Sierra Leone starts Women’s League
Sierra Leone is bidding to revitalise women's football in the country with the launch of a first-ever league under the leadership of the nation's first-ever female Football Association President, Isha Johansen.
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The league, being the first female domestic competition in the country in five years, is also the first time teams outside Freetown are participanting.
However, there are concerns about how the league would be sustained in Sierra Leone, as many African countries struggle to promote women's football.
The newest executive member of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Foday Turay, believes a lot needs to be done to continue the female league in the west African country.
"We can only sustain the league and save the women's game from a total collapse if there is proper planning which is lacking at the moment," Turay told BBC Sport.
"We need to have a well-structured league system and a proper calendar because we lack the structure at the moment with no proper calendar, and because of all these shortfalls, we can't attract sponsors.
"And there won't be a good league without money which comes from sponsorship. So we need to have a well- structured league system." Turay said.
Turay is also offering some tips on where to look at first in the structuring process of the women's game in his country.
"The first step to structure our women's game is to start from the grass roots and also have effective competitions in schools."
The league is currently being played at regional level and also serves as qualifiers for the national team finals.
But it is not without problems as teams in the Western Area have refused to take part in the competition until certain conditions relating to the governance of the SLFA are met.
Despite all the highlighted problems Sierra Leone are among 19 out of the continent's 55 members entered for the qualifiers of the 2018 Women's Under-20 World Cup. They are set to play Libya in the first round of the qualifiers.