There must be more investment in women’s football in the Vasa region. Therefore, the majority of associations are starting a collaboration and the whole thing will take place under the auspices of the Wasa Football Academy.
There has long been a demand for better cooperation among the football associations in the Vasa region. VPS, VPS juniorit, FC Sport, BK-48, Iskmo-Jungsund BK, FC Kuffen, Solf IK and Sundom IF now intend to create a joint player path in the Vasa region for girls’ and women’s football.
– Personally, I think it is a very interesting collaboration that we have going on. We are building our player path together with these other associations, states Christoffer Kloo, sports director at Wasa Football Academy.
Through this collaboration, 90 percent of the girls’ juniors in Vaasa and Korsholm are gathered under one roof, which creates the conditions for continuous play at league level in the older junior ages and, by extension, to lift a team to the National League.
– If you look at players who are currently out in Finland or Europe who come from this region, we would certainly have a great team in the national league, says Andreas Björk, chairman of Sundom IF’s football section.
– Good juniors come from here, but right now they have to leave the region to play at the highest level in Finland.
All associations continue to run their own activities in the younger ages, but in the B-juniors the goal is for a joint team under the WFA’s name to establish itself at league level.
Andreas Björk and Christoffer Kloo.
Image: Anna Ruda / Yle
Vasa
The goal a league team
When it comes to senior level, VPS FC Sports took over the league place in division 2 and the goal is to lift the team to the National League in the long term with mainly local players. Other associations’ senior teams operate at division 2 and 3 level.
The fact that VPS is also involved in the collaboration gives the investment a boost, Kloo believes.
– Above all, it means that a very strong association is coming in. They have a completely different economy than the other associations, plus they have been involved in building a strong league team.
– Now they have a goal of creating a league team also around women’s football. As we at the WFA never aimed to form a representative team, but we focus on developing good juniors, it is good to have that cooperation with them.
But according to Kloo, the goal is not to nurture only elite players.
– We reason that if you want to get good players, you have to have a lot of players. It is the breadth that makes the top, but for us at WFA it is very important to also take care of those who just want to play as a form of exercise.
– For this other part, if you want to call it the elite part, who want to invest and have goals and feel that football is one of the most important things in life, then this collaboration is very important. But I think all this will benefit others too, I think there are a lot of girls who think wow, I want to be a part of this too.
