Where Every Woman Belongs

Filipa Miranda, Portugal

Filipa Miranda is the founder of Malta Football Clube, a football academy for women of all ages and abilities. Based in Lisbon, Malta FC offers football sessions specifically for women over 30, with plans to expand throughout Portugal. Filipa has created a welcoming space where women can build community and enjoy football in a supportive, inclusive environment. In addition to running Malta FC, Filipa is also the co-founder of Kefi Sports Events, organising tournaments that bring together women from around the world to celebrate women’s football.

My name is Filipa Miranda, born and bred in Olivais, Lisbon, a neighbourhood close to the airport. I am the founder of MALTA FOOTBALL CLUBE, a football academy for women of all abilities and ages with a focus on women over the age of 30. We have different classes across Greater Lisbon and we aim to bring as many women to the pitch as possible. I am also one of the coaches (I have a UEFA C diploma). 

I am also the co-founder of Kefi Sports Events and we organise an annual football tournament with teams coming from different countries including the UK and Sweden to play and celebrate women's football.

What has your football journey been like up until now?

Football has been in my life ever since I can remember! I am also a massive Benfica supporter. Throughout all the changes in my life including moving countries, football has always been there. I spent almost all of my time as a child playing on the street with friends and at school. I was never in a club as there were hardly any options for girls to play growing up in Lisbon.

I have always taken an interest not only in playing football, but watching it, learning about it and going to stadiums. Upon moving to London (I have since moved back to Lisbon) I started my coaching qualifications with The FA, worked in football stadiums, and took some internships in football magazines and at BBC Sport Radio.

I joined a few 11 a-side amateur teams in London such as Fulham Belles and started to think I needed to do something like that in Portugal: develop the women's amateur football scene back home. MALTA FC is onto our fourth year and we keep going strong!

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

In the photos there are MALTA FC players and staff. The photos were taken in Lisbon at one of our football sessions and at a one-day tournament that we organise between our different classes.

I tried to show that we have players of different ages, some have kids and they want to show their children that women can also play football! Regardless of age and technical ability it is possible for all of us to enjoy football and learn together. We see football not only from the competitive side, but mainly as a place where we can be ourselves, have fun and meet other women that we would not meet in other circumstances. Football is what brings us together!

You can also see two players carrying another one that got injured. Even in bad times, with the help of your teammates we can still see the positive side of things. True team spirit.

Every player has a story to tell. Women looking for football teams because they moved to Lisbon and wanted to meet other women who enjoyed football. People with more introverted personalities who wanted to challenge themselves and football is their escape. Players who have small children and needed a place where they could be themselves freely. They all have their own story and motivation and they all chose football to overcome something.

What role does MALTA FC play in your community?

Football is massive in Portugal, the number one sport. Unfortunately when it comes to opportunities for women to play, we still have a long way to go. MALTA FC has classes and teams in different parts of the Greater Lisbon area, so we are not just focused in one community. The idea is to take MALTA FC to different parts of Lisbon and in the future, to different parts of Portugal.

When players come to us most of them say they have been looking for a place like MALTA FC for a long time, they stopped playing at school and never had the opportunity to play again. They did not even know other women who liked to play. Also due to most of them being in their 30s and 40s, regular clubs and academies would not accept them, so MALTA FC came to fill that gap. MALTA FC is a place where you can go once a week, train at football, enjoy yourself, and feel better!

What are the opportunities for women and girls to play in your community?

There are definitely more opportunities now for girls to play. Clubs have more girls-only teams but usually still only from the age of 15. Before that it is mixed boys and girls - and most girls do not want to do that, so they end up dropping out of football. There is not a genuine interest in getting more girls to play football, we need people who make it their life goal to achieve that!

Regarding women (adults) the opportunities are very few. There are no amateur leagues, access to pitches is difficult and expensive. MALTA FC is trying to change that month by month and we are now into our fourth year consistently running with 60 women playing with us.

What does football mean to you? What ambitions do you have for the future?

Football is everything to me. It has always been. Regardless of where I have lived, whatever job I had, it has always been football. I have always tried to be connected with football somehow: going to stadiums, coaching, working in stadiums (tour guide, hospitality), going to conferences. Looking back it is unbelievable how football has always been present in my life. And MALTA FC has been the result of all these experiences, of all the people I have connected with throughout the world who have encouraged me to keep going, who have inspired me with their projects to start my own. 

My ambition is to keep being consistent with MALTA FC, to open more classes around Portugal (not only in the Lisbon area), to provide a space for more and more women of all skill levels to train at football, and to create amateur football leagues for MALTA FC players to compete if they wish to do so. To give opportunities not only to players, but also coaches who share our values and want to be part of our team.

What is the future for football in Portugal? What would you like to change?

Football is whatever us, who love it, want it to be. There is so much to be done with professional football; us supporters need to push it to be more inclusive, more tolerant, more inspiring. Football is a great way to influence people to change things, to make statements, but still people in charge do not see it like that. Rather than complaining about it, I prefer to act on it; as a supporter pushing my club and organizations to make football a sport for everyone and not just a few. With MALTA FC making sure that if any woman wants to play football, she will have a place to do so!