The President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Thomas Daddy Brima met with FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino in Paris, to assess the remarkable progress in the development of women’s football and to identify opportunities for further cooperation with the world football body in the future.
Women’s football in Sierra Leone enters an exciting new era in October 2022, with the kick-off of the nation’s first official Women’s Premier League. More than three years have passed since Sierra Leone last established a women’s football competition.
The launch of the new competition means that the top 12 women’s teams in the country will compete at home and away and fight for the right to be champions of Sierra Leone, a project made with the sponsorship of FIFA Forward. President Infantino said FIFA is committed to developing football at every level and in every corner of the world. He mentioned that he is joyful about the reports of great work being done in Sierra Leone to ensure that women and girls across the country have access to football and aspire to be soccer stars.
The launch of the Women’s Premier League is a perfect example of the content of the FIFA Forward programme. “It was great to meet with President Brima in Paris to learn more about the progress they are making in women’s football. To hear the reports of the great work being carried out in Sierra Leone fills me with joy.
Speaking after the meeting, President Brima also spoke of his organization’s willingness to participate more in the FIFA Forward program, which will enter the next phase in 2023, when FIFA honours its commitment to increase its funding by nearly 30 per cent compared to the previous four-year cycle.
“We are working with the Forward [Programme] Funds to develop infrastructure and the good thing is that I’ve just got the confirmation, FIFA is going to help us with infrastructure, through the Forward Funds,” said President Brima.
“On our end, we are trying to play whatever tournaments we can. Last year, we played all FIFA and CAF-sanctioned tournaments. That is to say, we are making moves in the right direction,” President Brima added.
