Petrichor & La Liga Plan A Rebirth Of Women’s Football In Cameroon

Grassroot football franchise – Petrichor in collaboration with the Spanish football brand – La Liga, are set to commence a project dubbed ‘La Ligue D’égalité’ in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Basically, the league is to lay emphasis on the women’s game, and it will comprise of 5 — teams of U13 and U15 categories. It kick-starts this Saturday, February 12, and it will run for four months. The league will be bankrolled by Petrichor and La Liga, thus, open for all.

According to the very much articulated Tresor Penku, one of the La Liga’s ambassador’s, arguably the best league in world football, sides with the idea for a combo with Petrichor, because of what the league (La Liga) stands for.

‘We have a saying in La Liga that goes: ‘it is not football, it is La Liga,’ which means we believe in values. We work a lot with leadership in La Liga business schools. The school has been able to do a training in sports marketing in collaboration with the Catholic University in Central Africa last year in July,’ aired Penku, detailing La Liga’s off field exploits.

‘It is a league of inclusion. We have a league for people with intellectual deficiencies. We believe in equal opportunities, reason why we do investments in women’s football. The support to Petrichor was just natural to us. It’d go a long way to build a platform for these girls to express themselves, and build character.

‘So, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to partner with this association that has been in existence since 2017. They’ve been doing great grassroot wise, and putting the spotlight on some girls who will want to develop their talent in the sport. Bringing la Liga also aids the project, as la liga is a brand.’ ended Tresor Penku.

Jordan Cone, a pioneer and front-runner of the vision, then added, at a presser held on February 8;

‘The league of equality is a league we have already been running – but we would formalize it with La Liga – right now to provide opportunities – for young girls in Yaounde, and some other parts of Cameroon, to access positive pathways; develop leadership, confidence, dignity, to help become leaders in their communities.’

Cone doesn’t shot the door on a possibility of a partnership with prolly other leagues.

‘Hopefully, we will partner with other leagues and other organizations in Cameroon. The basic issue is to provide a platform for girls to dream, and for them to feel like they have equal opportunities to get on the field and smile, not having pressure.

‘There will be coaching and educational workshops through out the league for the female coaches,’ Jordan Cone opined.

Quizzed on the plan of the project vis-a-vis the young girls in the society, Paul Dreisbach, chairperson at Petrichor, had the following to say;

‘At Petrichor, we are excited about the idea of partnering with La Liga to organize an innovative women’s football league and to offer training courses for Female coaches by La Liga. ‘La Ligue D’égalité’ ‘the league for equality’ will provide all the equipments, logistics, and media for this 5-team league to reach over 200 young players, and over 40 female coaches. Petrichor is pleased to work with La Liga to provide leadership opportunities and build confidence through the sport, which will have impact on hundreds of girls in Cameroon.’

In total, The founders of Petrichor – Jordan Cone and Paul Dreisbach together with the representative of La Liga, Tresor Penku, believe in the power of sports to change lives and look forward to projects that achieve a strong impact.