Women's football in the Middle East + mid-Asia

Discussion in 'Women's International' started by sbahnhof, Aug 4, 2018.

  1. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Lebanon became the new U18 champions of West Asia in early 2020.

    Bahrain hosted the 2nd edition of this championship, after Jordan's girls had won a 3-team group in 2018. It was an expanded field this time, a 9-day tournament with 7 teams (officially it's the '2019' championship, but the final was on 6 Jan 2020).

    Lebanon won with a 100% record, beating Bahrain 3-0 in the final. Hosts Bahrain had won their semifinal on penalties v Jordan, who took 3rd place. Palestine were 4th and UAE 5th.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] Iraq and Kuwait also took part, after their teams' participation was hindered at various levels in past years.

    Golden boot winner Lili Iskandar, who plays for SAS in Lebanon, didn't pile up her goals in group play - she scored a semifinal hat-trick v Palestine, and 2 in the final, a vital player in Lebanon's title win. Definitely what they'd call "a prospect".


    Tournament reports by the AFC:
    Hosts off to flying start in Bahrain (Archive)
    Palestine dazzle as Kuwait bow out (Archive)
    Group matchday 3 (Archive)
    Lebanon, Bahrain through to final (Archive)
    Brilliant Lebanon stroll to title (Archive)
     
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  2. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Jordan's commitment to female football continues with a national U16 league, with the youth sections of clubs from the Jordan Women's Pro League.


    They played a 1st matchday (29 Feb) and 2nd match (7 Mar) but had to stop for the coronavirus lockdown.
     
  3. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Indian Women's League 2020 - it was played in Bengaluru, a 22-day tournament in January and February.
    Most of the big names from 2019 were back, but not all at the same clubs. These were the last four:

    Semifinal 1
    Kryphsa 3 - 1 Kenkre FC
    Ratanbala Devi 18', 38', Roja Devi 62' - Jyoti 43'
    Highlights: facebook.com/445396648884481/videos/396873517843901

    Semifinal 2
    Gokulam Kerala 3 - 0 Sethu FC
    Manisha Kalyan 21', Sabitra Bhandari 44', 84'
    Highlights: facebook.com/445396648884481/videos/675959713148886/


     
  4. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] [​IMG] Also about India, and Bangladesh, Tim Grainey's recent column:

    The Week in Women's Football: Dennerby takes India U17 job; 2022 Asian Women's Cup; Bangladesh national league
    https://www.tribalfootball.com/arti...omen-s-cup-bangladesh-national-league-4324238 (Archive)

    The Bangladesh league was revived after 7 years. Since 2013, the youth teams have done well internationally, but the club competition began from scratch with very young players, and many district FAs didn't help:

    - "Women’s league to start among questions", Daily Star (Archive)

    A Unicef-aided youth league in 2019 was won by team Lalmonirhat. The 2020 national league played a few rounds, before coronavirus halted it - only one club was set to be champion, the well-run Bashundhara. The livestream had what I thought were a lot of vuvuzelas in the stadium, but it turns out Dhaka just has some of the world's worst levels of traffic noise.

    [​IMG]
    U16 women's game in Dhaka in 2014 - (meraj, cc)
     
  5. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] It's rare that there's an excuse to mention my beloved cricket on here, but South Asia's biggest sport has a well-known name in the Pakistan football team.

    In the pre-moneybags era, some talented sportsmen were able to play both winter football and summer cricket to a high level. Women who have achieved the same include Clare Taylor (England) in the 1990s, and Ellyse Perry (Australia) in the 2000s.

    To that list, we can add Diana Baig:
    Dual role: Diana Baig’s life as Pakistan’s cricket and football star
    https://www.footballpakistan.com/20...-as-pakistans-cricket-and-football-star-dawn/ (Archive)

    [​IMG] sxc

    Pakistan's football problems stopped the women's team from playing in recent times, but Baig's cricket career is going well. She even opened the bowling against the Bangladesh batter named Happy :)
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DYPGtywkAs&t=3m30s
     
  6. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    Yes, it's catching on

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
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  8. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Jordan: 3 great names retired on the same day, all from the Jordanian national team that won the women's West Asian championship 4 times in 14 years and played in two Asian Cups.

    Stephanie Al-Naber (128 caps), Yasmeen Khair and Shorouq Shazly:
    Jordanian trio bid emotional farewell to football
    www.fifa.com/who-we-are/news/three-jordanian-stars-farewell-3069289
    (Archive)

    This was Al-Naber in 2010, when she moved from the top club Shabab to Denmark's Fortuna Hjørring:
    "A Jordanian woman conquers Danish football" - (Kvinfo.dk / English autotranslation / Archive)

    The West Asian club cup was announced before lockdown for December 2020, but the federation is now rearranging dates. Jordan will be the host again. (See my post on the 2019 cup.)
    Lebanon: in a wide-ranging article on the nation that won the women's youth championship, goalscorer Lili Iskandar is linked with Werder Bremen but may choose a different club in Europe.
    In the UAE, the FA assembly re-elects Amal Bu Shalakh as a member for 2020-24. In June, she headed a committee of women's football with the Gulf nations Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman. And the WAFF added Amal and two other new female board members in 2019, Sheikha Hessa and Susan Shalabi.

    [​IMG]
    Amal Bu Shalakh in 2018 - (24.ae)
     
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  9. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Iranian left- and right-midfielder Golnoosh Khosravi signed in 2019 for the former Turkish champions Konak; she was the only Iranian woman that season in a Uefa-affiliated league, and the 19-year-old aims to play in others.
    https://video.varzesh3.com/video/219100/گلنوش-خسروی;-جوان-ترین-لژیونر-فوتبال-بانوان-ایران

    Khosravi told about her life in a Radio Farda interview (in Farsi/English). During Covid lockdown, she celebrated her birthday while stuck in western Turkey.
    An Iranian site has the women's league news: FootballDokht (Football Girl!), with word of another signing, Yasamin Farmani, in Belgium in 2020.

     
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  10. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Uzbekistan: The first CAFA champions of Central Asia in 2018, Uzbekistan also picked up the U23 gold in 2019.

    The Uzbek women's league began post-USSR independence in 1995. The initial most successful club Andijanka from the eastern city Andijan still play in the division, but since 2003, the southern club Sevinch Qarshi have carried all before them, with 13 titles, and provide several of the national team. Their championship in 2019 was disputed, with only a 1-point margin and even accusations of refereeing corruption, and the league runners-up Bunyodkor won the women's cup final that year. The league returned in September for the 2020 season.

    On a TV tourist show about the city of Qarshi, they met the title-winning Sevinch team:
     
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  11. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    And:
    [​IMG] Kyrgyzstan: A year ago in 2019, the republic hosted the women's Nadezhda Cup/Cup of Hope. The tournament lived up to its optimistic name, with good support as the hosts won 3rd place against neighbours Tajikistan, while the Uzbeks beat Nepal in an exciting final. As far as I know, there is a Kyrgyz league but it has played sporadically over the years. Former national women's coach Gulbara Umatalieva (Osmonovna) has devoted her life to football and is still an inspiration there:

    Female Football A Gender Equalizer in Kyrgyzstan
    www.indepthnews.net/index.php/sustainability/gender-equality/2974-female-football-a-gender-equalizer-in-kyrgyzstan
    (Archive)

    [​IMG]
    Kyrgyz national team in 2013 - (Bektour, cc-by-sa)
     
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  12. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Afghanistan: Women's Premier League, the latest tournament was a short one played in October 2020. (More on its history in the 2019 post.) Teams came from across the central and northern provinces - in group 1 were Herat, Bamyan and Jowzjan, while group 2 had Kabul, Balkh and Ghor.

    Last year's runner-up, Herat won through a semi-final against Ghor, and Kabul beat Bamyan 4-0. The final went to penalties, after a 1-1 draw, and this time Kabul lost the title - the western team of Herat take their first championship.
    Match reports by The AFC (Archive) / Ariana News (Archive)



    Other posts of interest - a podcast interview with pioneering player Shamila Kohestani; and the AFF is running women's coaching classes. The Afghan government is still trying to arrest Keram but he's proving harder to smoke out than Bin Laden or Trump.
     
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  13. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Pakistan: Another national champion was crowned this year, and also some good news about the national team, finally.

    The 12th National Women's Football Championship started on 29 Nov 2019 with a win for Karachi United, and they would still be there in the 2020 final match as the home team, but they didn't win the title. Dozens of teams around the country competed, and 8 qualified for the January finals in Karachi. The champions were Pakistan Army team for the second time, with two goals each by Eshal and Alina in a 7-1 win. (Match report: FootballPakistan.com / Archive)

    Pakistan's national women's team are back together after a 6-year hiatus. The squad gathered for a training camp in Lahore. The group didn't include Diana Baig, she's doing too well in cricket. :)

     
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  14. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] India: With the disappointing loss of the 2020 women's U-17 World Cup, the country has gained a huge year of football, 2022, when India will host two major tournaments - the Women's Asian Cup and the U17 world championship, which is re-allocated there in '22.

    It's a blow for players who are "aged out" of the youth tournament, though they can continue to represent India; the AIFF is also pledging a women's youth team to compete in the IWL, the Indian Arrows.
    Coach of the U17s, Thomas Dennerby, is likely to get the same job for 2022.
    https://sportstar.thehindu.com/foot...rby-afc-asia-cup-covid-19/article33126569.ece (Archive)
    Earlier, he spoke of the team's approach to the big challenge ahead of them: “We decided to have a style that is more like the Asian style – a technical style and passing game. We have players with EXTREME SPEED”

    [​IMG]
     
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  15. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Saudi Arabia: Fabulous stuff

    That was February 2020. After the pandemic delayed it, the Champion's Cup started on 17 November. It brought together 24 local clubs from the cities (see Riyadh's league earlier). Partly this is the officialdom just codifying what already existed, as it now experiences these years of glasnost. Three women who have been involved in Saudi football longer than a decade, Leena Almaeena, Munira Al Hamdan and Nouf Al Yamani, spoke to UAE paper The National: https://www.thenationalnews.com/wor...s-welcome-new-era-for-women-s-sport-1.1121629

    The champions were decided on 17 December 2020 - here's a tournament report:
    Challenge Team Announced As The First-Ever Winner Of The Saudi Community Level Women’s Football League Finals - (SportForAll / Archive)
    Final: Jeddah Eagles 1 - 2 Challenge (Riyadh)
    [​IMG]

    Also news this past week, the national bid for men's Asian Cup 2027 includes plans for an international soccer academy, and a pledge "to gradually raise the level of young women's teams over the next five years, so that the Kingdom and the neighboring countries possess sufficient capabilities that qualify them to compete at the international level." - (Saudi Gazette)
     
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  16. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Jordan: A stunning result in the Women's Pro League 2020, where the national champions were crowned on the last day of 2020.

    Not only have the West Asian champion club, Shabab Al-Ordon, lost the Jordanian title; their successors managed a record almost unthinkable last year: undefeated without conceding a goal. That team is Amman FC, the 2019 runner-up in losing a title playoff, but no such thing was needed this time - they won the league by 8 points' margin, with twelve wins and a scoring record of 76 goals to 0. That included important wins in December, 2-0 vs Shabab, and 3-0 vs the third-placed Al-Qadisiyah club. Shabab are still a fine team who scored even more, with 87-7 goal difference, but in this season they certainly met their match.

    - Season final report (JFA, Arabic) / English autotranslation / Archive
    [​IMG]
     
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  17. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    West Asian Football Federation: The WAFF Women's Clubs Championship is set to return in 2021, after the obligatory Covid delays - the Lebanese FA suggested that it would be in May, and hinted at an expanded lineup. And a WAFF report adds the national teams' women's championship as a June event. Here's hoping! Also announced, Spain's LaLiga and WAFF will keep working together on women's football development.
     
  18. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] UAE: A new world record for a particular football move, "hotstepping", belongs to a national player from the Emirates - Areej Al Hammadi beat the previous best by, ooh, quite a lot (30, I think?). My only request is that more teams should incorporate this move into their natural game, as they'll surely be unbeatable, perhaps. Video is well worth a watch - you wouldn't guess the world record officials would be very interesting, but these ones, they could break the "deadpan comedy" record...

    "The female Emirati footballer breaking boundaries and world records" - (EmiratesWoman.com)

     
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  19. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    datschge and Lechus7 repped this.
  20. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Uzbekistan: Not easy to find info on the Women's Championship, considering the 2021 winners may play in the Asian Women's Champions League test event. Champions in 2020 according to Russian Wikipedia were Bunyudkor, who had also won the Super Cup early in the season, reports the AFC. Longtime champions Sevinch were bumped to runner-up in the league. Sogdiana (3rd) have signed Ghana youth star Fuseina Mumuni after her spell with Amman in Jordan.

    On the national side, Uzbekistan beat India 1-0 in April (Maftuna Shoyimova 88') and the Uzbek team are confident of qualifying for their first Asian Cup since 2003, says coach Bahrom Norsafarov.
     
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  21. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] The Nepal Women's Football League season 2077 (or 2021 if you're using Gregorian years) was played in January and February, with the annual grand prize:
    "Saru Limbu Adjudged The MVP Of National Women's League 2021; Receives A Scooter"

    The champions were a very strong APF team with a final total of 12 wins in 12, games shown on Mycujoo.tv. Sabitra Bhandari scored three and four goals at a time, 43 overall, but she got an ACL injury late on, and the striker will now have to miss a year. Since then, the Australian coach Gary Phillips has been appointed to lead the national team, after he worked as their technical director. https://kathmandupost.com/football/...pali-women-s-football-hopes-to-hit-the-target

    [​IMG] Terribly sorry to hear about the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in India - the biggest outbreak since the virus began. The pandemic has also affected Nepal nearly as badly, partly due to a political crisis there, and cross-border commuting and festivals.
     
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  22. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Pakistan: A 'perfect storm' of crises have affected the National Women's Championship 2021, and it's still unclear how it'll end. It started well enough in March, with huge scores for previous finalist Karachi United and semi-finalists WAPDA, and for the aforementioned Saru Limbu (Nepal) of Masha United. But the familiar sound of a Fifa ban has struck the Pakistan federation, in another power struggle between the Fifa-backed normalization committee and a rival PFF group who apparently 'occupied' the federation building. The women's teams sided with the former, the league organizers, and took the difficult decision to cancel the season:
    - "Doom and gloom as Fifa ban looms" (Express Tribune, 3 Apr / Archive)

    It's possible that the championship will be completed without official support.

    Pakistani women's football marred by federation turmoil (2 Apr)
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9rzngWJr4
    [​IMG]
     
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  23. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] [​IMG] Iran return vs Uzbekistan: The Iranian women's first international matches since the Covid-19 lockdown were two friendly defeats against experienced opponents - Iran lost 6-0 to Belarus in an away game (having lost to them 1-0 and 2-1 at home in 2019). Iran's second match this week in Belarus was against the central Asian champions Uzbekistan, who won 5-0 (Lyudmila Karachik 2 goals).
     
  24. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] India's Bala Devi is still playing at Rangers in the Scottish Women's Premier League. She wasn't a regular starter but got 2 goals while the club finished 3rd. In a wide-ranging interview with Chris Marshall, she talks about how her career began.

    Bala Devi | Blazing Trails for the Next Generation
    https://leadingtheline.com/2021/03/31/bala-devi-blazing-trails-for-the-next-generation (Archive)

    “Manipur is not a very well populated place but it is very encouraging towards sports”, she explains, as I grasp at the opportunity to hear details about a faraway land at a time where I remain firmly stuck at home. “Lots of sportspeople have come from there. You have six or seven of the men’s national team and maybe eleven of the current women’s national team. We also have a world champion boxer as well as national hockey players, archers and shooters.”
     
  25. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    The Iranian presidential debates are run the same as a football draw...?

    [​IMG]
     

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