25 Jun 2025

The focus to promote women’s football should be maintained especially since it has come out of age.

This was said by Confederation of African Football (CAF)’s head of TV and communications, Lux September during the Participating Member Associations’ media officers meeting for TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco yesterday. He said women’s football in Africa had suffered for many years in terms of coverage and stereotypes and was also shrouded by stories of corruption and maladministration.

He said the media only covered women football when there were negative stories and infighting. He however said the last couple of years had seen an improvement with Africans writing differently on women’s football in the continent.  Appealing for the sport to be given the seriousness it deserves, September said WAFCON should not be treated as a development competition, but should be treated the same as men’s AFCON. 

“Football is football, the ball is not in a different shape when it is women’s football, the ball and the time are the same, they both play 90 minutes, and the rules are the same,” he said.

On other issues, September said there would be a new trophy for the WAFCON champions, which would be unveiled soon. CAF media expert Juliet Bawuah said WAFCON was a flagship tournament of women football in the continent, adding that it had also attracted global attention.

Africa, she said, had the best football stars with the most expensive footballers in different teams, hence it was important for them to deliver sustained media interest, before and after the tournament. Bawuah said the objective of this tournament was to elevate the profile of WAFCON, given that the players and the federations had worked hard to be competing at the tournament.

“We are competing for so much eyeballs, there is women’s Euro, FIFA club World Cup also taking place, therefore it is very important for us to own and protect our product, in Africa and also globally,” she said.

She said as CAF, they would also want to drive sustained media interest, which they would be doing that with the help of the media present at the meeting. ENDS