Burkina Faso will play in the Women's AFCON for the first time in its history. But the team is facing problems just a few days before the start of the tournament.
Burkina Faso's women's team were on cloud nine after qualifying for the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, a first for the country. The women's Etalons qualified with flying colors, beating Guinea-Bissau 6-0 in the first leg and 1-0 in the second. And in Morocco, Pascal de Sawadogo's girls are hoping to make a good impression.
But the Burkina Faso team is facing problems a few days before the start of the competition. The players are demanding their bonuses for qualification, regrouping and participation in the AFCON. The players have entered into a dispute with the country's Ministry of Sports. To ease tensions, the ministry decided to give each player 912.21 euros. That is 456 euros for the qualification bonus, 152 euros for the grouping bonus and 304 euros for the AFCON bonus. But the players rejected this offer as "very insignificant".
On Friday 24 June, the ministry made a new offer. And everything seems to be back in order or almost. It granted 760 euros more. And the teammates of Juliette Nana have accepted this offer. The women's Etalons can now focus on the AFCON.
However, the team does not have good conditions to prepare for the tournament. They are currently in a home training camp. And unlike the other teams, the Burkinabe selection has not played any friendly matches. However, it plans to do a training session in Tunisia before heading to Morocco.
Burkina Faso is in pool A and will face Morocco on 2 July, Senegal on 5 July and Uganda on 8 July. For their first participation, the women's Stallions hope to reach the second round.
