Along with Bahrain, Vietnam is among the 12 member nations chosen for the pilot implementation of the world football governing body's international women’s football development project. The country will join an 18-month program to develop youth football as well as tournaments for them.
FIFA will design training programs for each member federation.
She visited the Youth Football Training Centre in Hanoi and watched a training session of the national women’s squad. She then held a working session with representatives from the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the Training Centre to collect their opinions on building an appropriate project for Vietnam’s female footballers. She is scheduled to visit Hanoi’s women football club and watch a match between the young women’s team and Hanoi’s U16 team at the Youth Football Training Centre.
Emphasizing the importance to FIFA’s women’s football development strategy, she stated that the successful implementation of the pilot will allow for the replication of the project in many other countries.
The Australian nationality FIFA official spent time exploring and collecting data on Vietnam’s women’s football, as well as its advantages and difficulties faced in developing football among females, whilst listening to the recommendations proposed by the VFF, aiming to map out specific steps for the implementation of the project.
According to her, female footballers under 12 are at an ideal age to train and gain professional skills, as the VFF has good infrastructure for young players to develop.
Speaking highly of the development potential of Vietnam’s women’s football, she hoped that the nation will succeed at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2018 in Jordan to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France./.
Wilson also held the title of Head of Performance for Women’s Football with Queensland Academy of Sport and served as head coach of Australia’s U17 women’s national team, the U17 Matildas, from 2013-2014.
Outside of Australia, Wilson was formerly Women’s Football Coach Education and Development Officer for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) from 2006 to 2007, before becoming AFC Director of Women’s Football the following year. She continues as both a FIFA and AFC instructor and a FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) member.