Women’s Football League finally becomes a reality

The first-ever Women’s Football League, officially titled the 2025 Macau Football League Women’s Division, kicked off last week after years of calls for its establishment.

A long-standing ambition of football fans, particularly female fans, the recently inaugurated league is running in a short format with just four teams. Still, some of the most experienced players believe it can bring many benefits to the development of the sport, especially for the Macau National Team.

In an exclusive interview, the Times learned more about the league, its purposes, and ambitions from Sara Fonseca, captain of the Associação Desportiva e Recreativa Académica de Macau (ADRAM) and of the Macau Women’s National Team.

“This league was a long promise from years ago. We were told that it was being tried, and it’s great that it is now a reality, because we really miss playing,” Fonseca told the Times.

“When we go abroad with the national team, it’s the only time we get to play eleven-a-side football. Obviously, the girls from other places play a lot better than we do because here [in Macau] we only play futsal and small-sided games at Don Bosco, which are seven-a-side football [also known as Bolinha],” she remarked.

Sara Fonseca

While noting that the pitch at Don Bosco is not a bad facility, Fonseca said the space is not the same as an eleven-a-side pitch, which creates complications in positioning and strategy when playing full-size football.

“Now that the Macau Football Association (MFA) has started this league for women, it’s obviously much better. Besides, more players from mainland China and abroad have joined us, raising the level. This is particularly good for us in the national team,” she remarked.

Fonseca noted that it is not just the number of training sessions, but also the fact that they create more opportunities to compete, test skills, and improve players’ and the team’s performance. She said this will undoubtedly enhance the level of football in Macau.

“Whenever we trained for the national team, we were just training, without matches, not even friendlies, and when we did play, we usually played against men, which is not ideal as they have a different style, a different way of playing. They’ve been playing for a long time, and we’re still in the early stages,” she remarked, noting that between crucial competitions, there are mostly training sessions and not matches.

“We do not have a lot of competitions, so, let’s say, if we know that we will have the Asian Cup in six months, we will be spending five months training for that competition, but without any matches.”

With the new league, Fonseca believes that these past issues will be alleviated and that it will become progressively more competitive and attract more young players.

Questioned on her first impressions of the league, which held its Match Day 1 last weekend, Fonseca explained that the league games are different from national team games, with a slower pace that allows more time for players to adjust and learn.

“Comparing the games, obviously, the level is very different, a much slower pace in the league games. But it’s good for us to start learning. We managed to hold onto the ball a little longer and adjust more as we go forward. In the national team games, we are always under stress. We can’t even get the ball. The ball is often out of play,” she said.

“There is a lot of pressure to defend, and we rarely have opportunities to attack. We stay mostly on our half-side. In the league, there is a little more space and more time, and less pressure on the ball. This gives us more time to react, plan, and execute some plays we have been practicing,” Fonseca added.

Another advantage of the league, in Fonseca’s opinion, is that everyone knows each other, since there are not many local players. In her opinion, the way the league was negotiated among the different teams regarding player distribution was a positive factor, as it allows for more balanced competition, ensuring neither an extremely strong nor an extremely weak side.

She noted that most of the players who are distributed across four teams – ADRAM, Artilheiros, Hong Fong, and Sporting – come from different national teams, including the senior team, the Under-17, and even the Under-15.

Addressing the competition, Fonseca said that ADRAM is one of the stronger sides and will most likely battle Artilheiros for the first-ever Women’s Division Champion title.

During Match Day 1, ADRAM and Artilheiros opened the title battle in a match that ended in a 2-2 draw. In the other game, Hong Fong beat Sporting 3-0.

Table remains unchanged

Match Day 2 will continue today with a match between Artilheiros and Sporting at Lin Fong Stadium (8 p.m.), and tomorrow with the game between Hong Fong and ADRAM at University of Macau Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.