By RFIPosted on 25-12-2019 Modified on 25-12-2019 at 17:39

In Sierra Leone, East End Tigers FC, one of the top teams in the country, named former Sierra Leonean international Victoria Conteh as head coach last week. She is the first woman to head a first division men's football team in Sierra Leone.

This nomination is not necessarily a surprise if we consider the CV of Victoria Conteh, former star of Sierra Queens, the national women's team. She was also the coach of players under the age of 17, and before taking on the famous East End Tigers, she already coached a men's team in the second division.

A strong signal for women in Sierra Leone

Victoria Conteh has high goals. She says she wants to win the Premier League, the Sierra Leonean championship, and eventually take the lead of the Leone Stars, the national men's selection.

This will go through the results. In their first game on the bench last Saturday, December 21, their team snapped a 1-1 draw against FC Kallon in the capital, Freetown.

A high-level female coach certainly represents a step towards equality in Sierra Leone, a country often singled out for discrimination against women, particularly in access to education.

Victoria Conteh is only the second woman coach of a first division football team in Africa. The first, the Ethiopian Meseret Manni had led the Dire Dawa club in 2015.

► (Re) listen: The African debate: Women's football in Africa

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