JFF boss backs biennial Women's World Cup

Daniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter

Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Michael Ricketts says that a biennial Women’s World Cup would benefit Jamaica as well as the overall growth of the women's game globally.

He made his comments after FIFA accepted the administration’s proposal for a “comprehensive consultation process” to be conducted to increase the opportunities for global competitions in the women’s game, both nationally and at the club level. The proposal was adopted by a 191-3 margin at the 71st FIFA Congress held virtually on Friday.

In addition to a plan to be presented before the next FIFA congress in 2022 on global competitions for the women’s game, FIFA also approved a feasibility study to be conducted on the impact of playing the women’s and men’s World Cups every two years. Both are currently played every four years.

Ricketts said that he would support the idea of the women’s World Cup being held every two years as well as hoping for the expansion of other global competitions to increase the competitive landscape of the women’s game.

“We thought that every two years would be practical and based on discussions with our counterparts within Concacaf it was feasible and possible,” Ricketts told The Gleaner. "FIFA is now looking at a Club World Cup ( for women) and certainly, we want women’s football to be aligned to that of the men’s component. So these are some of the initiatives relating to women’s football that we will certainly be advocating for.”

Regional body Concacaf, last December, announced a new format for the women’s regional football calendar. There was a revised format for the Women’s World Cup qualifiers which begins in November and the Women’s Nations League which will start in 2023. The goal was to meet the demand for more international games for national teams during the year.

With plans to be developed for competitions not only at the international level but at the club level, Ricketts said that executing their domestic plans for the women’s game would be critical for the country to benefit from any new competitions created in the future

“As it is now we are on track to start the women’s league and also a second-tier women’s competition. So that in itself will help to galvanise some support and certainly to help get the women’s programme on a path that will certainly benefit the national programme,” Ricketts said.

However, former senior women’s national team coach Charles Edwards said having a concrete structure for the women’s league must be at the forefront and the JFF must take bold action in this regard.

“There are certain barriers that we have to break down, for example, the gender bias in terms of sponsorship, Although they (JFF) have put the proposal to FIFA, it does not mean that they are doing an outstanding job with women’s football in Jamaica,” Edwards said, “But I’m happy that they did because hopefully after that (there) will be some serious action in terms of the development of women’s football locally.”

Edwards says that given the demand for more games on the calendar, a biennial Women's World Cup would not be disadvantageous. However, he says that a general blueprint will be necessary for FIFA to develop to ensure that the issues of player health, opportunities to compete and quality competition are balanced.

“The women are playing much less games, so having a Women’s World Cup every two years would be a great thing," Edwards said. He warned, however, that too many games or competitions could be counterproductive and called on officials not to overload the women like we are overloading the men right now.