In Guinea, young women are empowered through football

In the still dark sky of Conakry, the moon shines like a golden ball. It is 5:30 a.m., the Guinean capital is waking up. This October 17, 2022, the windows of the dormitories of the Nongo Football Academy light up one by one. Fifty boys and twenty-five girls, aged 12 to 20, put on their jerseys and shorts, ready for a morning jog. Whistle of coach Matenin Camara. “You make me five round trips from one goal to another, uphill knees,” she says in sousu, the national language. The pace picks up, the crampons sink into the damp grass of a brand new stadium. At 6 a.m., training comes to an end. Direction the toilets, then the refectory for breakfast. “It’s a chance to be here. My life might not be the same if I had stayed in the village…”, says M’mahawa Dramé, before leaving for high school.