The end of a taboo: These girls wrote the history of Albanian football!

The French media "Agence France Presse (AFP)" has dedicated an article to girls' football in Albania. In it, it is written about the difficulties of playing football in our country, the refereeing of matches by girls not only in the Albanian championship, but also in international challenges.

This can no longer be called a taboo, as great strides have been made in the promotion of women in football, where there are teams like Vllaznia that are record holders.

AFP ARTICLE:

Emanuela Rusta defied all the clichés to become, with the great strength of her determination, the first woman to referee the Albanian Championship, a feat in the Balkan country where the ancestral patriarchy has begun to give way.

"You have to fight to be accepted," the 29-year-old referee, a FIFA international since 2019, told AFP. "You have to break the glass ceiling."

In Albania, football is a national passion, but its female version is in its infancy, with almost two decades of existence: the Albanian Federation (FFA) lists only 2,000 women among its licensees, for 22,000 men.

In the morning, Emanuela Rusta works as a physical education teacher at the high school in Elbasan, her hometown in the center of a country where it is difficult to live only from sports. In the afternoon, she trains with male colleagues.

"To make good decisions, you need to know the rules perfectly, but also have an excellent physical condition and a great ability to concentrate", explains the young woman who lives with her mother in an apartment small one filled with medals that prove its success.

It's not easy to break the shackles of gender stereotypes when the local media is making headlines about the "sexy referee who turns up the heat."

In this country of 2.8 million people, long cut off from the world by a communist dictatorship, many women are kept in a role of subservience and economic dependence.

- "I suffered" -

But, in recent years, the rights of women, especially the more educated ones, have marked progress. They are more numerous in positions of responsibility, magistrates, university rectors, ministers: the Albanian government consists of 70% women.

Refereeing "is not a matter of gender, but of ability", insists Emanuela Rusta, who has taken charge of a dozen international matches in Europe.

His ambition is to referee men's World Cup matches, as France's Stéphanie Frappart recently did, a first for a referee, in Qatar.

Meanwhile, she hopes to find herself on the whistle for the Albanian football derby still tainted by the tensions between Tirana and Partizan.

While disparaging comments sometimes erupt from the bleachers, some believe women are better equipped to keep a cool head: "A female referee eases tensions," judges Andi Vrecani, an observer of Albanian football. "It creates a climate of trust because there is more distance."

The women's team of Vllaznia, in Shkodër (north), was born in 2009, but has already won the title of champion of Albania and has faced Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG in the group stage of the Champions League 2022-23.

"The key to success lies in these girls" who have "managed to break the prejudice (...) that football is only a male sport", said club president Lazër Matija.

Among the players of Vllaznia, Megi Doçi. Originally from a very poor village in the north of Albania, the 26-year-old striker took up football against her mother's wishes, before heading to Tirana at the age of 12 to pursue her passion. .

Things were not easy, she admits: "I fell, I suffered, I cried, I had to swallow my tears, but, every time, I chose to get up and recover. I beat myself up."

- "Një çështje zemre" -

Ambicia e saj nuk ndalet këtu: ajo ëndërron të luajë për Bayern Munich ose Real Madrid.

Ajo stërvit katër orë në ditë me burra. “Është sfidë, peshën e këtij mentaliteti e ndjejmë gjithmonë prezente, sepse nuk janë mësuar të shohin një vajzë duke luajtur”, rrëfen ajo.

Të paktë janë ata që besojnë se një lojtare mund të jetë nënë, si Ardiola Raxhimi, 24 vjeçe, portierja e Vllaznisë.

i cili tani drejton një sallon flokësh për burra.

Armand Duka siguron se “futbolli i femrave është prioriteti” i FFA-së që ai drejton: “Pak vite më parë futbolli i femrave ishte thuajse një tabu sepse konsiderohej si sport mashkullor. Ne e fituam këtë betejë”.

But he admits that equality is not for tomorrow: players receive a salary of 400 euros, half that of men and of the 17 million euros of the FFA budget, only 3.4 million goes to the teams. feminine.

"I never wanted to decide between my career and my personal life, I always wanted to be happy in both", explains this mother of a two-year-old son she had with Muhameti, a former player.

"Football is not a matter of money, but of love and heart", begins Megi Doçi.