Funding shortage threatens women’s football in Botswana
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Weekend Post
Botswana’s new women’s first division, comprising 20 teams across the north and south, lacks funding, infrastructure and suitable pitches. Tsholofelo Setlhoko, the Botswana FA’s women’s football head, says these difficulties could slow clubs’ progress, according to WeekendSport.
Botswana’s national women’s first division, launched this year, brings together 20 teams divided between the north and south of the country. Tsholofelo Setlhoko, head of women’s football at the Botswana Football Association (BFA), nevertheless believes that a lack of sponsors, infrastructure and suitable pitches threatens the progress of the league, according to WeekendSport.
Clubs must finance travel, equipment, technical staff, facilities and the care of players. A broader competition increases opportunities to play matches, but also raises teams’ operating costs, Setlhoko points out.
BFA officials met the African Club Association (ACA), an organisation that represents and promotes African clubs independently of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The association is seeking to attract Botswana’s clubs and could help them access support, visibility and commercial development networks.
Setlhoko, appointed a FIFA expert for women’s football development in May 2025, considers this cooperation a way to support the new division and the clubs involved in growing women’s football in Botswana.
