The eight teams from the interior leagues that were going to compete in the final phase of the Federal Cup had been confirmed, but a change in the organization and everything went backwards.
The Federal Cup is the tournament that offers the most opportunities to teams from the interior of the country in women's soccer in Argentina, however the organization decided to make an important change for the next edition and it will no longer be so federal: if it is held, it will be played only with the eight classified teams from the First Division.
Read also: Reduced Primera C Femenina: results of the semis and fixtures of the final
First, let's review. The competition was created in 2019 with the help of semi-professionalization and consists of two instances: the Federal Regional Tournament Cup, where the 124 teams from the 66 inland leagues affiliated with the Federal Football Council are divided into zones. Argentine, and the final phase, where the qualifiers from the first half face the qualifiers from the First Division Tournament.
In the first instance, the teams from the northern, central, northern coast, southern coast, northern Buenos Aires, southern Buenos Aires and Patagonia regions play round-trip matches and whoever wins the zone has a historic opportunity: to access the final phase of the Federal Cup, where those teams from the interior of the country, generally neighborhood clubs that participate in amateur leagues, will compete against one of the first eight teams in the AFA top category.
However, this year things will be different. A document was circulated among the Development area of the Federal Council of the AFA in which it is communicated that the Final Phase of the Federal Cup will not be played, so the interior teams will not meet those of the First Division Tournament.
In recent weekends, some crosses were made such as Atlético Tucumán against Central Córdoba, Antonio Franco's Guaraní against Santa María de Concordia, Independiente Rivadavia against Pacífico, Somisa against Juventud Unida, and from there the winning team of the Federal Cup would emerge.
Mariela Camio is a physical education teacher and technical director of Juventud Unida de Tandil. In dialogue with FutFemGol, the coach said that they found out about this decision through a note they sent to the Tandilense league on October 29.
"It was a great disappointment, for the girls and for us as a club. We signed up for a tournament where the playing conditions were different and along the way they changed the rules of the game," he explained. Camio also emphasized the enthusiasm of the players, the families and the enormous effort they made to pay for trips along the way:“Today we decided to continue playing the tournament with its modifications because we value the sporting merit of the girls, but it is hard to face it when the conditions were not as planned.”
Although the coordination was between the AFA and the Federal Council, this Cup was financed by the FIFA Forward program, which provided comprehensive and individualized development assistance to the six member confederations. This year, that program ceased to exist and, given this situation, no way was sought to obtain the funds to support a fundamental competition for all women's teams, especially for those of the Federal Council, who found in this competition the possibility of competing against First Division teams, something that added to sporting growth and visibility.