YAOUNDE, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon on Tuesday received the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Trophy, which arrived in the capital Yaounde in the company of FIFA officials, as part of its global tour en route to France.
The trophy came after concluding a tour in South Africa and is expected to head to neighbouring Nigeria.
It is the second time the trophy is stopping in Cameroon after 2015 during the first ever participation of Indomitable Lionesses at FIFA Women's World Cup.
Sara Booth Mbe, FIFA's Head of Women's Football Competitions led the delegation that presented the trophy to Cameroon's Prime Minister and Head of government, Joseph Dion Ngute.
"We hope today by bringing the trophy to Cameroon, lots of people will fall in love with the competition and the Cameroon team, the Lionesses (Cameroon women's national football team) and will support them from home during the competition," Mbe told reporters.
Cameroon's striker Gaelle Deborah Enganamouit said, the arrival of the trophy served as an inspiration for Cameroon to win the World Cup for the first time.
"It is a great pleasure to have the FIFA trophy here. It is also good for the development of football in Cameroon. We pray to work hard to have this cup here in Cameroon," she said.
Cameroon will intensify training at home and abroad before the championship.
"They (Indomitable Lionesses) went to China for a very important international tournament with high level of participation. We had good results though China defeated us with one goal in the finals. But it was good preparation for our girls. They will camp in Cameroon to ameliorate performance and the last camp will be in Spain just before the competition," President of Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), Seidou Mbombo Njoya said.
The tour of the women's trophy which started in February is at its 15th stop in Cameroon and will be back in Paris before the kickoff of the women's world cup in June in France.