"It's a bit like a dating site, but for soccer players," laughs Sébé Coulibaly, creator of the Ladies Squad application. At 26, this experienced player who plays in Yzeure (D2) and in the national team of Mali, had the idea of launching a geolocated linkage tool between young girls wishing to practice the ball but could not find a teammate in their geographic area.
"When you are not in a club or licensed and want to practice anyway, it often happens that you lack players, or that you do not dare to go on the courts, most of the time reserved by boys, "says Sébé Coulibaly. This story is a bit like hers: "How many times have I heard: 'Ah no, I don't play if it's a girl!', 'We can't go into contact with girls' .. . Over time, I realized that some boys were afraid of being humiliated by a woman who plays better than them, because there are girls as technical as boys. Before playing, you should always go by this stage of acceptance on the ground, by a form of apprehension which spoils the pleasure a little. It is painful, "she recalls.
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"People went to see my mother to report me"
The young Franco-Malian, who grew up in Montfermeil in the Paris suburbs, would like to avoid the girls of today from encountering the same obstacles and encourage this sport which is so dear to him. "It was not me who chose football, it was he who chose me," she likes to say. Taking his big sister as a model, Sébé Coulibaly started playing at the age of 15 on the football field adjoining the Bosquets district in Montfermeil. "My sister gave up under pressure, but I continued. People went to see my mother to report me because they saw me all the time in football and it was frowned upon for a girl. haven't given up ".
After being played at FC Montfermeil, she was spotted by the Tremblay-en-France club. The player, who plays in the midfield, then goes through AS Saint-Etienne, then RC Saint-Denis, before signing for the club of Yzeure. In 2016 she participated in a first African Cup of Nations (CAN) with Mali, then a second in 2018. She was ready to leave with the third scheduled for December, but the competition is currently canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Over time, my family ended up accepting that I made football my profession. They were very proud when I was selected to represent Mali. So in hindsight I like to say that my older sister started the fight and that I continued it ", continues Sébé Coulibaly.
"For some, football represents an escape"
Playing in Mali marked a turning point in his commitment. "There, I chatted with other young girls. I discovered that they had a lot more problems to manage on a daily basis: forced marriage, excision ... For some, football represents an escape. Being able to play on the pitch is an emergency. I had to do something, "says Sébé Coulibaly. Her commitment begins with France, but the young woman, holder of a sports management license, does not hide her desire to develop Ladies Squad in Africa, if one day the funding allows it.
"Everywhere we need a space, where we can feel ourselves," she says. Next to her, another female figure in football is fighting to make young players feel confident everywhere. Namnata Traoré, 27, is a striker in the France B team and a new recruit from RC Lens, who went through OM. Together with Sébé Coulibaly, they founded the association "Jouons comme elle", in order to promote and enhance the place of women in society through sport.
"We went to meet young girls from 17 to 19 years old in a village near Aix-en-Provence, where as elsewhere and even worse perhaps, the players do not find structures to practice. They lack There, too, parents are still reluctant to the idea that their daughters are passionate about football, "laments Namnata Traore, who grew up in Gagny, in Seine-Saint-Denis.
"Condescending looks that told me I was out of place"
"Me I started to practice at recess, in CP. It was a boy who suggested to me to play because I was alone. Then the friends took me under their wing like a little sister" , says the three-color striker. Growing up, she continued to wear crampons with the boys in her neighborhood, because there were no female teams in her city. "In the city, I was welcomed, but when we played outside, I remember the condescending glances which told me that I was not in my place".
Like Namnata Traoré, Sébé Coulibaly has practiced a lot alongside men. "Me, my brother always took me on his team, he opened the doors for me. He was the first to defend myself and say that football was not only a sport for men," says l Malian international. Also, she wishes to continue to offer some mixed sessions on its application, even if the priority remains to create a female space.
Encourage the creation of spaces for women
Did the 2019 Women's World Cup make a difference? The figures attest to this. With 157,000 licensees, France has recorded a jump of almost 10% of players thanks to the World Cup, according to the latest figures from the French Football Federation (FFF). Yet for Sébé Coulibaly nothing is less certain. Psychological barriers persist: "Girls continue to say that they do not have the level, while men rarely ask this question".
"If we had had this space made by women for women at the time, today women's football would have progressed much more," said Namnata Traoré. During the truce, even today, the two players find it difficult to find teammates with whom to share a "five" (five-a-side football) around their home. They will be the first users and expect a lot from the mobile application.
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