In a sparsely attended midweek match, the Association Sportive des Forces Armees Royales (ASFAR), a dominant pressure in Moroccan ladies’s soccer, achieved a convincing 7-0 victory over their nationwide ladies’s skilled league opponents.
Amid the joy, one younger fan stood out, 5-year-old Aliae Benazzouza, clad in a “Morocco” jersey, eagerly embraced her favourite participant, Fatima Tagnaout, capturing a second that symbolizes the rising attract of Moroccan ladies’s soccer.
For years, ladies’s soccer in Morocco has struggled to achieve prominence, however current developments have sparked a shift in perceptions.
The nationwide workforce dubbed the Atlas Lionesses, is about to make its debut on the FIFA Women’s World Cup, changing into the primary workforce from the Arab world to qualify.
This achievement is particularly vital in a area the place enthusiasm for males’s soccer runs excessive.
Idriss Benazzouza, Aliae’s father, proudly helps his daughters’ involvement in sports activities, emphasizing instilling confidence in them reasonably than concern. He believes that the Lionesses’ success displays the progress of girls’s soccer in Morocco, although he acknowledges conservative views or non secular beliefs in opposition to ladies sporting shorts might hinder some folks’s enthusiasm.
Following within the footsteps of their male counterparts, who reached the World Cup semifinals, the Lionesses’ qualification for the worldwide match was a pivotal second.
Morocco’s internet hosting of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2022 attracted giant crowds and propelled the nation to safe a spot within the Women’s World Cup. Football officers and gamers credit score these milestones for rejuvenating ladies’s soccer in Morocco.
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation has been instrumental in creating soccer, together with ladies’s soccer, throughout the nation.
This dedication has resulted in implementing sound constructions, such because the appointment of coach Reynald Pedros for the Atlas Lionesses and monetary assist for ladies’s golf equipment, together with salaries. The federation’s settlement in 2020 aimed to foster the expansion and professionalization of feminine soccer with initiatives like establishing a nationwide under-17 championship and growing feminine participant participation.
Khadija Illa, president of the nationwide ladies’s soccer league, acknowledges the significance of monetary assist for fulfillment however highlights present wage gaps between female and male gamers in Moroccan golf equipment. While progress has been made, Illa acknowledges they’re nonetheless within the preliminary phases of their journey.
Efforts to advertise ladies’s soccer have additionally been met with altering attitudes. Bahya El Yahmidi, overseeing ladies’s soccer at ASFAR, recollects the preliminary resistance confronted by women who wished to play however notes that as victories piled up, attitudes shifted.
Brothers accompanied their sisters, and fathers accompanied their daughters, marking a major shift in societal notion.
Hiba Karami, a participant for Fath Union Sport, celebrates the developments in ladies’s soccer which have turned her childhood dream into actuality.
Despite dealing with opposition and criticism, she pursued her ardour for the sport, showcasing her abilities to her male friends and gaining their acceptance.
Karami has witnessed the rising consideration towards ladies’s soccer, notably throughout the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, but she needs her sister, who handed away, might have witnessed her achievements.
Ghizlane Chebbak, a participant for ASFAR and the nationwide workforce, acknowledges the growing star energy and impression feminine gamers have on younger followers.
The acknowledgment that ladies have the fitting to play soccer fuels her dedication to succeed and function a task mannequin.
Nouhaila Benzina, one other nationwide workforce and ASFAR participant expresses gratitude for the alternatives her soccer profession has supplied, breaking new floor and serving as a supply of inspiration.
She stays unaffected by those that query her option to play soccer whereas adhering to her modest apparel, together with the Islamic scarf.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
