DILI (14 Feb 2016) – Women’s football will be one of the key areas of investment following the launch of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Vision and Mission statement – a four-year strategic plan until 2020.
On becoming AFC President in 2013, Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa identified women’s football development as a priority area for the Confederation – and in Doha recently the pledge to back women’s football became a reality.
Shaikh Salman, when President of the Bahrain Football Association, emphasised the promotion of women’s football in West Asia and Bahrain has taken a leading role in the women’s game in the region. He said recently: “Asia has some world class women’s teams, and the development of women’s football has always been a priority in Asia.”
Under the AFC’s long-term vision, Andy Roxburgh, the Confederation’s much-respected Technical Director, laid out a plan to continue Asia’s recent success in the women’s game.
The strategy – developed with the assistance of the AFC Executive Committee Member Moya Dodd and the AFC’s Head of Women’s Football Bai Lili – is aimed at supporting Asian women’s teams in their bid for success in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019 and 2023.
Based on the current FIFA rankings the potential project members would include the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup winners and 2015 runners-up, Japan as well as Australia, China PR, DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Thailand, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei.
But Roxburgh stressed: “This is by no means a closed shop – we will operate an open door policy and work closely with all Member Associations who show great improvement and potential ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cups.”
The project will cover everything from player development – clearly the most important – to other areas such as coaches’ forums, specialist training programmes, sports science and scouting as well as providing expert guidance and advisory services.
Roxburgh added: ‘I have been to a World Cup as a coach and I know the pressures that can affect a team’s performances. What we will try to do is to give the coaches and the players as much preparation – both in terms of on-field and equally off-field issues – as possible.
“Women’s football in Asia has a long and successful history but we can continue to improve as we must remember that the desire to have success for Asian teams on the world stage is at the very heart of our new Vision and Mission.”
The AFC has led the way in developing women’s football and is currently the only Confederation to host a Women’s Futsal Championship – won in 2015 by IR Iran.
