Werribee City FC and Wyndham City Council ready for Moroccan World Cup flavour

Staff Writer
Morocco Women's National Team
Image credit: FIFA

With the Women’s World Cup set to begin in just under 60 days’ time – areas and local clubs all around Australia and New Zealand are set to benefit from the monumental event.

Based in Werribee, Melbourne – the Moroccan Women’s National Football Team have selected Galvin Park Reserve as their training base for the upcoming Women’s World Cup.

Werribee City FC, who play their home games at Galvin Park Reserve, are already reaping the rewards of this outcome.

FIFA have invested $227,000 into the precinct, installing international standard LED Lighting on the main pitch as a part of the FIFA Training Site Infrastructure Grant program.

The club is thrilled to host the Moroccan side at their home ground and the Werribee area as a whole.

The Moroccan players are set to reside at Lancemore Mansion Hotel Werribee Park for their time in Melbourne.

“WCFC will be welcoming Morocco’s National Women’s Football team (Atlas Lionesses) where they will make their World Cup Debut,” a club statement read.

“The Atlas Lionesses will train at our fantastic venue while they prepare for and compete in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

“This is an amazing opportunity for our entire club and all of our participants and the broader football community in Wyndham as we get to play an important part in a Football World Cup, one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

“Further to this, as part of the training base selection, FIFA have invested approximately $230,000 to install international standard lighting to our main pitch No.1 – with the new lighting enabling WCFC to play senior and U21 night matches.

“Congratulations to all involved and a huge thank you to everyone at Wyndham City Council who drove the entire process and provided WCFC with this fantastic opportunity.”

Wyndham City Council have recently completed a $3.8 million redevelopment of the pavilion at Galvin Park in 2021, which has left a lasting legacy for the local community there.

Wyndham City Mayor Cr Susan McIntyre expressed her delight for the Moroccan Women’s National Football Team to be based in the council area and claimed Wyndham itself is a made up of a “World Cup” type of community.

“We look forward to cheering the Morocco women’s national football team on, during the largest women’s sporting event on the planet, that showcases our region on a global stage,” she said.

“Our city is vibrant and diverse with more than 50 per cent of our residents born overseas coming from more than 160 different countries, we’re passionate about football and have the honour of being called home by Australia’s newest A-League Club, Western United FC.

“We are incredibly excited to inspire the next wave of spirited girls and boys who will commence their football journey across our nine community football clubs.”

Wyndham City’s Active City portfolio holder, Cr Peter Maynard, stated he was looking forward to the Moroccan Women’s national football team’s arrival in the coming days.

“It’s another milestone for football in Wyndham and marks an exciting year ahead, with the Regional Football Facility also on track for delivery later in 2023, further positioning Wyndham as the home of football in the west,” he said.

Western United is confident they will move into the Regional Football Facility out in Tarneit by July/August and begin to play A-League Women home matches out of their 5000-capacity training stadium by later in the year.

“Our city has much to offer visitors, located 30 minutes from the Melbourne CBD (with direct freeway access), Werribee is surrounded by natural beauty, with a stunning river, wetlands and coastal regions to explore and a cosmopolitan dining scene,” they said.

“Players, officials and fans will have the opportunity to explore our major attractions, including Werribee Park Mansion and the Werribee Open Range Zoo. that features many of Australia’s native animals.”

Morocco will be playing in their first ever Women’s World Cup later this year, playing games in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth against Germany, South Korea and Colombia.

A full list of the 32 Teams and their Team Base camps can be viewed here.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will run from July 20 – August 20.

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Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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