I want women’s football to grow in Bhutan, says international
DMU’S FIFA MASTER COURSE HELPS PEMA TO ACHIEVE HER GOALS
A FOOTBALL international from the Kingdom of Bhutan in South Asia cannot wait to return and pass on what she has learned from De Montfort University Leicester’s FIFA Master course, writes Chris Johnston.
Pema Tshering has grown up with sport – and football in her family is practically unavoidable
Not only has Pema played for the women’s national team – and is determined to return to play for them – but her brother plays for the men’s team and her father runs Bhutan’s best football club, Thimphu City FC.
Pema has already experienced the highs of football after she was a part of the national side that chalked up its first ever victory, against Sri Lanka last year.
It has made her more determined that time studying the FIFA Master will give her the knowledge and confidence to start making greater strides in developing the sport and helping the women’s teams on to further international success.
Bhutan is hugely supportive when it comes to the women’s game.
The King of Bhutan recently commanded that the national women’s team be paid the same as the men’s team.
The women will receive a salary on a par with the men’s team from next month and will be paid directly from His Majesty’s office.
Pema said: “When I go back to Bhutan I want to work in the women’s football department and grow the women’s game still further.
“I owe it to the nation. They led me to my passion. I want to make positive changes in return.”
Pema, who is a big Chelsea fan and enjoys watching N’Golo Kante, right, playing in the same defensive midfield role as she does, loves the course at DMU.
She said: “Some days I cannot believe I am actually part of the FIFA Master. It is amazing.
“I have the full support in Bhutan and the course is so great for me. I am in a country now where sport is a high priority.
“Learning about the past and how we got to where we are today with sport is so helpful.
“Sport is leisure back at home. Here it can be a profession. Every single lesson has been eye-opening.
“The other week we were speaking with someone from
Man City about rebranding and I was immediately thinking of clubs back at home. “Every little thing I learn can be taken back to Bhutan.” The possibility of returning to play for the women’s national team is Pema’s other passion project.
She said: “I cannot even think of a word to define the feeling you get playing. “When the crowd is shouting your name and encouraging you we all push harder. And hearing your national anthem can be so emotional.
“No pressure at all,” she jokes. “You are only carrying the weight of your nation and your culture on your shoulders.”
Hopefully supporters will be able to cheer on Pema – and Bhutan – in the South Asian Football Federation Championship once the pandemic allows.
The FIFA Master International MA in Management, Law and Humanities, co-ordinated by the Centre International d’Etude du Sport (CIES) in Switzerland, sees students spend three months each at DMU, the SDA Bocconi School of Management, in Milan, and the Université de Neuchâtel, in Switzerland.
At DMU, the course is taught by the team at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture, where students learn the history of sports and discuss topical issues and challenges facing the sports industry.
The course was this year named the best of its kind in Europe for an eighth time.