It was only a few years ago that the Super Falcons’ success in women’s football tournaments in Africa was a forgone conclusion.
The question was not whether the Falcons would win; but rather the margin of victory.
Unfortunately, things have changed dramatically in the last few years.
Having got so used to seeing their beloved Falcons blow the continent away, Nigerian fans are having to come to terms with the reality that the rest of Africa has effectively caught up with the Super Falcons.
Gone are the days when we could confidently put our money on the Falcons to win their matches; these days, punters have to think long and hard before backing the women’s team on betting sites in Nigeria!
With nine titles at the African Women Cup of Nations, Nigeria remains the most dominant nation in the continental showpiece, but the panache and cavalier nature of early years have been gradually diminished through the last decade.
Our most recent AWCON title, in 2018, was achieved via a penalty shootout victory over South Africa.
The most glaring evidence of the diminishing fortunes of Nigerian women’s football is our failure to qualify for three successive Olympic Games between 2012 and 2020.
So what exactly is wrong with women’s football in Nigeria?
Well, the first place to look is the Nigeria Football Federation- the custodians of the game in the country.
Within the last five years, the Falcons have had to sit through long periods of inactivity with the NFF unable to organize friendly matches to keep the team busy.
The players would have been forgiven if they thought they had been neglected and abandoned.
Things got better in 2021 with the team participating in the Turkish Cup, the locally-held Aisha Buhari Cup, and a few other friendly matches, but some serious damage had been done by their lack of playing time.
There was also the fiasco regarding the managerial situation of the Falcons, with Swede Thomas Dennerby reportedly walking away from the team in 2019, and Randy Waldrum taking over a year later in 2020.
Issues of unpaid bonuses have also reared their heads, with the Falcons infamously staging a very public protest following their exit from the 2019 World Cup in France. Former captain, Desire Oparanozie was frozen out of the team for a couple of years as a result, before being recalled.
At the peak of our powers in women’s football in the late 90’s, we had amazing players like Mercy Akide, Florence Omagbemi, Patience Avre, Nkiru Okosieme and many more like that.
Since then, we have had outstanding talents Pepetual Nkwocha and Asisat Oshoala pick up the baton, but the truth is that we have been unable to produce a large pool of quality players like we had just over two decades ago.
Part of the problem has been a lack of focus on grassroot competitions and the Nigeria Women’s Football League.
If we cannot develop the most basic level of women’s football in the country, we cannot expect to magically have quality on our national teams.
Maybe someday we will get it right and reassert our dominance on the continent; but for now, the likes of South Africa, Cameroon and Ghana are licking their lips at the prospect of usurping the underperforming giants of African women’s football.
