Sowetan

Safa, La Liga partnershi­p to develop women’s league

Spanish to provide coaches for schools and rural areas

- By Sihle Ndebele

SA Football Associatio­n (Safa) president Danny Jordaan hopes their partnershi­p with La Liga will help develop local women’s football.

Jordaan also confirmed that a national women’s profession­al soccer league will be launched in 2019.

He believes Safa’s co-operation agreement with La Liga will boost the developmen­t of the game and improve the level of women’s football in the country.

“We are grateful to have such a partner because football developmen­t is a massive responsibi­lity which requires stakeholde­rs to work together.

“They will provide a helping hand in Safa’s efforts to develop women’s football,” said Jordaan yesterday.

“We want to launch a national league for women’s football in 2019. It must be a profession­al league.

“They must play like Premier Soccer League and National First Division teams. La Liga is very happy to support that initiative.”

As part of the partnershi­p, La Liga will also bring certified coaches to train local coaches. This is part of Safa’s drive towards achieving Vision 2022 goals.

Apart from women’s football, Spanish coaches will focus on schools, rural areas, and grassroots football.

Director for La Liga in Africa, Antonio Barradas, sees their collaborat­ion with the local football governing body as an opportunit­y for them to plough back to communitie­s in Africa.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Safa. We are very impressed with their goals for Vision 2022. We can only hope that this collaborat­ion will ultimately benefit the football community in South Africa,” said Barradas.

 ?? / SYDNEY SESHIBEDI/GALLO IMAGES ?? Director of La Liga Africa Antonio Barradas and Safa’s Danny Jordaan at a press conference at the Nike Football Training Centre in Soweto yesterday.
/ SYDNEY SESHIBEDI/GALLO IMAGES Director of La Liga Africa Antonio Barradas and Safa’s Danny Jordaan at a press conference at the Nike Football Training Centre in Soweto yesterday.

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