When everything was a party, they put their arms up and clenched their fists in protest. In the midst of the Copa América, the Colombian players demand more support for women’s soccer.
July 8 at the Pascual Guerrero stadium in Cali. A crowded stadium like few times for a women’s match celebrated the start of the first Copa América on coffee soil. But during the anthem the gesture of the starters and substitutes of the local team broke in front of the fans. Led by their captain, Daniela Montoya, they raised their arms with sullen eyes. The claim had a source: A day earlier, Dimayor, the governing body of Colombian soccer, announced the cancellation of the women’s league that was supposed to be played in the second half of 2022.alleging economic difficulties.
Three weeks later, when they will play the semifinals of the Cup against Argentina, the picture is the same. “That is a lack of planning, a lack of organization, a lack of support (…) the truth is sad,” defender Daniela Arias told the media in Bucaramanga, the venue for the semifinals. Her companions had already echoed her complaints on their social networks: “We lack guarantees (…) we unite with the illusion of teamwork, equity in working conditions and competition”, they claimed in unison. Eleven of the 23 Colombian players will have to look for a job at the end of the Cup. The cold water bucket not only falls on the Colombians, among the 10 teams there are 14 players who belong to Colombian clubs.
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Women fight against lack of support
The fight of women against the lack of support in Colombian soccer has been tailed for years. In 2017 the first women’s league was played and since then it has been played every year for just a few months. Between February and June 2022 the ball rolled in the sixth edition that crowned América de Cali as champion.
The protagonists and the guild of the Colombian Association of Professional Soccer Players (Acolfutpro) complain about the short duration of the championship, which makes professionalization in the discipline “impossible”.
Most of the players, according to a report by Acolfutpro, signed a contract for the 107 days that the tournament lasted in 2022. In the rest of the year, without the second edition that had been promised, they will have to look for other jobs or emigrate to a league foreign. Canceling the women’s league a day before the start of the Copa América shows “an improvisation and that definitely women are not clear that they can develop professionally in soccer,” Carlos González Puche, from Acolfutpro, told AFP.
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The president of Dimayor, Fernando Jaramillo, denied on ‘W Radio’ that the decision was due to a “lack of planning”, but to “economic reasons”. According to the leader “there is no sponsorship (…) for women’s football”, there is little compensation for the sale of broadcasting rights to television and except in the finals the stands remain empty. “It’s not sustainable,” he said. Not even the presence in the stands during the Cup of the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, pushed to reconsider the decision. “It is an inconsistency because on the one hand an image is created that it is supported” with the Copa América, but “one thing is the discourse and another thing is the reality”Gonzalez adds.
It is striking that Fifa has projected that there will be 60 million players in 2026. This, through scholarships and training. However, in the Colombian case, more than five hundred players have an uncertain future, due to the lack of a tournament.
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*With AFP
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