Women Representative inside Botswana Football Association (BFA), Tsoseletso Magang, is
confident that local women soccer has made major strides towards inclusion in the game both on and off the field.
Magang says during her tenure in office they have made a lot of efforts to improve local women football from were it was before. She said there has been progress in addressing a lot of challenges which they found impeding growth of women football. “When I came into office I found that there were no proper plan concerning women football, there were no structures, we found that women football was operating under the structures of men’s football,”said Magang, highlighting some of the challenges they encountered in office.
According to her, the structures that are running local football were used to considering women football as an after thought. She complained that as a result the FIFA financial resources meant to assist them were not being channelled properly to women football activities.
As part of their accomplishment Magang revealed that they have managed to implement some of the strategic plans for women football in Botswana through the help of FIFA and the Botswana Open University. She further revealed that they were also already in good talks with a potential sponsor who she says was looking at sponsoring local women football. Different to their male counterparts women football has always struggled to secure sponsorship for their programmes and activities. Magang added that some of the things which they had already started doing is to train women referees and coaches and also to make sure that women national team go on camp on a regular basis as it was not the case before.
Magang is seeking to retain the Women representative position in the upcoming BFA elections, billed for August 08. She will be challenged by Joy Setshedi, Itsholeng Disang and Lobito Ncube. Magang is reportedly aligned to incumbent President, Maclean Letswhiti while Setshedi is associated with Ookeditse Malesu’s camp and Disang is aligned to team Tebogo Sebego popularly known as ‘friends of football.’ Youthful Ncube is said to be an independent candidate not associated to any of the camps.
Chief Executive Officer, Mfolo Mfolo, confirmed that the four candidates have managed to submit their names to the BFA Electoral Committee Board before deadline last week Friday, which was the closing date for those hoping to contest NEC positions. On Tuesday the board will publish the official list of 22 candidates who will be vying for different BFA positions.
According to BFA CEO, the Women Representative position emanates from FIFA requirements which calls for participation of women at all levels of football governance. “The person is there to advance the interests of women such that they are not marginalized on issues of football,” Mfolo said. He added that the position also seek to shoot down the perception that football is only for men advocating for the rise of women participation in football.
Mfolo is satisfied about the current number of candidates vying for the position, “the number is okay, variably it is a good number because one would expect maybe three candidates at most times,” he told The Patriot Sport in an interview.
Commenting on the progress of women football in the country, Mfolo’s view is that the female sporting code has improved. He noted that the participation of local women football in the intercontinental space proves the growth. “Our under 17, 20 and women’ senior national team have been performing very well internationally, they have made a very good impression that they can be counted into those competitions,” the CEO applauded.