Women to play football atop Mount Kilimanjaro


Former Germany player Petra Landers didn't hesitate when she was approached to participate in one of football's most ambitious and daring projects - playing just below the summit of 5,895-meter Mount Kilimanjaro.

Landers, 55, leaves for Tanzania on Wednesday to become the oldest of 30 players from 20 countries around the world who will kick a ball around for 90 minutes at the highest ever altitude for a game, some two kilometers higher than any football stadium.

The game is set up by the "Equal Playing Field" (EPF) initiative which aims for better representation of the women's game which it says remains "under-represented, under-supported and undervalued", or completely forbidden in some states.

The group is to reach the summit in late June, and will then descend a little to play the match, with the goals brought up by porters. After the game, the players and officials will go to several countries for football clinics.