Women's Football Academy 2018

Women*’s Football Academy 2018

Beginning with May 5th, Chrząszczyki Sports Club invites women to attend free football practice at the Women*’s Football Academy.

The Women*’s Football Academy is the first Polish intergenerational football project for women and girls. Weekly free practice is open to all women* and girls irrespective of the level of skill, age,background,language, ability, sexual preference and identification. Yes: every cis and trans woman can participate in our football practice and we also invite non-binary persons and transmen.

We created the Academy because in Poland sport—and particularly football—is still the domain of heterosexual cis-men, preferably white and Polish. As women we experience exclusion from football on every level. The cultural and institutional barriers turn football into a forbidden discipline for us. We hear discriminatory language from all quarters: from the tweets by the President of the Polish Football Association who won’t “talk to a broad about football,” through offensive comments by male players at the school or district field, to the patronizing treatment by coaches and activists who refer to us as “girls,” and that despite the fact that we have been playing for many years now, all the way to media of all kinds that repeat the well-worn jokes about offside, perpetuating the stereotype that women don’t know football, to the omnipresent homophobia and transphobia. Those barriers multiply for women from other countries and other cultures, women who don’t speak Polish, and those who represent various skill levels, and non-binary and trans persons. As a consequence of such football culture many people don’t play football because they don’t have access to it: there are no places to practice for first-time players, no places to improve one’s skills, to play freely, non-competitively, for pleasure and without barriers, to enjoy one’s football adventure.

Women*’s Football Academy wants to address these needs. We want to create a space in football for persons who are excluded from existing structures (for example from academies at schools and football clubs).

We have organized the Academy in 2012. It is called the Women*’s Football Academy because what sparked the project was the need of a group of women who felt excluded from the game. But the project is not about women as such, rather, about the exclusion from sport experienced by a variety of persons, as the source of the exclusion is always the same.

There are no special requirements: each cis and trans woman can join and we also welcome non-binary persons and transmen. The only condition is minimum age: for the safety of all participants we invite women and girls 15+. All one needs is comfortable (sport) clothing and indoor football shoes or trainers/sneakers and a positive attitude:) We provide care for small children. The language of the participants also does not matter: on the football field we all speak the same language!

The practice is open and free. There is no need to sign up and it is possible to join at any time.

When: (almost) all Saturdays, beginning with May 5:

May 5 (3pm-4:30pm)
May 19 (3pm-4:30pm)

May 26 (8:30pm-10pm)

June 2 (3pm-4:30pm)

June 9 (3pm-4:30pm)

June 16 (3pm-4:30pm)

June 23 (3pm-4:30pm)

June 30 (3pm-4:30pm)

Where: OSiR Śródmieście sports center,ul. Polna 7A, Warsaw

The Women's Football Academy is organized thanks to the support of FARE Network.