Cameroon's football school for girls

The Rails Football Academy (RFA) is Cameoon's first football academy for girls. Its name stems from the railway lines that run alongside the Yaounde football field. Women's football is becoming more popular globally with FIFA expecting over one billion TV viewers for the Women's World Cup in June 2019. Cameroon will be one of three African countries participating.

Emmanuel Eteme Biolo is a trainer at the RFA. During half-time he discusses the game plan with the under- 17s team. About 70 girls train at the academy. Many come from poorer households and could normally not afford football training. "Here they have everything: coaches, jerseys, training equipment, a physiotherapist, and the guidance we give them all the time," explains Biolo.

Gaelle Dule Asheri (with ball) started playing football on the streets of her neighborhood in Yaounde. Most of her fellow players were boys. They used rocks as goal posts and recorded the score with chalk on a wall. The 17-year-old is one of the first batch of players to train at the academy.

When she trained with the boys they didn't let her do all the exercises, Asheri recalls. They thought she was weaker than her male team mates. "Coming here was like coming to a different world," she says. She had to do abdominal exercises and train hard. "Sometimes I train so hard that my sweat mixes with tears."

Another goal of the academy is to change the perception that women's football is a masculine sport. At home Gaelle was confronted with prejudices from members of her family but she continued to play with her male cousins and neighbors. But she continues to pursue her dream at the football academy.

At school Gaelle is studying for her final exams. Her dream, however, is to play professional football. Her role model is her namesake - the Cameroonian national player Gaelle Deborah Enganamouit. Gaelle trains every Wednesday and Saturday, swapping her blue school uniform for her green RFA jersey.

Cameroon national player Enganamouit helped found the academy. The 26-year-old has been playing for the national team since 2012 and currently plays for the Spanish club Malaga CF. In 2015, she was named African women's footballer of the year. Her own experiences taught her how important it is for young players to have their own place to train.

Gaelle is not the only player in her team who admires Enganamouit. "I watch her play on TV. I never miss any of her matches," says Gaelle's team mate Ida. "She's so good. I want to be like her." Cameroon's national team are ranked 46 on the FIFA Women's World Ranking. But maybe future generations from the new academy will be able to break the western dominance of the game.