FIFA and GIZ Sport present the new Women’s Empowerment programme

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Image credit: FIFA official website

FIFA has joined in a collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to fund 16 global organisations through the Sport for Women’s Empowerment programme.

GIZ works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and has chosen the NGO LA Guilde to be the implementor of the financial support.

This programme aligns with the FIFA Women’s Development Programme and Germany’s feminist development policy, which is focused on sports-based approaches to gender equality and fits well with FIFA’s programme for growth in female football.

All these initiatives support the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

The central theme of the programme is to demonstrate how sport would be used as a tool to combat gender inequality, tackle gender-based and sexual violence, or empower and strengthen the role of women.

200 organisations across 30 GIZ’s partner countries submitted project proposals.

From this, 16 were chosen – of which 10 are football-specific projects and 3 FIFA Associations are included. These organisations are spread across Africa, Asia, The Middle East, South America and the Western Balkans.

This is a huge enterprise taken by FIFA and GIZ to expand and fund the women’s game internationally.

It shows the partnership potential FIFA has with organisations and investors that want to expand their programs into the sporting world and their popularity with international organisations and markets, especially if this fits into the positive empowerment of equality in sports within poorer communities around the world.

The 16 successful organisations are:

  • Togolese Football Association (Togo)
  • Football Association of Indonesia (Indonesia)
  • Ghana Football Association (Ghana)
  • ENGIM (Albania)
  • Together Advancing Common Trust, TAKT (North Macedonia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  • Bareeq Education & Development (Jordan)
  • Permanent Peace Movement (Lebanon)
  • Cleo (Colombia)
  • Girls United Football Association (Mexico)
  • Anahat for Change Foundation (India)
  • Sudhaar Society (Pakistan)
  • Action des Volontaires d’Innovations pour le Développement, AVID (Congo DR)
  • Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo, VIS (Ghana)
  • Community Forum Organization, COFO (Malawi)
  • Demain Dès l’Aube (Togo)
  • Association Togolaise pour la Promotion du Sport pour Tous, ATPST (Togo)

“We are very excited about the huge number of applicants; all of them organisations using the power of sport to improve gender equality in their communities,” Jens Elsner said via media release, Head of the GIZ’s Global Programme.

“I am convinced that the winning organisations will make an impact by reaching out to young people and letting them experience that change towards a more inclusive and equal society is possible.”

FIFA Chief Women’s Football Officer Sarai Bareman added via press release: “FIFA is dedicated to increasing female representation and diversity in football, at all levels, on and off the pitch, and this initiative is a great example of how we can create more opportunities for women through collaborating with others.”

In total, the successful organisations list features 10 football-specific projects, four multisport projects, one rugby project and one volleyball project.

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South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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Image Credit: SCFC

South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

Football NSW announces 2026 First Nations Scholarships as pathway access program enters new phase

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Image Credit: Football NSW

Football NSW has announced the recipients of its 2026 First Nations Scholarships, with ten emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players from metropolitan and regional NSW receiving support designed to reduce the financial and structural barriers that have historically limited First Nations participation across the football pathway.

The scholarship program, developed and assessed in collaboration with the Football NSW Indigenous Advisory Group, targets players across both elite and development environments – recognising that talent identification alone is insufficient without the resources to support progression once players are identified.

Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group Bianca Dufty said the calibre of this year’s recipients reflected the depth of First Nations football talent across the state, and the importance of structured support in converting that talent into long-term participation.

“Their dedication to football and the desire to be role models for younger Aboriginal footballers in their communities is to be celebrated,” Dufty said. “I’m confident we will see some of these talented footballers in the A-League and national teams in the future.”

 

Beyond the pitch and into the pipeline

The 2026 cohort spans both metropolitan clubs and regional associations, an intentional distribution that acknowledges the particular barriers facing First Nations players outside major population centres, where access to development programs, qualified coaching and pathway competitions is more limited and the cost of participation more prohibitive.

The next phase of the program will introduce First Nations coaching scholarships, extending the initiative’s reach beyond playing pathways and into the coaching and administration pipeline – areas where Indigenous representation remains among the lowest in the game.

The structural logic is clear. Scholarships that reduce financial barriers at the entry point of elite pathways matter most when they are part of a sustained ecosystem of support rather than isolated gestures. Football NSW’s collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Group provides that continuity, ensuring the program is shaped by the communities it is designed to serve.

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