'There has to be a change': Libya’s first female coach Rasha Elghorour dreams of women’s football return

When Rasha Elghorour made her international debut for Libya in 2016, she hoped it would be the first appearance of many, the start of a long national team career. But after that groundbreaking Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Egypt, there were just three more competitive matches for Elghorour and her teammates. When the second significant wave of Libya's six-year civil war hit in 2019, women’s football ended in the country. It has never resumed. “It was such an exciting time when that first match happened,” Elghorour tells The National. “There had been a Libyan women’s futsal team before, but we were the first 11-a-side. I remember the story had a lot of international attention. “To be involved from the beginning in establishing the team was such a dream. It was a period of so much hope and to wear that national jersey and sing the anthem – it was something very special to me. I can still see it and feel it right now. “I was part of the start of the Libya women’s national team; unfortunately I was also part of the end.” Elghorour first fell in love with football age seven. She remembers playing with her relatives and friends on the streets, always sporting a baggy Manchester United shirt. “We played in the streets all the time and then we would watch matches on TV – but they weren’t shown very often,” she explains. “There was Serie A – everyone loved Italian football – and then the World Cup and the Olympics. “These are happy memories but in Libya, when you reach a certain age as a girl you cannot keep playing football in the street with boys.” Elghorour gave up football, focusing instead on tennis, at which she quickly became proficient – even winning a regional championship in Tripoli. Then, while she was in high school, the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) announced it was looking for players to compete in a tournament that would ultimately prove to be a selection process for the national team. “Like now, there weren’t any women’s clubs in Libya so the federation wanted help from the schools to find players,” she recalls. “Those of us who were lucky enough to make it started training and then we eventually had the chance to play in the [Afcon] qualifying matches against Egypt and Ethiopia.” At that time, the LFF was looking to build the women’s game from the top down, rather than the ground up. It started by creating the national team and then began to recruit younger players for age group sides. It was at this stage that Elghorour was approached to do her coaching badges; she became the first woman in Libya to have a coaching qualification, with a view to working with Libya’s Under-20 side alongside her duties as a senior player. “It was a great time to be in Libya; parents were being encouraged to get their girls to play football and we hosted several tournaments. I was so happy to be a role model and to be involved in building the sport.” Sadly it proved a false dawn and, in 2019, Elghorour and her teammates had their international football dreams extinguished. Discussions about launching a domestic women’s football league in Libya were also shelved. Wanting to further both her football experience and education, Elghorour moved to the United States, where she studied at university in Arizona and New York. While at Niagara University in the latter, she joined the staff of FC Buffalo working in the club’s administrative team. It was a decision that set her on a new path. Elghorour became the first Libyan to enroll in the Fifa Master’s programme and after graduating last year joined the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as an assistant general coordinator. Her current role focusses on delivering the CAF Women’s Champions League. “It has been great to see this amazing women’s tournament get stronger each year but at the same time I am sad that there are no Libyan teams participating,” Elghorour says. “We still don’t have a women’s league, which is a requirement to take part in CAF competitions. “In other countries you can see women’s football is growing but Libya is still way behind. I want to do whatever I can to help this but it is difficult.” Elghorour wants the LFF to create a women’s football department but has continually faced resistance. Aside from a single board member, there is no other female representation at the federation. “I passionately want to be a board member but for some reason they do not want me to be involved,” Elghorour explains. “I am begging the federation to let me come in to work on women’s football but I have had no success so far.” With no clubs, no national team and no dedicated female facilities, Elghorour has a mountain to climb. She recognises the gravity of the challenge ahead. “If we want to enhance women's sport in Libya, we have to enhance the organisations first,” Elghorour says. “We have women in politics and we have women in business but for some reason women in sport is just not accepted in the same way in Libya. “There has to be a change in culture in Libyan society to accept this. The first step is for women to have better opportunities to play sport. If we want to fix it, we need to fix it from the ground. Let us also have women on the boards, women employed by clubs.” Despite the myriad challenges, Elghorour still believes that the resumption – and future growth – of women’s football in Libya is an achievable goal. “It is going to take time. I think that we could resume the national team within four years but to build a properly functioning women’s league could be more like 10,” she says. “Could we have a Libya national team competing at the Africa Cup of Nations or Women’s World Cup in my lifetime? Right now it feels impossible, but of course I will continue to fight for this.”

'There has to be a change': Libya’s first female coach Rasha Elghorour dreams of women’s football return

With no clubs, no national team and no dedicated female facilities in Libya, former striker faces an uphill battle to get girls involved in football