Women’s game

In the month that celebrates the International Women's Day, the Benfica Museum - Cosme Damião will be organising a conference on the evolution of women's football. With the presence and participation of sports and social science academics and women who have marked the history of the sport, the initiative seeks to reveal how women's football is transforming mentalities and confirming that football is a sport for everyone.

Edite Fernandes was born in Vila do Conde and began her career in women's football playing for Boavista. In Portugal, she has played for clubs such as 1.º de Dezembro, Valadares Gaia, Sporting de Braga and Clube Futebol Benfica. She also has an extensive career abroad, where she represented, among others, Prainsa Zaragoza and Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Beijing Team (China), FK DONN (Norway) and Blue Heat (USA). She played for the national women's team for 20 seasons and still holds the title of top scorer with 39 goals in 132 caps. She is currently a sports assistant coach at Benfica Parish Hall and a commentator on Channel 11.

Adelaide Almeida started playing football at the age of 18 for União de Coimbra. In 1982, she took part in the Portuguese team's qualification for the first UEFA Women's Championship. She played for several national clubs and, after finishing her career as a footballer, she became a manager, taking charge of Clube Futebol Benfica. After having trained Bobadelense, Odivelas and Ponte de Frielas, she returned to Clube Futebol Benfica, where she is currently assistant manager of the main team and manager of the youth teams.

Coordinator of Sport Lisboa e Benfica Documentation and Information Centre

Rita Costa has a degree in Psychology from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Lisbon and has a post-graduation in Heritage from the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities. She has been working in Sport Lisboa e Benfica since 2006 and was invited in 2009 to set up the Documentation and Information Centre and collaborate in the creation of the Benfica Museum - Cosme Damião. She coordinates a team of 16 professionals from the fields of Documentation and Information Sciences, History and Museology.

Diana Maciel has a PhD in Sociology from ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon. She has worked in scientific research in the areas of gender equality, family, drug addiction and youth for over 20 years. She is a visiting assistant professor at the School of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon (SSPS - University of Lisbon), a founding and a board member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies of the SSPS - University of Lisbon.