Tsholofelo Setlhoko: A Football Manager With A Great Passion For Women

One of the participants in FIFA’s Women in Football Leadership Programme is Tsholofelo Setlhoko. Since 2019, she has been in charge of women’s football in Botswana and has played a significant role in this field.

Setlhoko is so passionate about football that she takes it seriously and enjoys what she does. She has always been going to football meetings and events just to overhaul herself in the field of football, and to be an excellent leader any place she tracks down herself.

She got more grounded in her passion for the sport by going to a FIFA event recently. Along with 35 other women from around the world, Setlhoko attended the Women in Football Leadership Programme (WFLP).

In an interview with FIFA.com, Setlhoko stated,

“Being invited to the Women in Football Leadership Programme has been of great importance to me as a woman in my country and at the BFA, to further the growth of women in football,” Setlhoko said in an interview with FIFA.com.

This FIFA Program has given Botswana’s FA Head of Women’s Football, Tsholofelo Setlhoko, an opportunity to develop as a leader, according to her.

“I am feeling more blessed because from the 211 federations, I was one of those selected and am grateful to UEFA and FIFA for the opportunity to be able to assist us and develop us as leaders.”

Setlhoko, who is 40 years old, claims that this FIFA course was more focused on her position as a leader and where she currently stands.

Alongside subjects, for example, successful correspondence with workers, the establishments for good initiative and developing trust and validity, the participants also completed a personality test, which was “there to assist them with understanding themselves better as leaders, and was focused on how they can be compelling in their current roles.

Emotional responses, interpersonal patterns, and an openness to change in work ethics were all examined in the FIFA test. Its purpose was to identify the participants’ strengths and weaknesses as well as ways in which they can capitalize on their strengths.

Setlhoko views one of her strengthens just like her personality, which empowers her to be heard in a footballing world that is dominated by men. She brags bounty years’ experience with fitness training, coaching and sports management at the Botswana Football Association and in youth development programs.

Before joining the FA, Tsholofelo Setlhoko had been working with men’s teams. She has previously worked as a physical therapist and coach, even for Premier League teams. She managed to get through working for men, which wasn’t an easy job. Setlhoko knows how to move the system and ensure she has an impact.

She always finds a solution to problems she faces, regardless of obstacles against her.

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There were 47 women’s teams in Botswana when Setlhoko first took over. That number had increased to 66 teams participating in the league as at 2022, and as many as 132 teams are currently registered. In addition, five centers have been established specifically for girls in Botswana to promote the sport and lay the groundwork for future success.

Also, with this, she is extremely amped up for the development in her country. Setlhoko and her team hope to establish Botswana’s first women’s premier league in 2025 with the introduction of the league’s first ever south and north divisions next year.

In order for “Tsholo” to achieve her objectives, it is essential for women in leadership positions to provide more female football role models for the girls.

“We need to see them to believe in ourselves and to change that perception and say: ‘girls and women can also play football like boys’.
Especially in Africa, the perception is that women are supposed to be in the kitchen and to do other things besides playing football,” she explained, “but you can see now that we’re changing the perception, we’re having more role models for women. We’re having more voices who are standing up for other women, making sure that women’s football is taken seriously and given the same funding.”