Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Beirut: Lebanon is optimistic towards the future of women’s football is keen to spread the game in and elevate to it to the highest possible standards, Chairman of the Lebanon Football Association’s Women’s Football Committee Hampartsoum Missakian has said.
The AFC Women’s Assistance Programme (WAP) for Lebanon kicked off on Monday with a visit by an AFC delegation consisting of AFC Technical Committee Co-opted Member Fan Yunjie and AFC Head Women’s Development Julie Teo.
They paid a courtesy call to Hachem Sayed Ali Haidar, President of the Lebanon Football Association (LFA) and Jihad El Chohof, the LFA’s General Secretary. Haidar, who is also a member of the AFC Development Committee and the AFC Financial Assistance Programme Committee, is fully aware of the importance of women's football development.
The LFA Women’s Committee and other women’s football stakeholders such as club representatives and coaches, together with the AFC delegation, brainstormed on long, middle and short-term objectives in order to raise the level of women’s football in Lebanon.
Lebanon who participated in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2014 Qualifiers for the first time, are now already looking forward to the 2018 edition. This will be their middle-term objective of qualifying for the 2018 final. They aim to start preparations with the talent-scouting of the base squad of U-17 players from early next year.
Women’s football is popular in schools where indoor football competitions are organised. Their short-term objective is to improve the organisation of their domestic league in which currently six teams participate. For the long-term, they intend to establish grassroots programmes in the provinces and in schools. WAP will be able to offer the necessary services to help LFA in each of these objectives.
“In spite of all the challenges facing women’s football in Arab countries including Lebanon, starting with cultural challenges and not ending with financial ones, we are optimistic towards the future of women’s football and are keen to spread the game in our country and elevate it to the highest possible standards,” said Missakian.
“To bring our aspirations into reality, we totally need the assistance and support of FIFA and AFC in order to promote the game, to build and provide for a good generation of women footballers, to be able to compete and achieve the goals at both local and international levels.
“Effective planning is vital at the moment, with integrating short and long term strategies, which shall focus on our current needs and the means of fulfilling those needs.
“I am sure that with strong will and determination, with good planning and successful management, we shall reach our goals be proud of our achievements.”
WAP is a new AFC programme introduced to MAs as a development tool that aims to customise development programmes according to their level of women’s football and needs. Lebanon is banking on the programme to spur the growth of its women's game.