to win regardless of gender. Parity means giving everyone the same opportunity and getting the same rewards.â
The LIGA MX / ASCENSO MX announces its position regarding the informative notes about the regulations of the LIGA MX Womenâs Tournament that starts on July 28, 2017.
In no article of the Bylaws of the Mexican Federation of Soccer Association, AC, or Regulation of Competition of the LIGA MX Femenil or of the other Professional Divisions, are there provisions that limit the right to be part of the competitions that this institution organizes by sexual preference, religion or other discriminatory circumstances.
Likewise, the Competition Regulation establishes the medical provisions that must be met for the registration of any player. It should be noted that at no point is pregnancy mentioned as a reason to disregard the responsibilities of a Club.
If any registered player (as it is with the men in the different competitions of the LIGA MX / ASCENSO MX) must have a medical expenses insurance, it will be provided by her club.
The emergence of the LIGA MX Femenil is due to the need to recognize the value of women in our society and their great contribution in sport, especially organized soccer. Like any new category within federated soccer, the LIGA MX Femenil is in development and over time will show its growth in all aspects.
Based on the basic principles of competition and its regulations, it is a priority of the LIGA MX / ASCENSO MX and the LIGA MX Femenil to respect at all times the equality of gender, diversity and above all to the integrity of the people.
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Mexican women's soccer league restricts rosters to native-born players only | 20.07.2017
It was a phone call that threw former Mexico youth international Jazmin Aguas' fledgling career into limbo.
Aguas was in the Chivas club house in Guadalajara, where the 24-year-old from Escondido, California, had been working hard for four months to prepare for the start of the inaugural women's professional soccer league, Liga MX Femenil, on July 28.
Almost exactly a month to the day from the historic first game, Aguas' friend Clarissa Robles -- a current Mexico international also from California -- was about to board a flight to begin a career at Tigres in the Liga MX Femenil, but found out through her coach that no player born outside of Mexico's borders could be registered.
Robles called her friend Aguas to find out if she was in the same situation. Aguas ran down to find the Chivas staff to enquire. But after initially being reassured, it became clear that the Liga MX had closed the doors to Mexican-American players born in the United States, even if they are Mexico national team players.
When the formation of the league was announced in December, Liga MX president Enrique Bonilla had said that Mexican-U.S. dual nationals would be welcomed. But Article 8 of the league's rules indicates that there has been a reversal: "Only players born in Mexico can participate in Liga MX Femenil tournaments."
According to players, clubs appeared to have been unaware until late June and Club America was holding tryouts in Chicago just last week. Chivas manager Luis Fernando Camacho certainly didn't know when Aguas came to ask about her situation.
"(She) was part of our plans," Camacho said in an interview with ESPN Mexico. "We put in the paperwork and when they rejected it, we realized the rules we have to follow."
Like many young Mexican players, forward Aguas was naturally excited by the start of the women's league in Mexico. She finds it difficult to comprehend how she and others can pull on the Mexican national team shirt and not be allowed to play in the Mexican league.
"I think the rule is unfair, and it's sadly discriminating me and the other double nationality players," Aguas told ESPN FC from Guadalajara. "I find it sad that we were left out of this tournament. I simply don't understand how we can represent this country with pride and honor but can't play in the league. The whole idea of forming this league was to support women's soccer as well as the national team."
Aguas argues that for those girls who have graduated from college in the U.S. but maybe don't have opportunities abroad, the Liga MX was ideal to maintain fitness and form and push for places in the Mexico national team, creating competition for places in the process.
Mexican national team midfielder Olivia Jimenez -- who made global headlines in 2012 when she was nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award -- was part of Club America's preseason and only found out about Article 8 when the club tried to register her. The 25-year-old was born in the U.S. but raised in Mexico, adding an even more confusing layer to the rule. She's currently working in a printing business in San Diego and training on the side, which doesn't seem to be the ideal set-up for a current international footballer.
"In my humble opinion, I believe that it's absurd to be able to represent my country, but not be able to play in it," Jimenez told ESPN FC. "(The league) is a great project and I hope in the future they change (the rule) and I can play in my beloved Mexico."
ESPN FC has learned of at least three other players with Mexican citizenship, but who were born in the U.S., who were planning to play in the Liga MX Femenil this season and no longer can.
The rule certainly raises moral questions, and perhaps even legal ones.
The Mexican Constitution defines Mexican citizenship as those born in Mexican territory, or people born abroad and who have at least one parent who was born in Mexico or is a naturalized Mexican. But the Liga MX Femenil rule makes a distinction.
If the rule was applied to the men's league, Mexico internationals Isaac Brizuela and Miguel Ponce -- who were born in the States but raised in Mexico -- wouldn't be able to play in Liga MX. U.S. internationals and Mexican citizens Omar Gonzalez, Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona, Paul Arriola and a host of others couldn't have made the move south, either.
Border clubs such as Club Tijuana are likely to have major problems in sifting through the eligible women players, with so many dual nationals -- like Mexican national teammate Jimenez -- in the Baja California region of Mexico.
The case of 29-year-old Veronica Perez is slightly different. The Hayward, California, native scored perhaps the most famous goal in the history of women's soccer in Mexico, when El Tri defeated the United States in World Cup qualifying in 2010. Soccer America described it at the time as "the greatest upset in the history of women's soccer."
Perez pulled on the Mexico jersey 89 times, but the closing of the Liga MX Femenil to those not born in Mexico hastened her decision to step away from the game as a player and pursue a different career path, she confirmed to ESPN.
"I've played 89 times for the Mexican women's team during the last six years, giving my best effort to represent Mexico with pride," Perez wrote on Twitter on June 30 in Spanish. "And now I can't play in the Mexican women's league? How weird. It makes no sense."
While Perez is exploring other careers and Jimenez is working in Tijuana, Aguas is completely unsure of her next move. She has options to play at universities in Guadalajara, and Chivas are allowing her to continue training at the club. But she knows "time is ticking" on her goal of playing professional soccer.
"It was heartbreaking because I had already signed my contract," she said. "I could see my level getting back and I was excited to represent one of the biggest clubs of Mexico in its first-ever women's Liga MX (Femenil season), but now it's over and who knows how long it will be until this rule is turned over, or if it will even get turned over."
Despite the heartbreak, Aguas remains convinced the league will be good for women's soccer in Mexico and will be supporting the Liga MX Femenil, probably fighting what would be a bittersweet feeling inside.
"As much anger I have or am upset over this, I do thank the federation for finally making this a reality," Aguas said. "It's a huge step and it's only the beginning of women's soccer here in Mexico.
"I'm excited for my fellow teammates and every single athlete that gets to participate in this league for the first time. I definitely wish them the best of luck and I hope they enjoy it because it's a beautiful experience."
The Liga MX didn't reply to a enquiry from ESPN FC as to why the rule was implemented.
Juventus Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of former Italy international Rita Guarino as the first ever Head Coach of their Womenâs squad.
Guarino, a five-time Scudetto and Coppa Italia winner as a player, has signed a one-year contract and will take charge of the Bianconeri for what will be a historic, inaugural campaign.
Rita arrives at the club on the back of a successful spell in charge of Italyâs U17 team; before stepping into the dugout, the Turin-born tactician scored 35 times in 99 appearances for her country.
Barça will have a team in the Women's League of the United States starting 2018 | 11.05.2017
Barça official spokesman  Josep Vives announced Thursday that the club will launch a plan for the development of women's football in the United States with the establishment of its own club in the American Professional League (National Women's Soccer League) starting 2018 .
"It will help us to measure Barça's knowledge in the United States,  we want to be the first European club with a team in the United States professional league ," said the spokesman .
"In the United States, football is booming, both men's and women's. The US women's team is one of the most powerful in the world, it's a good place for the Barça brand to grow," added Vives.
The Barça spokesman recalled that Barça would be the eleventh team in the Professional Women's League of the United States. " Having a team called Barça would have a lot of strength and is very well valued by the American League ," he said.
