12^th October 2007

The Sport Desk

Sport Editor

For Immediate Release

4^TH FIFA WOMEN’S FOOTBALL SYMPOSIUM 2007

28/29 SEPTEMBER IN SHANGHAI

Experts presented strategies for raising women’s football to further heights

Women’s football experts, commercial affiliates and key decision makers from all six confederations as well as FIFA’s 208 member associations gathered in Shanghai on the 28^th and 29^th September 2007 for the 4^th FIFA Women’s Football Symposium.

To kick-off the event, latest results from various  in-depth assessment conducted by FIFA’s Development Officers and women’s football specialists in more than 100 countries on all six continents were presented, underlining the impressive advances the women’s game has made since the last symposium four years ago. For the first time a clear picture of the status on women’s football was shown to the audience. Even more, it served as a forum for mutual exchange of information between international women’s football experts, the associations, marketing experts and the media in the joint endeavour to raise women’s football worldwide to further heights.  

Over the two-day symposium, the attendees saw methods for improving the quality and quantity of female footballers and women’s football at the global level, with assistance and instructions for national associations with varying development levels of the women’s game. As a sample of the symposium’s agenda, some issues to tackle ranged from concrete plans for the integration of women’s programmes in national and regional associations around the world, women’s player/coach/league development to ideas on how to generate media and marketing interest – all based on best practice cases.

The FIFA Women’s Football Symposium was open to members of the media for the FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007. Further information on the content of the symposium and Namibia’s presentation “Supporting Growth” is published on www.nfa.org.na .  Namibia was represented at the Symposium by the Acting Secretary General, Mr. Barry Rukoro, and its Executive Committee Member Ms. Jacqueline Gertze, who presented on behalf of the country.

For further enquiries please contact Ms. Jacqueline Gertze, email: jackeygertse7@hotmail.com .

Sincerely,

Barry Rukoro