Football Mixed-feelings as coach Chua bids farewell to Fifa-ranked Seychelles team |11 February 2023
After two years in charge of the Seychelles women’s national selection, Singaporean coach Angeline Chua Ki Yi had bid farewell to the selection which she lead to achieve its first ever Fédération Internationale de Football Association ranking.
Coach Chua was saluted and thanked for leading Seychelles towards the achievement yesterday, during a special ceremony held at Maison Football, Roche Caïman, in the presence of the vice-president of the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) Dolor Ernesta, chief executive Dennis Rose, and SFF executive committee member responsible for women’s football Shella Mohideen.
Seychelles is presently ranked 165th overall on 884.64 points, one spot above Niger who is 166th overall on 887.93 points, and one spot below 164th placed Liberia who have 891.31 points.
Within the Indian Ocean region, Seychelles is the highest-ranked country, with the Comoros being 182nd overall on 724.52 points, while Madagascar is 183 rd on 691.00 points.
Mauritius is presently occupying the 187th spot on 362.92 points.
Both Mr Ernesta and Mrs Mohideen described coach Chua’s achievement with the Seychelles selection a stepping stone for future success.
They described her as one of our own who has worked with passion, devotion, along with strong commitment to put Seychelles on the world women’s football map.
Despite the fact that she will be missed by the local football community, coach Chua has already carved her name in local women’s football history, while touching the heart of many young girls and women, boosting and developing their passion for football, thus paving up the way for the future of the sport.
To be ranked on the Fifa list, the team have to play a minimum of six international matches and in Singapore, the Seychelles’ women, representing the Confederation of African Football (Caf), will be playing their sixth international match with the home side Singapore representing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and their seventh game against Papua New Guinea representing the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).
In their first outing in September 2021 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Seychelles’ women’s football selection under the guidance of head coach, a former Singapore international player, played two friendly matches in Dubai against the UAE women’s national team who were preparing for the Asian Women’s Cup qualifiers. The Seychelles team lost both matches on 1-4 and 0-4 scores.
The second outing for the Seychelles’ women’s football team was in the Maldives for a three-nation tournament held in February 2022.
They lost the first match 0-1 against the home side before winning against the same team on a 4-0 score. In their third match, they lost 0-2 to the Saudi Arabia who were making their international debut.
In its other outing last year, Seychelles played at the FAS Tri-Nations Series 2022 (Women’s) tournament at the Jalan Besar Stadium, earning the Fifa ranking.
Still during yesterday’s ceremony, representing all players, captain Pascalina Moustache was presented with their jerseys worn during their Fifa ranking quest, while Mr Enesta was presented with framed photograph of the national selection who achieved the feat under coach Chua.
Seychelles women’s football under Angeline Chua
As well as leading training on the pitch, the former Singapore midfielder is also working hard to develop and implement a long-term strategic plan for women’s and girls’ football.
Her aim was to take a holistic approach to optimise the team’s performance and share fundamental footballing knowledge.
In an interview with Fifa after earning the ranking with seychelles, coach Chua noted that the visibility the women’s Ranking gives a small country like Seychelles is what makes it so important.
She said more visibility means more attention, while it gives players the opportunity to test themselves against the world’s best, stepping onto the international stage also allows them to appreciate their own talent.
"Football is for everyone and gives everyone a chance to showcase their talent", said coach who further added that it does not matter where you come from, whether it is a small country or a big one – everyone should have an equal chance to succeed.
"Consistency is the most important part, while our long-term strategy is to build a successful national team, increase visibility and create a positive image for women’s football. It isn’t yet standard practice for someone to be viewed positively if they play football. Women who play football still face some stereotypes”, she added.
The experience Chua gained as a player and coach in the Women’s Assistance Programme (WAP) run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has help her to implement this strategy.
Women's football is represented in the local federation by specific mandate and currently they have one full-time employee to look after the women's game.
In 1985, almost no country in the world had a women's national football team including Seychelles who did not play in a single Fifa sanctioned match between 1950 and June 2012.
In 2006, the country did not have an official Fifa recognised senior A team, a situation unchanged by 2009.
In 2005, Seychelles competed in a three nation tournament hosted by Mauritius, where all games were 80 minutes in length.
They lost to Mauritius 1–4 and also to Réunion 0–9.
Overall, they finished last, scoring only one goal in the competition.
In 2005, Zambia was supposed to host a regional Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) women's football tournament, with ten teams agreeing to send teams including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. Seychelles did not record a match in the event.
The country did not have a team competing in the 2010 African Women's Championship, or at the 2011 All Africa Games.
By March 2012, the team was not ranked in the world by Fifa due to inactivity.
