Africa Sports News of Thursday, 17 September 2020

Source: bbc.com

Barbara Gonzalez: A football CEO changing perceptions

Barbara Gonzalez is the female CEO of a football club in Tanzania Barbara Gonzalez is the female CEO of a football club in Tanzania

Facing prejudice because of her age and gender is something Barbara Gonzalez has grown accustomed to since being appointed a board member of one of Africa's most followed football teams.

Last week, two years after taking her place on the board of Tanzanian champions Simba, the 30-year-old was made the first female CEO of any football club in the country.

Ultimately, the club's estimated 20 million supporters will be hoping she gets it right but in the shorter term she has been having to prove herself to a far smaller crowd.

"I have gone to two or three league meetings where they look at me thinking 'What does this woman know about anything? What does this young person know?'," Gonzalez tells BBC Sport Africa.

"They look at me and assume I am not Tanzanian so they'll say it behind my back and I look at them and I quickly hit them with a response in our local language, they step back and it ends there."