CBF regulates mixed football for base and adult amateur competitions

From now on, mixed football, played by women and men, will be regulated by the CBF. This Wednesday, the entity made the practice official with athletes of both genders on the same field. The measure is valid for the base and adult amateur championships.

The regulation says that female athletes will be able to be part of men’s teams and that exclusively female teams will be able to participate in men’s competitions. The women’s tournaments will remain exclusively for women and girls.

It is not, however, an obligation. Adhering to mixed football will be at the discretion of each federation or organizing entity. The idea is to stimulate the initiation of players who fall below the sub-17 category. They suffer from the lack of competitions and, consequently, of teams.

– With this change, we intend to democratize and spread the practice of football by athletes, removing barriers to the emergence and development of new talents. The CBF has invested heavily in high-performance women’s teams and competitions, which today have a calendar of national competitions starting at the under-17 category. The top of the pyramid is relatively well structured, but based on a fragile base – said the President of the CBF, Ednaldo Rodrigues.

Until then, girls could only act alongside boys as children. From under-14 onwards, when differences in strength arise in each one’s body, they could not continue acting together. Without female teams at that age in the vast majority of clubs, talent was lost.

– It is important to highlight that mixed football works with massification and inclusion. There is a lack of teams and, above all, amateur competitions at the local and regional level in the first categories of initiation and sports training, such as under-10, under-12, under-14. I firmly believe that regulating co-ed football will help to correct this problem by encouraging thousands of players to participate in co-ed teams and competitions. Over time, the increase in the number of registered athletes could also lead to the creation of all-female teams and competitions in the younger categories.

To deal with differences in physical strength between men and women, the CBF announced the Mixed Football Age Exemption Mechanism. This means that female athletes and teams in a certain category will be able to participate in mixed competitions in a lower age group. For example, girls aged up to 17 years old (Under 17) may be allowed to participate in mixed competitions with boys aged up to 13 years old (Under 13). This rule applies only to training. That is: it does not include adult amateur competitions.

CBF studies creating under-15 selection

The Presidential Resolution that regulates mixed football was signed this Wednesday, March 8, International Women’s Day. Other measures aimed at strengthening the female base should be announced shortly. The CBF is also studying the creation of the under-15 women’s team (today, there are under-17, under-20 and adult teams).

In addition, the entity will support the creation of women’s grassroots championships in the states. She studies which federations will receive financial incentives to organize tournaments. The objective is to invest in those that have more difficulties to do so.