ISLAMABAD: Cheers echoed amid a dash of colour at the newly-constructed Jinnah Stadium Futsal Fields as the inaugural SHE League kicked off on Saturday evening, marking the revival of domestic competition for girls and women footballers in the country.
Being played in a five-a-side format across two age brackets, the SHE League is seeing participation from under-23 players while the SHE League Juniors has under-14 players — the competitions aimed at identifying and developing emerging talent ahead of international youth competitions, particularly next year’s FIFA U-15 Girls’ World Cup & Festival.
The competitive spirit was on display as the Islamabad leg began with Midfield FC edging Vibrant FC 5-4 in the Juniors’ opener before Football Factory overcame Hunza City 4-3 in the second match of the seniors.
The other two matches were one-sided with Islamabad City running out 10-3 winners over Strikers in the seniors and Strikers beating Blue Jays 8-1 in the juniors.
Nataliya, Amna and Jumaima scored twice each in Strikers’ big win over Blue Jays while the more evenly-contested match earlier saw four players register braces. Zainab and Haya got two each for Midfield while Enaya and Samar matched them for Vibrant.
Pakistan international futsal player Alina Isphahani scored four times in Islamabad City’s dominant victory which also saw braces for Fatima and Mariyum. Aaminah was the standout player with a hat-trick to help Football Factory get three points.
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