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Women football teams scale new height to fight inequality

Dubai - EPF - Equal Playing Field - is a group of women from all over the world who are attempting to set this world record for the highest football match ever played.

As you read this, a group of women are already climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to achieve a great feat at 19,000 feet! Two all-women football teams - five players from the UAE, two of whom are members of the IFA league - will try to break the world record for the highest game of competitive football ever to highlight gender inequality in sport. They will scale the mountain and then play a 90-minute match on a football pitch built just below the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
IFA players from Dubai - Danielle Richards and Rajvi Ladha - said they feel honoured and humbled to be part of such a momentous initiative. "We believe that this trek can really make an impact on women and girls entering sport, and we feel lucky to be part of it. This is our chance to prove that women can rise to the same challenges as men, if we are just given equal opportunity." 
Talking about how they trained for the event, Danielle Richards said: "We are all active in football clubs in our home communities. In addition to the training this provides, we are following an altitude training plan that includes High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), weights, and steady state cardio."
The match will be played Saturday or Sunday, when the expedition reaches the 5,731 metres above sea level. 
EPF - Equal Playing Field - is a group of women from all over the world who are attempting to set this world record for the highest football match ever played. IFA Sport is supporting them as the local partner by running tournaments and clinics for girls and women across the UAE.
UAE soccer player Ravji Ladha, who played for Twiga Stars in 2006, said: "Women face many mountains every day just to play the game they love - whether grassroots level or elite. We want to challenge those stereotypes, so we'll break a football world record by showing that we can, and will overcome those mountains."
If the team succeeds, it will break the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude football game ever played. The players, from more than 19 countries, include Canadian national Sasha Andrews, former German World Cup star Petra Landers, Afghan national Hajar Abufazl, South African Portia Modise, former Fifa World Cup referee Jacqui Hurford (née Melksham) and pro players or competitive amateurs from Argentina, France, Egypt, Jordan, Mexico, the UK, the US and the UAE. The players, in the age group 18 to 66, embarked on the trip on June 15.
"Playing a football match at this altitude has never been done before. We want to break a record to inspire other women and girls to keep challenging the inequalities in sport," said Laura Youngson, EPF co-founder.
"Playing football should not have to be a dream. Sport brings up friendships and community, commitment and leadership, and strength and health. No girl should miss out on those benefits because of her gender," Youngson added. 
"The playing field is not equal. We want to use the climb to highlight the gender inequalities faced today by women in sport. Women have fewer opportunities to play sport, get paid less when they do, and don't get the same coverage or respect in the media. I don't want to be having this same discussion with my future children," she concluded.
saman@khaleejtimes.com