BFL mooting women's league
Botswana Football League (BFL) top brass are set to engage with Botswana Football Association (BFA) over the possibilities to have an elite women football league under their wings, BG Sport has established.
This came to light recently during Footballers Union of Botswana (FUB) ordinary congress, thanks to BFL Chief Executive Officer, Solomon Ramochotlhwane, who was invited to the event. The former Green Lovers chairman announced that, plans for the BFL to establish its first official women’s football league are underway, which is a part of their wide-ranging strategic plan for the local top tier league.
Close sources to the Botswana Football Association (BFA) suggests that the move will be welcomed as they believe that the developments could add a spring to their step in their efforts to grow the local women football game.
Last year, Diamond Trading Company of Botswana (DTCB) and the BFA announced a sponsorship deal towards women football league and grassroots football. The P2 430 000 sponsorship deal spanning over a three year period, could see the its last year under the management of the BFL as it was with the ABSA sponsorship.
The BFL CEO said: “We have many ambitious goals in the upcoming years to promote football, I announced last year that, as BFL, we are interested in setting up a women’s football professional league. We will soon engage with the mother-body (BFA) around this topic to discuss possibilities to start the league in the 2023/2024 season.”
One of the major points discussed by the BFL CEO in their plans for women football league is the negotiations for sponsorships and television rights, which of course will play a critical role on whether their efforts become a success.
“We will work hard to source funds for the league just as it is the case with our men football league. I can guarantee you that, this league will be live on television, an international broadcaster once the negotiations are done,” Ramochotlhwane revealed.
Just like the current set up of mens’ league, the ladies team will be administered in a more professional structure with all the players having contracts with their clubs.
The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) ahead of the Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) reassured that it remains committed to improve the practice of women’s football on the continent, especially to professionalize it.
One of the major stumbling blocks that will face BFL is coming up with the teams to form the league.
The BFL ideally would like to have the women sides of the male teams in the league but currently some top women teams in the country are not attached to any clubs.
The likes of Double Action, Mexican girls and UB Kicks remain integral to the plans of the BFL in forming a strong competitive league.
It remains to be seen how the structure will turn out be, whether there will be relegation and first division league.
The deliberations with the BFA and other stakeholders will give a clear perspective on how everything will pan out.
The recent impressive showing of the Mares at the WAFCON finals has seen the interest surrounding women football reach new heights and Botswana could become one of the few African countries with a competitive professional women’s football league.