Botswana U-20 Women’s star forward bemoans lack of sponsorship in Women’s football

By Aaron Mubanga Jnr | April 3, 2020

Botswana Women’s U-20 national team attacking midfielder Michelle Abeung believes Women’s Football is not given the attention and seriousness it deserves.

Abeung who plays for FAZ Lusaka Women’s League side YASA would like to see sponsors coming on board to support the growing Women’s football.

“There a quite a number of challenges we are facing as women in Football because we don’t even have sponsorship in our league,” Abeung told the ZamFoot Crew in an exclusive interview.

“We are also lacking equipment like balls and soccer boots in some of our teams. People don’t take women’s soccer seriously even if we bring good results but everyone they are focused on men,” she added.

The 18-year-old says the league in Lusaka is very competitive and believes that is the reason the country is doing well at regional and continental levels in Women’s football.

“Here in Zambia the league is kind of tough and they really take women’s football seriously that is why they always perform well in some competitions,” she said.

“Zambian women’s league is very much competitive you even find that there is no bigger team or a smaller team, Teams have really improved a lot and they are now bringing good results,” she added.

When asked about her experience in Zambia Abeung was full of praise for ‘friendly’ Zambians who have welcomed her well.

Michelle would love to see Women’s football taken more seriously with the introduction of inter-club Competitions like it is the case on the men’s side.

“Since I came to Zambia I have never faced any problems, in fact, people in Zambia are just friends and I was welcomed very well. The people at Yasa have been very good to me and I just want to thank them for everything they have done for me. Even my performance has really improved a lot that even people back home in Botswana are proud of me,” she said.

“I would like to see women’s football being taken seriously so that we can also take part in some competitions like caf inter-club competitions,” she added.

The young lady started her football from a young age playing with boys and her parents have been supportive all along as they want to see her go far.

“Ever since I started soccer my parents and the whole family are has been supportive of this talent that I have and they want to see me go far with it, “Michelle told the ZamFoot Crew.

The prolific forward is the second top goalscorer in the Costa Rica/Panama 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers with five goals including four scored in a single game against Namibia away in Nairobi in the preliminary round