“I’ve always fought for just causes, and I will continue to fight for equal rights, particularly for women and young people.” Words like these have a special resonance on 8 March 2025, International Women’s Day. This quote was given to Inside FIFA by Oumou Kane, Director of the Department of Women’s Football within the Mauritanian Football Association (FFRIM), at the opening ceremony for the FIFA Talent Academy Mauritania, held on 26 February in Nouakchott. And if her words resonate, so too do her actions.

Kane first encountered discrimination early in her life. “As a child, I was given the opportunity to go to school, which was not something that everyone in my community had the chance to do,” she confides. “Many people, particularly women, thought that it wasn’t normal to allow a young girl to go to school. But I fought to break free from these constraints, to go and study and show young women that they have the power to be a voice for those who have none.”

One of Kane’s many achievements was setting up the Multicultural Association for a Better Future (AMAM) in 2011. This non-governmental organisation (NGO) advocates in favour of cultural exchange and aims to strengthen ties between peoples and cultures. In her role as president, she has made huge strides towards changing mindsets, albeit sometimes at great cost. Most notably, she found herself in hot water with her country’s judiciary in 2017 after organising a peaceful protest to demand better living conditions for marginalised young people.

“I was convinced that something needed to be done. Looking back, it was a battle worth fighting and a valuable experience. I felt that it was essential to do something,” she explains. Oumou Kane is courageous and knows how to shake things up. But she is also diplomatic and adept at breaking down barriers. That is why the Mauritanian Football Federation reached out to her in 2016.

“I’m familiar with the environment in which women live in Africa, I know all about the burden that is placed on them by tradition and by society. I have always campaigned for access to education, and for an end to early marriages for young girls. Allowing women to follow their passion in life is also an important issue for me. And football genuinely seems to be a powerful tool for all those women who want to escape from the challenges they face in their everyday lives,” she explains.

The progress made has been immense. Women’s football is growing fast in Mauritania, a country where the sport was long seen as an exclusively male activity. Under Kane's leadership, a women’s national team was even set up in 2019. The emotion felt by those involved is still palpable: “It was a historic moment for us. Some of the girls started playing football from a very early age and could only dream of representing their country one day,” she underlines. “The first match against Djibouti, in August 2019, remains etched in my memory: Seeing these young, wide-eyed girls taking to the pitch wearing the national shirt, cheered on by the crowd, was a wonderful moment to witness.”

The objective now is to join the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking, which Djibouti has recently entered for the first time. “That’s the aim. We are preparing for it with Jordi (Arimany), our team’s Spanish coach. Slowly but surely, we will get there. I am confident of that,” says Kane. “To make it a reality, we have done a lot of work to develop grassroots football, especially in the U-15 and U-17 categories. In the long run, this should have an impact on the senior team.”

FIFA has also played its part in this process with Mauritania being selected in 2023 to join a programme run by world football’s governing body and the French Development Agency (AFD). The initiative is aimed at setting up inclusive football academies in Africa, which also teach young people, and girls in particular, how to prepare for life away from the pitch. “The atmosphere there is truly wonderful. It’s been a year since the girls joined the centre, and they love it,” said a delighted Kane.

Incidentally, the Mauritanian also has personal experience of participating in a FIFA-approved programme a few years ago. She took part in the 2018 edition of the Women in Football Leadership programme, which aims to promote access for women to leadership positions in the world of football: “It was an amazing adventure,” she recalls, “It was the kind of experience that changes the way you view things and gives you the strength to believe in yourself.” Without doubt, this insight and confidence have helped Kane to win many of her battles, and there will certainly be more of those to come for her and Mauritania on the pitch.