Abu Dhabi The first women's football league in the UAE was launched officially yesterday with the competitions for Under-13 and 16 girls with eight teams in each category, which will kick off on February 21.
"February 14 will be a historic day in the sports movement of our country because on this day, the first-ever women's football league was launched." Tilal Al Hashemi, Vice-Chairman of the Women's Football Committee, said in a press conference held at the premises of the UAE FA yesterday. Ali Jasem, the Director of the Schools Sports Association, Amal Bu Shallakh, Secretary-General of the WFC, Musallam Ahmad and Alya Al Hosani, both members of the WFC were also present.
"The women's league will be organised by cooperation and support of the UAE FA, Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the UAE Schools Sports Association. The start will be with for the under-13 and under-16 with eight teams from the different educational zones in the country competing… we are grateful for the great help and support we found from the UAE FA, Schools Sports Association and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council. The WFC will supervise all the competition with the help of the FA and according to the rules of competition applied in the domestic football competitions in the UAE.
"The WFC has prepared 17 women referees who will help in officiating the new league, which will kick off from February 21 and will be contested in a two round home-and-away format," Al Hashemi added.
"Each team will register 20 players, 15 of them should be Emirati and the other five expatriates. We were keen to start from the schools because we wanted to start from the bases," Ahmad, chairman of the WFC Technical Committee, said.
