Morocco announces plans to launch women’s professional football leagues

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) on Tuesday launched a new women’s first and second division, professional league, from next season in the North African nation.

Traditionally a powerhouse in the men’s game, the FRMF signed a new convention with the National Women’s League to take women’s football to a new level.

Apart from the two tiers of women’s league football, FRMF will also establish a national Under-17 championship in addition to regional championships for different youth categories across the country.

The announcement comes last month’s launch of the first-ever African Women’s Football Strategy, a plan to take the women’s game to the next level.

“Our objective is to develop women’s football and spread its practice in all the regions of the kingdom,” said FRMF president Fouzi Lekjaa during the presentation of the convention.

“This is an important step to allow female talents to practice this popular sport in good conditions and to give them the opportunity to start and pursue their professional career.”

Also, the new plan aims at supporting the management of clubs on the administrative and financial level through training and support provided by the Technical Directorate and the FRMF’s Department of Finance.

Women’s football will be entitled to funding of up to 130,000 US dollars for the top flight league clubs and 86 000 US dollars for the second division to support the remuneration of players and technical staff on a monthly basis.

FRMF women’s football director and coach of the national team, Kelly Lindsey, describes this plan as a revolution that is taken place to promote the female game

“We are excited to take on the biggest challenges, especially to ensure girls and women have an equal opportunity to develop and grow within the game, and to take the time to educate and empower great leaders of the female game, for now, and for the future,” Lindsey said.

The convention aims to increase the number of female football practitioners to 90,000 by 2024, train 10,000 technical executives in women’s football clubs and promote the level of the National Pro Championship, Regional League Championship and Youth Championship.

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo