Moorosi Tsiane

SPORTS minister Mahali Phamotse will be one of the special guests at the Women’s World Cup to be staged from 7 June 7 July 2019 in France this year.

This was announced by the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) president, Salemane Phafane, during the A Division Top8 launch on Wednesday in Maseru.

The one-month long football extravaganza will see 24 countries from across the globe battling it out for the trophy. The African continent will be represented by South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Phafane said the invitation came after the visit by a top FIFA official to assess LeFA last month.

“We received a special guest from FIFA last month, who was here to assess us and after meeting our minister, he said he would extend a special invitation for her to attend this year’s edition of the Women’s World Cup and that promise has been fulfilled,” Phafane said.

The LeFA boss said his association was also named as one of the best federations in the world in terms of good governance.

“One of the indicators FIFA closely look at when they decided whether or not to continue funding a federation is good governance and we are proud to say that we have been named among the best federations worldwide when it comes to good governance.

“One of the things that the official said after assessing us is that LeFA is one of the most stable, one of most well run and best managed federations in the world. We are proud to be driving an accountable association,” Phafane said.

He also announced at the briefing that they have hired former Lesotho Times sports reporter, Mikia Kalati, as the LeFA Media and Information Officer.

“We are proud to announce that Kalati will assist the association with all media and information matters,” Phafane concluded.