Dimayor still does not take the Women's League seriously (The Ascencio Tournament, opinion)

While the Colombian women's national team continues to show its power and gets ready to try to win a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (among other things, the only team sport with a quota this year), In the local League they still do not take “football played by women” seriously, a phrase that has already made a name for itself.

In the men's League, it has become customary that the activity does not stop when the Colombian National Team has a match or when there are Fifa dates or important tournaments, from the World Cup on down. Which doesn't mean that's okay. If until the finals they have been played while the planet is focused on the World Cup, as happened in Qatar 2022, when a good part of the semifinal home runs and the title duel between Pereira and Medellín were played with a low profile.

Let's say, playing devil's advocate, that, as always argued by the Dimayor and its club assemblies, that in the case of men the calendar is very tight (something that is resolved by reducing the number of dates, but they are never going to do that; if they could, they would schedule games every day, and they already have). And, furthermore, they say, there are very few local League players with merit to appear in the matches of Néstor Lorenzo's team, who has even sent them a notice to raise their level.

What is the excuse, then, for them to schedule a Women's League date when the National Team is in full activity? And here there is material from the local League: 14 of the 23 calls by coach Ángelo Marsiglia are in the country: Ángela Barón, Fabiana Yantén, Carolina Arias, Daniela Montoya, Kelly Caicedo, Liana Salazar, Manuela Paví, María Camila Reyes, Marcela Restrepo, Natalia Giraldo and Sandra Sepúlveda were on the initial list, and then, after Linda Caicedo was absent due to injury , Leicy Santos and Stephany Castaño, Yisela Cuesta, Wendy Bonilla and Michell Lugo arrived.

The calendar is not the problem

Tight schedule? Not at all, and even less so when there has been no way for Dimayor to hold a tournament that covers the entire calendar year, or at least 9 or 10 months, to give the players vacations and preseason time. What's more: last week there was no local League match! For what reason? Apparently, due to costs, because it was high season for Easter. In fact, there was no date on B either. Anyway, it doesn't have any presentation.

Well, at least they could schedule the matches on Sunday, so that they wouldn't intersect with the Selecc match… moment! Well no! Five of the seven games were played on the same Saturday that Colombia faced Mexico, and two of them even took place during the National Team's game: Alianza vs. Junior, the second half, and Medellín vs. America, the first, with the aggravating circumstance that that was the televised game of the week!

If we add to all this, for example, that teams like Millonarios decide to play behind closed doors and prevent their fans from even meeting the players, then everything adds up to the fact that Dimayor ends up attacking its own product. They still don't take the Women's League seriously.

The Ascencio tournament…

Jose Orlando Ascencio

Sports Deputy Editor

@josasc

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