In 2018, Jamaica qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in history. Here are some facts about Jamaica’s National Women’s Football Team, better known as the Reggae Girlz.
October 17, 2018: Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz create history by becoming the first Caribbean team to reach the FIFA Women’s World Cup. They defeated Panama 4-2 on penalties in their third-place playoff match at the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship. The Reggae Girlz historic World Cup qualification comes 20 years after the men’s team, the Reggae Boyz, debuted in the World Cup in France.
April 2019, top Reggae Girlz striker, Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, signed a contract with US-based sportswear company NIKE. Shaw scored 19 goals to help Jamaica qualify for the 2019 World Cup. In December 2018, the UK Guardian newspaper named Shaw Footballer of the Year, making her only the third recipient of the award and joining the ranks of world superstars Italian Fabio Piscane in 2016 and Spain’s Juan Mata in 2017.
The Reggae Girlz have moved up in the FIFA World Rankings up to 53. In 2017, the team was unranked by FIFA.
At age 16, forward Jody Brown netted four (4) goals at the CONCACAF Women’s Championship, making her the team’s top scorer at the tournament. She was named best young player at the competition.
The Reggae Girls made their international debut against Haiti in 1991. Since then they qualified twice for the Women’s Gold Cup, in 2002 and 2006.
In 2010, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) cut the senior women’s program as well as the women’s Olympic program, and the team went unranked by FIFA due to inactivity.
In April 2014, Cedella Marley (Bob Marley’s daughter) stepped in to help with fundraising for the Reggae Girlz. Marley helped sponsor the team through the Bob Marley Foundation and has been pushing for the women’s team to receive the same financial support as their male counterparts and the country’s track stars.
The Jamaican Women’s National Team re-assembled in May 2018 and went on to win their group matches and advance to the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
Jamaica is drawn in Group C along with Brazil, Australia and Italy. The Reggae Girlz will make their World Cup debut in France when meet Brazil on June 9, 2019.