BEEVRLY HILLS, April 14, (THEWILL) – The female football team of the South American nation of Chile, on Tuesday, clinched the final ticket for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020. They qualified with a 2-1 aggregate victory over the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon in their two-legged intercontinental play-off fixtures.
The immensely significant achievement was not lost on the Chileans as they celebrated their feat for women’s football in their country on the occasion of their first ever entry into the football event at the Olympics in the nation’s history.
Their qualification is a step of progress after their first appearance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France. They may have failed to progress past the group stage in France, but La Roja did claim a historic first victory when they defeated Thailand 2-0 at the world cup.
The Indomitable Lionesses were largely kept at bay for long periods by the Jose Letelier ladies, who put in a solid, defensive performance after they won the first leg 2-1 away from home.
Talking of their achievement after the match Chile captain and goalkeeper Christiane Endler said: “We are super proud to be the first Chilean women’s team to qualify for the Olympics. This can be a precedent for other teams to work as well as we did.
“We are showing that Chilean women are strong, capable, athletic and can achieve everything they set out to do.”
La Roja earned their place in the CAF-CONMEBOL play-off by finishing as runners-up at the 2018 Copa America Femenina, where they lost out to Pia Sundhage’s Brazil, who claimed their seventh continental title, to establish their CONMEBOL dominance.
Earlier in the day as well, China PR secured their ticket with a dramatic victory over Korea Republic after extra time.
It means the 12 teams for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament are officially confirmed: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China PR, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, USA and Zambia.
All that is left now are the draws for the Olympic Football Tournaments which are set for the Home of FIFA in Zurich on Wednesday, April 21 at 10:00 CET. The two draws will be streamed live on the FIFA YouTube channel to allow all participants to follow proceedings from their home countries live.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
