BUENOS AIRES: The Argentine Football Association (AFA) announced the start of a professional league for women on Saturday and promised it would give women’s football more attention, with the creation of a high performance centre in Buenos Aires. The new league will begin in June with funding from the association, AFA president Claudio Tapia said. “This association has one promise, to improve football,” Tapia told reporters. “We are going to keep working to develop women’s football in all provinces. We are going to create a federal cup that will be called Football in Evolution that is going to be similar to the Argentine Cup. I hope that the coming tournament is the kick off for continued growth.” Tapia said the AFA would provide pitches for teams that do not have their own facilities and that it intends on creating a high performance centre in Buenos Aires. It has given teams 60 days to register at least eight players on professional contracts. The current semi-professional competition has 16 teams taking part. The AFA did not say how many teams would play in the new league. The announcement comes after a week of controversy for women’s football in the Americas. Colombian players accused officials of a series of discriminatory actions and of not arranging enough matches. At the same time, on International Women’s Day, 28 members of the United States squad filed suit against the U.S. Soccer Federation for better treatment and equal pay. Published in Daily Times, March 17th 2019.