INTERNATIONAL FEMALE REFEREES CONFERENCE

Name

Alexandra Georgopoulos ......................

Beauty Siatontola ....................................

Dineo Rachuene ......................................

Fatou Gaye ................................................

Franziska Katjaimo ..................................

Joslin Dzousa ............................................

Katlholo Pearl Moremi ...........................

Khatool Shahzad ......................................

Maya Lama ................................................

Memory Baluwa .......................................

Mimisen Agatha Iyorhe .........................

Neslihan Muratdagı ................................

Pamela Joras .............................................

Theresia Wanjiru Kabubi .......................

Candelaria Kelly ........................................

Wiebke Frede ............................................

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Country / City

Australia / Sydney ...........................................

Zambia / Monze Town ...................................

South Africa / Johannesburg .......................

Senegal / Dakar ...............................................

Namibia / Windhoek ......................................

India / Goa ........................................................

Botswana / Gaborone ....................................

Afghanistan / Kabul ........................................

Nepal / Lalitpur ................................................

Malawi / Blantyre ............................................

Nigeria / Makurdi ............................................

Turkey / Istanbul .............................................

Brazil / Sao Paolo ............................................

Kenya / Thika ....................................................

Argentina / Buenos Aires ...............................

Germany / Heidelberg ...................................

Year of Birth

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1993

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This project is funded by

DISCOVER FOOTBALLINTERNATIONAL FEMALE REFEREES CONFERENCEParticipants List

ALEXANDRA GEORGOPOULOSAustralia | Canterbury District & Soccer Football Association

Alexandra Georgopoulos is a 20 year old from Sydney, Australia. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Busi-ness majoring in Sport Management at Western Syd-ney University. Alexandra has been playing football since she was 6 years old, starting in a mixed gender team and then moving into a female team during her teen years, she now plays in the All Age Women cate-gory. She is an all-rounder, for not only does she play, but she is a referee, a licensed coach and holds a com-mittee position as the Female Football Officer for her football club, the Strathfield Strikers FC, as well as be-ing a Female Football Committee member for the Can-terbury District & Soccer Football Association (CDSFA).

In 2016, Alexandra earnt the opportunity of a lifetime, she was 1 of 50 chosen worldwide to be a part of the FIFA Fan Focus Group held at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich. She was one of 26,200 fans worldwide to com-plete a FIFA Fan Survey, and her story won over the

FIFA officials. She was the youngest attendee, and had to complete 3 of her final school exams in a hotel con-ference room in Zurich. The Fan Focus Group saw Alex-andra take part in extensive group consultations about female football, football loyalty programs as well as having had an insight into the implementation of VAR.

Alexandra is a referee for the Canterbury Referees As-sociation (CRA), and she is a part of the campaign run by Football NSW and the CDSFA to encourage people to give refereeing a try. Alexandra was previously the Young Referees Coordinator for her football club.

She wants to ensure that females are provided with the support to become confident referees, players and coaches in football.

In the future, Alexandra is determined to work for FIFA, hoping to be the first female FIFA President

BEAUTY SIATONTOLA Zambia | Football Association of Zambia

My name is Beauty Siatontola. I live in Monze. I was born on the 12th December 1993 and I am a Zambian by Nationality. From 2008-2011 I was a Football player and in 2012 I joined the Football Association of Zam-bia (FAZ) as a referee. From 2015 until now am working with the non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Sport In Action (SIA) as a site coordinator. We work with men and boys in the fight against Gender Based Vio-lence (GBV) through sport.

From 2015-2017 I was invited to attend the MA Wom-en’s Refereeing Course under the auspices of the Fed-eration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and in cooperation with the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) under the guidance of Gladys Waweru of Kenya. I hope to be one of the top referees in the world in near future.

DINEO RACHUENE South Africa | X

I come from South Africa and I started refereeing af-ter applying for a Premier Skills course from the Brit-ish Council. I have since completed two levels of the course. I used to be a soccer player so being a referee is an opportunity for me to continue in sport. I now ref-eree in the SASOL Premier Women’s League in South Africa. As a referee my main goals are to recruit females referee in my community and to encourage them to pursue a career as a referee . Also I want to become a mentor to the young ones out there by creating a safe

space for them by using my leadership skill to change their lives, by inspiring more positive community ref-eree and also helping them to instill important skills and traits that have helped to succeed throughout my life - work ethic, determination, confidence, resilience, teamwork and leadership.

FATOU GAYESenegal | CAF | FIFA

My name is Fatou GAYE. I was born on September 29, 1966 in Guéoul (Senegal). I am an instructor of referees in Senegal (FSF), at the Football African Confederation (CAF) and at the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA). I am one of the pioneers of African female refereeing. I started refereeing in 1988 before becoming international referee in 1996. I had to partici-pate in many international competitions (African Cups, Olympic Games, World Cups etc ...) I stopped my refer-eeing career in 2007. I became an instructor in 2009 to

the present day, Member of the Organizing Committee of the U17 World Cup and WWC from 2012 to 2016. My wish is to see one day the realization of equality be-tween men and women in football bodies.

FRANSISKA KATJAIMONamibia | CAF | FIFA

I am a bachelor of Education (Hons) graduated and various sports management qualification ranging from diplomas to certificates, with great emphasis on Community Development which relates well with sports development. My passion for football started at a very young age, when I was growing up. I nor-mally played with my siblings and never got to play competitive football. However, in 1998 I saw an ad-vert in the paper inviting people to register for a basic referee course. I registered and was the best female and overall performer. My referee career stretch over a period of 13 years in 2008 I was voted as the Women Referee of the Season, in 2013 I quit refereeing and be-come an Instructor, from there onward I have worked my way up, till where I am today as an Accredited FIFA/CAF Referee Technical Instructor/Commissioner and Assessor. As commonly known women football across the globe are not receiving the same treatment as the man, therefore in Namibia is no different. However, we have decided beside the challenges that Women football faces, we are going to go out and source for sponsors to keep the girl child of the street and keep them fit by playing football. We have and excellent developmental project for young girls called GALZ & GOAL, that seek to empower them while still young in terms of education, life skills amongst many.With the assistance of my home village councilor, I am busy setting up a community based programme for

school drop outs and drug addicts, in order to bring them back to full stream society by keeping them busy with sports activities and as well as community projects, e.g. gardening and animals’ husbandry. I am working tirelessly to make this project a reality that I want to leave as a legacy.My professional objective is to position myself in a vi-brant and challenging working environment, where my management skills, experience, passion and educa-tion qualification could be fully utilized.I believe that a strong motivation, positive attitude, persistence and integrity achieve success. I am de-termined to succeed and view the concept of failure as unacceptable. I am a self-motivated person, hard worker with a strong focus on delivery of results. I can work well under pressure and execute instructions and orders with care and diligence. I am a visionary planner, with good delegation initiative that ensures that tasks are carried out efficiently. I am a team play-er who can motivate people to believe in themselves and achieve success in life. I have learned and acquire proven leadership skills from my parents, lecturers and my colleagues, who had prepared me very well for any challenges that I might find in my chosen fields.In many respects, my goals are to add some tangible value to the operations of any sporting fraternity.

JOSLIN DZOUSA India

My name is Josline Maria D’souza. I am 23 years old and i am from a beautiful state in India which is known for its beaches that is Goa. I started playing football at the age of 10 and have been playing since then. I have represented my country for the Indian team in the AFC U-13 Girls Festival of Football at Vietnam in 2008 , I have also played for many clubs and am currently playing for my state senior women’s team (Goa) and for a club called FC Goa . I am also a referee under my state association (Goa Football Referee’s association). I love my job as a referee as I feel that I am involved in the game and I have to do my best to play a fair game. I also coach grassroot girls and boys for an organisation called Goa Football Development Council, where we focus on developing a strong grassroot.

I want to be an inspiration to small girls to take up play-ing football or to encourage them to do anything they wish to do in any field including sports.

Participating in this conference, I would like to learn and share my experience and ideas with my colleagues to promote women’s football and to empower women.

KATLHOLO PEARL MOREMI Botswana | CAF | FIFA

I started refereeing in 2009 as a local referee. I attended referee courses, practicals and physical trainings. At the first international course held by British High Commis-sion in 2010 I was the only junior woman referee in-vited and succeeded in passing the the tests; physical, practical and theory

I continued working hard until 2014 when I was invit-ed for the FIFA MA course and performed well. I was then accredited by FIFA as a Referee in Botswana (CAF) until this date. In 2015 I was invited for the CAF refer-ees course held in Cameroon (Bankomo) for new FIFA listed referees where I also did well in both physical fitness test and practical assignments. I was awarded best in fitness test and award in theory tests. I travelled to many countries in Africa officiating Women World

Cup qualifiers, Women’s Championship qualifiers, and COSAFA tournaments in Africa. My aim now is to offici-ate in the African Cup of Nations and at the World Cup and if given the opportunity to study much and more in this field of refereeing. I will continue working hard and show the world that it’s all about commitment, love and support for women to do well in any sport field related. A girl child in our continent intend to look down on themselves to that extend they don’t look up high on to their dreams when it comes to sports, but as a woman I would give them courage to work hard and see the light to being committed to achieving their goals to sports, all we need is support. I am what I am today because I never gave up on myself but rather I believed that I will make it to the end, what a man can do we can do it better!

KHATOOL SHAHZADAfghanistan | Afghanistan Football Federation

My name is Khatool Shahzad and I am a referee from Afghanistan. I am the leader of the Afghanistan Wom-en’s Football Committee and a board member of the Afghanistan Football Federation. I have three years ref-ereeing experience following my retirement from the Afghanistan women’s football team. I was a member of the national team for five years and I have taken sev-eral refereeing and coaches courses in my football ed-ucation in the years soon. After gaining both FIFA and Asian Football Confederation refereeing licenses, I also received an AFC coaching license and attended a FIFA course for top futsal referees. I am now also a board member of the Afghanistan Football Federation.

In my non-football education I have received a degree in medical midwifery and in engineering. My role as an experienced referee and a coach is to develop wom-en’s football in my country and to help other women to develop their football skills. The main goal for me is to promote football amongst the younger genera-tion who will be the future leaders and role models in our country amongst other women. My role is to help and educate women to use sport as a tool to empower women, not only in Afghanistan but outside Afghani-stan too.

MAYA LAMANepal | All Nepal Football Association | Childreach Nepal

My name is Maya Lama, I was born in rural village of Kavre in Nepal and moved to Kathmandu to pursue my education. I started my sporting career as a Karate play-er when I was 20 years old and slowly started playing football. While playing football I was approached by one of the coach for a referee training, which I gladly accepted. Since then there has been no turning back in my career, I am now of the few female referees in my country to have officiated National and International game.

I am also working with a local NGO Childreach Nepal to encourage girls to play sports and talk about other issues like gender inequalities, and harmful traditional

practices that effects girls in my countries. I believe that all girls have the right to play and no one can take that right away from them. Football is a unique tool for any individual to express themselves and to unlock their potential

MEMORY BALUWAMalawi | Football Association of Malawi

My name is Memory Irene Baluwa from the warm heart of Africa, Malawi. I am a former football player for Mbawala women’s football club. I am graduate in sports business management with the University of Pretoria. I have sixteen years experience in football ref-ereeing with Grade 1 and a holder of Coaching license by the Football Association of Malawi FAM C License.

Being in a society where people believe that a wom-an’s traditional place is the home, the ideal role is as-sociated with child-bearing and housekeeping. I had to defy all the odds and I was inspired by two women that officiated women football games in 2002. It was a women’s football tournament that gave me courage to take up the career in football refereeing. I have been a

role model and a change agent to the mindset of many parents who believe that sports will make a girl child fail her studies. Sports will always change the life of a woman.

We experience the value of men dominating in football activities, hence my football refereeing involvement which only constitutes a 10 % of women of which 90 % are men.

I want to see more women participating in football activities and the community accepting the values of women who take part in football refereeing and foot-ball activities. I dream of becoming one of the most experienced women football administrators in Malawi.

MIMISEN AGATHA IYORHENigeria | FIFA

Mimisen Agatha Iyorhe - Born 02/03/1984 in Makurdi, Benue State Nigeria.

My mum, now a retired referee, introduced me to ref-ereeing after my Secondary School education. On start-ing my university education, it was tough to combine refereeing and studying Industrial Chemistry because it was a school of technology and didn’t totally support sports. Though despite the difficulties experienced then, I went on do a Professional Post Graduate Pro-gramme in Monitoring and Evaluation and through it all, I got to the officiating grade in 2005 and was listed as a FIFA Assistant Referee in 2012.

The invitation to the CAF Elite ‘A’ Women’s course came in 2016 and I also officiated the Women African Cup of Nations same year. I have also been listed for the 2018 Women African Cup of Nations.

I have been privileged to do internships and volunteer work at my National Football Federation and with FIFA at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Currently offi-

ciating in the top men’s league in Nigeria, I have also officiated numerous league games (men and women), cup finals, and a West African Football Union tourna-ment.

I mentor young girls who want to build a career in ref-ereeing by organising yearly clinics tagged “#GirlsTha-tRef”.

In the future, I would like to have a foundation where young girls can get educated, participate and excel in sports and also be taught entrepreneurship so they can become their own bosses while participating in sports to curb the recurring menace of getting broke and sinking into depression after retirement from ac-tive football life. Personally, I’m currently pursuing ad-missions at Masters level to study Sports Management/financing.

NESLIHAN MURATDAGI Turkey | FIFA

My name is Neslihan Muratdagi and I am a FIFA Referee from Turkey. I started refereeing football in 2006 after a teacher at my high school invited me to participate in a referee course. In 2010 I became a division referee and to date I have refereed up until the third division of Turkish football and I have acted as the fourth of-ficial for a first division the men’s Super League game between Besiktas and Konyaspor. In 2015 I qualified as a FIFA Referee. I am also a physical education teacher.

PAMELA JORAS Brasil | Union of Football Referees

My name is Pamela and I am a PhD student and referee from Brazil.

In 2014 I attended an referee course for women only. From that course I fell in love with the referee career and it was a way I found to maintain a relationship with football even after I retired from the playing fields. I now referee games children, youth, women and men. I am part of the Union of Football Referees of Rio Grande do Sul and from 2019 of the Gaucho Football Federa-tion of Rio Grande do Sul State. In my state I have ref-ereed the women’s soccer championship in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and the women’s championship in the U15 and U17 categories in 2016 and 2017. I have also ref-ereed in amateur adult men’s soccer championships.

Despite having a great icon like Marta, there are not many incentives for women’s football in Brazil. Wom-en who play still suffer much prejudice and lack of incentive, investment. The players face many difficul-ties. Now my major career goal is to reach the national umpire board at Brazilian Football Confederation. But as my main goal, I want to encourage more women to become referees by increasing the number of referees and lessening prejudice and violence in soccer by dis-cussing gender equality.

THERESIA WANJIRU KABUBI Kenia | Kenyan Football Association

I have been a referee since 2016 and I am also a student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Tech-nology. I am a licensed referee with the Kenyan Foot-ball Association and I referee division one games. I view my role as a referee as a tool for uplifting women in so-ciety and being a role model to young girls who want to pursue this career. I would like to work towards one day to be an internationally-approved referee by FIFA.

CANDELARIA KELLYArgentinia | Emmanuel Foundation

My name is name is Candelaria Kelly. I am an Argen-tinian sociologist specialized in children’s rights. Since 2007, I have been working at Emmanuel Foundation with children and adolescents in a vulnerable situation due to the social, economic and health risks they are exposed to.

From this space, I contribute to their integral develop-ment, through workshops, games and different activ-ities, always from a children’s rights-based approach.

Years ago, I carried out a participatory diagnosis with a group of children to detect needs in their community. Thus, the children realized that there were no recre-ational - cultural - sport places to gather (parks, clubs,

public libraries, cultural centers, etc.). So we decided to create a social club. After much effort and dedication, Colonia Urquiza club was born, and with it, the idea of giving football lessons to girls and boys from 6 to 12 years old.

It is an initiative that aims not only to develop skills in kids for playing but, fundamentally, to promote social inclusion, break stereotypes and make visible that foot-ball is also a woman’s issue.

WIEBKE FREDEGermany

I am currently a medical student, due to graduate at the end of 2019. My area of focus is paediatric cardiol-ogy and I am engaged as a volunteer to help migrants without legal status to receive medical care. I started refereeing in 2015 and I have refereed local games in the men’s state league, women’s regional league, girls’ junior national league and I’ve assisted games in the second-division women’s national league.