The forward believes it is possible to form female sides and emulate other clubs in the world
Harambee Starlets forward Esse Akida has challenged top Kenyan Premier League (KPL) teams to form women’s teams.
At the beginning of July, Real Madrid completed the formalities necessary to absorb Deportivo Tacon into the club, meaning that from 2020-21 onwards the Merengue will field their first-ever side in the women’s Primera Division.
The likes of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Valencia have long since incorporated the women’s game within their supported sporting activities, with the former founding Club Femeni Barcelona as early as 1988, the year that Spain introduced a women’s competition.
The 27-year-old Besiktas J.K player has now challenged Kenyan teams to emulate the Spanish giants by having women’s teams.
“Real Madrid official women’s team is finally out,” Akida posted on her official Facebook page.
“The team was just formed months ago. Hi Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards, Bandari FC and everyone back at home, can we have this soon down there, please.
“It is possible. Very possible. Give it a try.”
Currently, no top tier team in the country has a women’s team despite Kenya having an active Women Premier League (WPL).
The Moving the Goalposts (MTG) Academy graduate has been a key figure for the Kenya women’s team before being controversially left out for recent assignments.
She previously played for Spedag and Thika Queens before moving to Israel in 2018, where she turned out for FC Ramat HaSharon until 2019 when she joined Turkish side Besiktas.
Akida was part of Harambee Starlets team that qualified for the 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations (Awcon) held in Cameroon.
The East Africa nation was pooled in Group B alongside Nigeria, Ghana and Mali.
The first match was against the Black Queens and Akida opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, but the West Africans came back stronger after the break and scored three goals courtesy of Samira Suleman, Elizabeth Addo and Portia Boakye.
The second game was against Mali and Kenya, once again, fell by the margin.
The final Group B match was against eventual competition winners Nigeria where Kenya fell 4-0.
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