Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has hailed Japan’s victory in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica saying it once again proved that Asia is a dominant force in women’s football.
Japan defeated Spain 2-0 in the final at the San Jose’s Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica. Japanese captain Hina Sugita was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player while the champions were also given the Fair Play trophy. Japanese goalkeeper Mamiko Matsumoto won the Golden Glove award.
Japan are the reigning women’s world champions and this victory has once again underlined our quality in women’s football, Shaikh Salman said.
This is a big achievement for the continent as our teams have won three out of four editions of this competition, he added.
The AFC President congratulated the Japanese team, coach Asako Takemoto, who is also the AFC Women’s Coach of the Year, the Japan Football Association and all the stakeholders in Japanese football.
He said that Japan’s achievement would give a further boost to women’s football in the continent.
AFC has already developed the women’s football development strategy for the benefit of the Member Associations and this victory will spur the development of the women’s game in the continent, he said.
Photo: FIFA