SCORELINE SHOCK BFA insists ongoing results are lessons, not failures
As debate rages across social media platforms over the credibility of the National Women’s League following lopsided scorelines of 42-0 and 23-0, Pula24 approached the Botswana Football Association to capture their perspective. Here, journalist JOE-BROWN TLHASELO reflects on the matter following the BFA CEO’s input.
The National Women’s League in Botswana is still unfolding, but already it has become one of the most talked-about competitions in the country’s sporting landscape. The unusually high scorelines of 42–0, 23–0 and others have drawn sharp reactions from various stakeholders of the game, among them sports commentators who worry about the credibility of the league.
Yet, for the Botswana Football Association (BFA), these results are not a crisis but rather the evidence they were looking for. BFA CEO Mfolo Mfolo has been clear, saying that Season 1 of this league was never meant to be about perfection, it was about establishing facts. And those facts, however uncomfortable, are now informing football authorities towards shaping the future of women’s football in the country.
The league was born out of a 2023 commitment under the FIFA Forward Programme, a deliberate step to move women’s football from occasional tournaments into a structured national system. For years, women’s football in Botswana had been played in pockets of regional leagues here, championships there, but never with the consistency or national reach that could sustain growth.
The BFA decided to start, even knowing imbalance was possible, because waiting for ideal conditions would have meant sidelining regions and stalling progress. Inclusivity was the guiding principle, and so every region was given a chance to compete. That decision explains why the competition has produced such uneven results: some clubs are stacked with national team players, while others are still building basic structures.
The most extreme scorelines have come from Gaborone United, a team whose roster includes up to ten players who featured at the last Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. When such experience meets developing sides, the gulf is exposed. But Mfolo points out that when other teams face each other, results are far more balanced, suggesting the league is not uniformly uncompetitive. In fact, the downward trend in margins, from 42–0 to 13–0, shows that competitive balance can improve once the gaps are identified and addressed. The BFA sees this as proof that the model of “learn by doing” is working.
Still, the concerns are real, because heavy defeats can dent confidence, discourage players, and weaken the marketability of the competition. Sponsors want credibility, fans want excitement, and elite clubs want fixtures that sharpen their players for continental competition. Mfolo acknowledges all of this, but insists that the ongoing season is already providing the evidence needed to refine the structure. The BFA is preparing reforms that will tighten entry standards, provide targeted technical support, and invest in infrastructure where regions are lagging. Coaching clinics and mentorship programmes will be tailored to specific needs rather than delivered as generic workshops, while a National Football Curriculum and Long-Term Athlete Development plan will standardise how players are trained and progressed from grassroots to elite level.
Some of the elite clubs in local football have voiced concerns that the current format slows player growth, since not every fixture provides the intensity required for CAF competitions. Mfolo does not dismiss this, but frames it as part of the balancing act between inclusivity and competitiveness. The league must serve both ends, he says, which entails widening the base while sharpening the top. That is why tiered competitions and promotion-relegation are being considered, but only in the right sequence. Introducing them too early could collapse participation in weaker regions, which would undermine the very inclusivity the league was built on, Mfolo added.
From a broader perspective, the BFA’s approach reflects a national philosophy of decentralisation. Just as government policy aims to spread resources and opportunities across regions, the league is designed to give every community a stake in women’s football. The short-term pain of lopsided scorelines is the price of long-term inclusivity. The alternative, which involves excluding regions until they are “good enough,” would have meant denying them the chance to grow through competition. In that sense, the league is not failing; it is exposing the reality of uneven development, and doing so in a way that allows targeted solutions.
For fans and other key stakeholders, credibility remains the biggest concern. Mfolo’s response is that transparency and evidence-led reform will build confidence. Season 1 is still ongoing, and the BFA is communicating openly about what the results mean and how they will guide change. Sponsors, he argues, invest in a product that shows measurable progress, and the league is already demonstrating that it is being managed deliberately rather than emotionally. The promise is that Season 2 will be stronger, more competitive, and more credible, because it will be built on the lessons of Season 1.
According to the BFA top man, the long-term vision is ambitious: a nationwide women’s football system that is inclusive, competitive, commercially viable, and capable of producing players who can compete at the highest level. The ultimate target is to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2031. That may sound distant, but in football terms it is just around the corner, and the work must begin now. Yet the BFA believes that the ongoing league, with all its imperfections, is only the foundation. Every fixture adds to the evidence, every scoreline shapes the blueprint, and every region remains part of the journey.
In the end, the National Women’s League should not be defined by its extreme results, but by its purpose. It was started to establish facts, and those facts are now guiding reforms that will make the competition stronger season by season. For the BFA, the heavy defeats are not failures, they are lessons. And for Botswana, they may yet prove to be the painful but necessary first steps toward a future where women’s football is both inclusive and truly competitive.
