Réunion women's national football team
 |
|
| Association | Ligue Réunionnaise de Football |
|---|---|
| Confederation | CAF (Africa) |
| FIFA code | REU |
| FIFA ranking | |
| Current | n/a |
| Highest | n/a |
| Lowest | n/a |
| First international | |
 Réunion 4–3 Egypt  (Saint-Paul; 30 July 2000) |
|
| Biggest win | |
Réunion 3–0 Mauritius  (Saint-Denis; 3 June 2012) |
|
| Biggest defeat | |
 South Africa 3–0 Réunion (Vosloorus; 11 November 2000) |
|
The Réunion women's national football team is the national football team of Réunion, a French island, and is not recognised by FIFA. They have played international matches against Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Mauritius. There is a two-level women's league in the country, with promotion and relegation between each division. They have similar development issues to the rest of Africa.
The national team is not recognised by FIFA. In 2000, they participated in the African Women's Championships. They qualified by beating Egypt women's national football team 5–4 on aggregate (winning 4–3 at home and drawing the away leg 1–1). The first match at the final tournament was a 0–3 loss to South Africa women's national football team in Vosloorus. The second match they played in was a 1–2 loss to Zimbabwe women's national football team. Their final match was a 1–2 loss to Uganda women's national football team. They finished last in their group. Members of the team who played in the tournament included Carole Keita, Lise May Ouledi, Tania Nice, Laurianne Boyer, Claure Lebon, Kelly Bello, Marie Therese Fanovana, Prisca Maraguet, Cathy Chateauroux, Nadege Grosmane, Martine Turpin, Rachelle Lecoutre, Florence Mussard. The side was coached by Patrick Honorine. To date, this is the only competition in which Réunion have participated. In July 2011, there were plans to host a COSAFA Women’s Championship in Réunion. The competition was eventually held in Zimbabwe and Réunion did not participate. On 3 June 2012, Réunion recorded their biggest win to date, winning 3–0 against Mauritius, who were playing their first ever international match.
The Réunion women's national under-20 football team competed in the African Women U-20 World Cup 2010 Qualifying. They beat Madagascar 3–1 away from home in the first leg, and went on to win the second leg 4–1 at home.
Early development of the women's game at the time colonial powers brought football to the continent was limited as colonial powers in the region tended to take make concepts of patriarchy and women's participation in sport with them to local cultures that had similar concepts already embedded in them. The lack of later development of the national team on a wider international level symptomatic of all African teams is a result of several factors, including limited access to education, poverty amongst women in the wider society, and fundamental inequality present in the society that occasionally allows for female specific human rights abuses. When quality female football players are developed, they tend to leave for greater opportunities abroad. Continent wide, funding is also an issue, with most development money coming from FIFA, not the national football association. Future, success for women's football in Africa is dependent on improved facilities and access by women to these facilities. Attempting to commercialise the game and make it commercially viable is not the solution, as demonstrated by the current existence of many youth and women's football camps held throughout the continent.
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