Women's soccer in Benin is entering a new phase in its history, with a fourth consecutive season since 2020. While the practice is beginning to get organized, the phenomenon of over-naturalization of foreign players is dividing the players.
In Benin, the rules of the women's first division championship allow clubs to register 30 players, including a maximum of 6 foreigners, for the season. In the lower division, the Beninese Football Federation has banned the registration of foreign players.Of course, clubs have no shortage of ideas for getting around these provisions, for example by naturalizing foreign players, often from Ghana, Togo or Nigeria.
"This shows how easy it is for some managers to get their club to move up the ladder and position themselves better. They think that if six players are authorized, they can take ten and change their identity.You've got elite clubs that only use foreign players," says Guy Bewa, President of Flèche Noire, a club in the D2 division.
"I'm not against the integration of foreign players. But their number in each team is exorbitant. It's these foreigners who lose out, because there are several who have passports, but when they arrive in Benin, they say they don't have any papers, and we give them another," says Colombe, a former player with Phénix FC in Bohicon and a member of the staff of Espoir FC in D1. "Some clubs are made up entirely of foreigners. At what point do we promote our own and who will play, defend and invest in the country afterwards?" asks Antoinette Moreira, a promoter of women's soccer and organizer of the annual Trophée Milôkpéhou tournament in Benin.
"Beninese women are no longer promoted because the result is put above all else".
For the players, the presence of foreigners would pose no problem if and only if the Beninese were put forward by the clubs. This is a fact deplored by Emmanuel Houansou, coach of CEFOS. "Naturalization isn't bad in itself, it's the way it's done that needs to be reviewed.When the majority of a club's girls are foreigners and none of them are in the national eleven, it's no longer worthwhile.We don't promote Beninese girls any more, because we don't want to go down to the lower division," adds Figo Bonou, promoter of AS UMSA.
The phenomenon is on the increase in Benin, and pinpointing those responsible should enable all players to roll up their sleeves."For a game that has just taken off, can we find 30 quality Beninese players per club to make a good team in the second division? To completely ban the registration of foreign girls is a problem. The directors of the federation are the ones who write the laws and then trample them underfoot. Widening the number of foreigners eligible to join clubs should prevent clubs from cheating," says Célin Dossoumon, a sports reporter based in Parakou, in northern Benin, 413km from Cotonou.
However, there is no shortage of proposals to curb the practice of naturalization in Benin's women's leagues. The CEFOS coach wants "to limit the number of foreigners playing in D1 and D2.However, the under-20s should be allowed to play in D2, as some girls can make a comeback in D2.We need to organize D3 with the Beninese under-17s, and think about the under-15 championship," he adds.
Grassroots training, a weapon for change
Training raw talent appears to be the real solution. "The only thing that can fix this practice is working with the nursery. Take the UMSA team, for example, it's an example for me ( in Benin). If you go and find foreigners, there aren't many of them. If everyone could look at that, it would be good for the country", says Colombe. She is joined by Antoinette Moreira, President of the Association for the Development of Sport and the Arts in Benin. "The basis is the school championship that the Ministry has been organizing for several years now," she points out.
The challenge is to make club managers and players aware of the consequences of such a policy.
Beyond raising awareness, Guy Bewa, president of the first women's soccer club in Benin, Alliance fille, in 1974, believes that the sword of Damocles must be brandished over the heads of counterfeiters."At the federation, we need a mechanism to check that the rules have been followed.When we do that one season, the others will settle down. We've got to try and kick the anthill a bit."
The opinion is also shared by Marthe Gada, General Secretary of the Association of Former Women Footballers of Benin."We need to create a strict legal framework, a fact-finding mission to see if naturalization complies with standards.Sanction those who do so in an anarchic and illegal manner", she urges.
