More and more clubs have recently created teams and formed girls, but for others it is an old bet. This is the case of the Clube de Albergaria, one of the oldest clubs in the country, created in the 19th century, which has only played women’s football for about 30 years. There, boy does not enter. Only girls play on the pitch and the formula has been successful.
At this point, the senior team is in the 1st national division and the under-19s are playing in the final of the National Champions League. The feat achieved this Wednesday by the Portuguese team makes the vice-president of the club proud. “We can say with great pride that five of the athletes who achieved this unprecedented feat in New Zealand passed through Clube de Albergaria here”, says José Carlos.
There, the girls attend training from the age of 10. “We do fundraising in our schools, our nearby towns, and we have four teams of training levels,” she adds. “This weekend the U-19 team will begin qualifying for the championship phase,” she says proudly.
At Feirense, women’s football is still taking its first steps. But this morning, as soon as the news of qualifying for the World Championship was announced, there was a lot of enthusiasm. “This morning when I opened Facebook I already had all my athletes sharing the posts and posters of the call for the World Cup,” says the head of women’s football. “They were happy with the national team’s achievement, because perhaps some of them hope to arrive one day,” says Paulo Lima.
Feirense, which created the women’s soccer team just three years ago, already has a hundred athletes and sees interest in the sport grow more and more. “It has been a project with constant growth and we have 8-9 year old girls,” she says. “Interested girls appear weekly,” she guarantees.
However, in Albergaria, José Carlos points out that gender equality is not yet a reality. He regrets that the girls can only train on the municipal pitch after all the men’s levels have done so. “These are inappropriate times for girls who study,” he clarifies. “Training starts at 9:00 p.m. and ends at 10:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m., because we have all the classes of men training before that time,” he laments. Many young women “arrive home around 11 pm”, he clarifies.
For this reason, the Clube de Albergaria wants to create its own facilities and has already invested 150,000 euros in the new infrastructure, so that all the girls who want to play soccer can do so without limitations.
Source: TSF
