Argentina make ground-breaking deal
- Women's Soccer World
- Mar 16, 2019
- 2 min read
The sixteenth of March 2019 will be forever remembered in the history of Women's Soccer in Argentina. After many months of real struggle, and years of disregard toward the female branch of the country's (and world's) most popular sport, the AFA, Argentinian Football Association has made a move to professionalize the activity.
In a meeting held at the Association's headquarters in Ezeiza, the president of AFA, Claudio Tapia and the president of the Argentine Footballers Trade-Union, Sergio Marchi, along with several representatives of the sixteen teams which currently participate in the semi-professional league signed the deal to advance in the women's professionalization of the sport.
The idea of it all is for the semi-professional league to begin in June, and the Association has given a 60-day limit for teams to enroll at least 8 professional contracts on their teams. Positions are now open for any other team to join the league, and, should they meed monetary assistance the AFA said negotiations are open. Furthermore, it has been stated that each team will receive around US$3000 to help pay for the players' salaries, and an annual US$600,000 divided amongst all the participating teams.
The semi-professional league has come a long way since its creation in 1991, and has gone through some tough times. Since its inception, with only 8 teams, now the double are participating. Moreover, there is a second-division, with 22 participating teams. However, not everything is quite as nice. Mid-season last year, Marcarena Sánchez, who was told by her team UAI-Urquiza her services were no longer required, but she could not transfer to any club and basically was prohibited from playing the sport, presented a formal inquiry at the AFA, much of the exposure of her case has led to this moment, forever changing Women's Soccer in Argentina.
FIFA's focus on the matter has helped as well, their initiative to increase women's participation and opportunities seems to bring women and soccer a lot closer together. Their 2022 limit for all Confederations to have a female branch is starting to pay off. Many male players, such as the former Barcelona and Argentinian National Team left back, Juan Pablo Sorín, has been an avid supporter of the ladies.
Comments