Sierra Leone women's national football team

History

Sierra Leone women's national football team did not play its first matches until around 1994 when it participated in the qualification phase of the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup. In a game in Nigeria on 6 November 1994, Sierra Leone women's national football team lost 0–9 to Nigeria after being down 0–6 at the half. In a game in Freetown on 20 November 1994, it lost 0–2 to Nigeria after being down 0–2 at the half. These 2 games represent half of all games it has played in its history. Following this match, the team did not play an international match on any level for at least a year In March 2012, Sierra Leone was ranked the 135th best in the world and the 26th best in Africa. It improved its ranking to 130th best in the world in June 2012 and at still at the bottom of the world rankings alongside 46 other women's national teams. Its best ever rank was 128th, which was in 2010, and its worst ever ranking was 136, which it was ranked in 2011.

Background and development

Early development of the women's game at the time colonial powers brought football to Sierra Leone and the continent was limited, as colonial powers in the region tended to take concepts of patriarchy and women's participation in sport with them to local cultures that already had similar concepts already embedded in them. Other factors on the continent impact the development of the game, including limited access to education, poverty among women in the wider society, and fundamental inequality present in the society that occasionally allows for female specific human rights abuses. When quality players are developed in Africa, they often leave for greater opportunities elsewhere Continent wide; most of the funding for women's football in a country and for the women's national team comes from FIFA, not the national football association. Future success for women's football in Africa is dependent on improved facilities and access by women to these facilities. Attempting to commercialise the game is not the solution, as demonstrated by the existence of youth and women's football camps held on the continent that have resulted in improved national team performance as players progressed through the system.

The United Nations ranked Sierra Leone 180 out of 187 on their Human Development Index. One of the factors in this world ranking was gender inequality. Football was seen as 1 way of understanding life by watching what happened on the pitch. In 2007, a football administrator from the country is in charge of the women's football committee in the West African Football Union. In 2011, Brazilian women's football superstar Marta visited the country and met with the national team. Her visit was part of the United Nations Development Programme where Marta is a Goodwill Ambassador. In 2011, there was no national women's league in the country. In 2012, Girls Football League was launched by the Craig Bellamy Foundation after a pilot programme in 2010/2012 in Makeni that included 4 teams. Girls participating in the programme are given scholarships to attend, with 93% attending school regularly while involved with the programme, a higher percentage than the national average for female school attendance.

Women are football spectators, watching live games in rural and remote areas of the country. Rights to broadcast the 2011 Women's World Cup in the country were bought by the African Union of Broadcasting and Supersport International. The popularity of the sport is declining in the country for women.

Sierra Leone women's national football team is nicknamed the Sierra Queens.

Under-17 team

Sierra Leone has a Sierra Leone women's national under-17 football team. They were supposed to compete in the African Women U-17 Championship Qualifying Tournament 2010. Togo won the first round because Sierra Leone withdrew from the competition. They competed in CAF qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup that will be held in Azerbaijan in September 2012. They did not advance out of their region. The team was supposed to play the Gambia women's national under-17 football team in a qualifying match for the 2012 U-17 Qualifying Tournament. Sierra Leone lost the first leg in Banjul, Gambia 0–3. The return match was delayed for 24 hours. The team's head coach attributed the loss to poor refereeing. The second match was won by Sierra Leone 3–1. Gambia won the first match in 3–0 in a game played in Banjul. The return match was delayed in for 24 hours and played in Makeni.

The team is coached by Hannah Williams, while Tamba Moses was the assistant coach. Squad members included Cecilia Bangura, Jarriatu Kamara, Hannah Conteh, Haja Kamara, Magret Sesay, Sarah Bangura, Fatmata Turay, Fatmata Mansaray, Kaju Max-Macauley, Aminata Lebbe, Zainab Sesay, Alice Bundor, Adama Sesay, Rashidatu Kamara, Isata Kamara, Wuyiah Muwaid, Nasu Bundor, and Assanatu Jalloh. Members of the under-17 team are drawn from the Airtel Rising Stars tournament.

Under-20 team

Sierra Leone has a Sierra Leone women's national under-20 football team. They competed in the 2010/2011 FIFA U-20 CAF Women's World Cup qualifying competition. They did not advance to the U20 Women's World Cup. They competed in the preliminary rounds of the 2010 CAF FIFA U20 World Cup. In the preliminary round, they did not have to play as Guiena withdrew from the tournament. In the first round, they were supposed to play Nigeria and withdrew from the tournament. They were to compete in the 2010 African Women U-20 Championship Qualifying tournament against Togo, and Togo earned a walkover win against Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone eventually withdrew from the competition. The announcement was made a week after the under-17 lost 0–3 to Gambia.

Fixtures

Main article: Sierra Leone women's national football team results

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

;Legend

2025

• Ahouassou
• Honfo
• Gbedjissi
• Jammeh
• Sonko
• Jarju
• Jumu
• K. Brima
• Fan. Camara

Coaching staff

Updated as 2 /2/2025-

Managers

• SLE Ernest Hallowell(20??-2024)
• SLEHassan Malik Mansaray(2024-)

Players

Current squad

The following players have been called up for the 2025 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup from 22 to 31 May 2025 in Mauritania.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to a Benin squad in the past 12 months.

Previous squads

;WAFU Zone A Women's Cup

• 2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup squads

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

Olympic Games

:*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

African Games

Africa Women Cup of Nations

:*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

WAFU Women's Cup

References

References

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