Cambodia women's national football team

Background and development

The national association was founded in 1933 and became a FIFA affiliate in 1954. The national federation is a member of ASEAN. There are no full-time staff members employed by the federation to look after women's football and representation of women's football as a federation interest is not guaranteed by the federation.

AFC's AID27 programme provides Cambodia a maximum of US$24,000 a year between 2008 and 2012 to support women's football in the country. FIFA-supported grassroots development of the women's game also exists. FIFA grass roots development officer Sam Schweingruber said of this: "In Cambodia, it was unthinkable at the outset for girls to take part in the Grassroots programme. We managed to push that through, and now it's seen as perfectly normal. And that is bound to help in boosting the confidence of young Cambodian women, and making them feel more important."

Football for women ranks between the 5th and 10th most popular sport in the country, though its popularity is increasing. Space to play sport is an issue facing all sports in the country. Between 2000 and 2006, there were no registered female football players in the country, and none of the 65 football clubs in the country were open to women.

In 2007, there were only two Cambodian women, Gne Kom' Sorth and Lee Heang, who had a FIFA-approved D-license football coaching badge. Both were recruited through FIFA's Spirit of Soccer program and worked to bring the game to areas with land mines. In 2008, the Mine Risk Education Soccer tournament was held and several girls under-14 teams participated. The first women's national championship was held in 2010. Rights to broadcast the 2011 Women's World Cup in the country were bought by the Cambodian Broadcasting Service. By 2012, between Battambang or Phnom Penh, there were 400 girls playing in organised clubs.

The progress of women's football in the country was described by FIFA in 2009 as historic. In 2009, the Com-Unity Women's Football Seminar was held Phnom Penh. At the three-day seminar, the Football Federation of Cambodia indicated their support for women's football. A follow-up event was supported by FIFA in 2010.

Chheun Nipha from Cambodia participated in a 2012 AFC 'C' Coaching Certificate Course organised as part of the AFC U-13 Girls' Football Tournament 2012. In 2012, the women's team participated in the Charity Cup, a competition designed to help with fundraising to send a team to compete at the Homeless World Cup. In May 2012, an under-15 women's football festival was held in Cambodia, organised by the German embassy and German Business Group Cambodia, and held at the University of Battambang. The competition was won by the Mighty Girls in a 2-0 win over CFI.

Team

In 1985, almost no country in the world had a women's national football team, including Cambodia who have yet to play their first FIFA recognised match as of June 2012. As of 2015, the women's national team has not competed at the Women's World Cup. In 2005, the country was one of seven teams that were expected to field a women's football team to compete at the Asian Games in Marikina in December. In 2006, a women's national team did not officially exist. In March 2012, the team was not ranked in the world by FIFA. The country's kit colours are blue, white and red shirts, white shorts, and red socks.

Under-13

The Cambodia women's national under-13 football team competed in the June 2012 AFC Girls Football Festival against other national sides from Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Guam and Vietnam. The team played their first match against the Philippines. Cambodia lost to Vietnam 0-1 in the bronze medal game. Julie Teo, AFC's Head of Women's Football said of the event: "The quality of teams is good and the tournament has a lot of close matches. Cambodia had improved a lot from the first day." Srey Yuen was the captain in 2012. Many of the players in 2012 were drawn from the CFI club side. The team is coached by Sam Schweingruber.

Sopha Kol, secretary general of FFC, said: "For the very first time, very young Cambodian girls represented Cambodia in a regional tournament like this one. ... It doesn't matter if they win or lose as long as they start. If they don't start now, their potential will be ignored." AFC U-13 Girl Football Tournament 2012, each game had two sessions with 25 minutes each and 10 minutes' break while the football field is 80 metres long and 60 metres wide.

Under-14

Kauw was a member of the Cambodia women's national under-14 football team in 2011. The assistant coach was Chhoeurn Nipha and the head coach was Sam Schweingruber. The team had a variety of players, including those who attended a football academy, school drop outs who returned just to play and girls from orphanages. The country participated in the AFC U-14 Girls' Festival of Football in Vietnam, where like the other ten participating countries, they fielded two teams. This was the first time the country participated in the event. At the competition, Cambodia lost to the Philippines 3-0. Some of the players who participated had never left the country before.

Under-16

The Cambodia women's national under-16 football team has been coached by Sam Schweingruber since it was created in 2009. The team played in their first FIFA recognised and sponsored international in spring of 2009 when they played Laos on 22 May. The team travelled 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) to the game via bus. Nith Pean scored a goal when her team was down 2-0 to bring the score to 2-1. Her goal was the first ever goal scored by a Cambodian woman in a FIFA recognised match. That year, the team also played a match against Singapore. Two players on the 2009 under-16 team were Nin and Vesna, a pair of sisters from the SALT Academy. The sisters had been sexually exploited in Thailand but while at the Academy, they developed their skills. Nin eventually became the captain of the team.