Courtesy: Jordan Times


Jordan plays Bahrain in West Asian Women’s Futsal semis

Kingdom highest FIFA ranked Arab team

by Aline Bannayan

Apr 10,2012

AMMAN — Jordan’s women’s national football team hosts Bahrain today as titleholders Iran plays Lebanon in the semis of the 2nd West Asian Women’s Indoor Futsal Championship in Manama, Bahrain.

Jordan took top spot in Group B with 6 points from three matches after they beat Qatar 20-0 and Lebanon 4-2 before they lost 3-2 to Palestine.

The Kingdom’s team led Lebanon and Palestine on goal difference as Qatar finished bottom of the group. Other Group B matches saw Lebanon defeat Qatar 19-0, as Palestine beat Qatar 9-0 and lost to Lebanon 5-2.

In Group A, Iran took top spot after beating Bahrain 6-0 and Iraq 13-0 to finish with 6 points from two matches, while Bahrain took second place with 3 points after beating Iraq 8-2 as the latter finished with no points.

Jordan finished runner-up to Iran in the first edition of the event. Last year, Jordan came in fourth at the 4th West Asian Women’s Football Championship in Abu Dhabi, UAE, after winning the first two editions in 2005 and 2007 and conceding the 2010 title to the UAE.

Jordan is now 59th in FIFA Women’s Ranking — the highest ranked Arab team — and leads Bahrain (72), Morocco (73) and Tunisia (77). In 2011, the women’s team exited Round 2 qualifiers of the 2012 Olympics after losing all qualifying matches.

Jordanian women’s football has steadily gained popularity and made its mark on the Asian scene. In 2005, Jordan was the first Arab team to qualify for the 3rd Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Women’s Championship finals. In 2006 and 2008 they were eliminated from the qualifiers. The national team was the sole Arab side at the 2006 Doha Asian Games and won silver at the 3rd Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam in 2009.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com