By Patrick Omorodion

Women’s football in Nigeria from the days of late Simbiat Abiola, Gina Yeseibo, Princess Bola Jegede and Alhaja Ayo Omidiran in the 1990s was seen purely as a recreational activity mostly done to take the girl-child out of the streets.

Those were the days when they floated female football clubs like Simbiat Abiola Babes, Jegede Babes, and Omidiran Babes. There was also Larry Angels which was floated by a man, Chief Larry Eze, now late.

Then there was no functional league for the players to exhibit their skills then. The only avenue available for the young girls then was occasional friendly matches between few of them and the FA Cup.

However, the story of women’s football changed when FIFA introduced the women’s version of the World Cup in 1991 and with Nigeria already having functional football teams, Nigeria easily emerged as Africa’s sole representative.

From 1991, the Super Falcons dominated the rest of Africa in women’s football, not necessarily because Nigeria had a strong women’s league but for the fact that the country started earlier than the rest.

The story however, changed when countries like South Africa, Ghana and Cameroon came into the fray having also established a league for women football.

The gap between Nigeria and the rest of Africa started closing up. The Super Falcons which hitherto rode roughshod over their counterparts, winning with very wide scorelines, started struggling against the same sides.

When the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF thought about a functional league for women football, apart from Simbiat Abiola who didn’t serve on the NFF Board, Princess Jegede, Mrs Yeseibo and Alhaja Omidiran served on the Board, to represent the interest of women at one time or the other.

The creation of the NWFL and the appointment of one of Nigeria’s foremost sports journalists, Aisha Falode as its head, inspired hope among Nigerians that the Super Falcons will regain their invincibility in Africa as she brought vitality to the once comatose league.

And it actually showed at the 2023 World Cup in Australia/ New Zealand where for the first time, the Super Falcons qualified for the second round without losing a match. Even though they failed to progress beyond the round of 16 after a penalty shootout loss to eventual finalists, the Three Lionesses of England, they impressed both fans and critics alike.

The feat, once again, boosted their rating and called for repositioning of the nursery for talents for the national teams, the Nigeria Women’s Football League, NWFL, after Falode’s board’s tenure ended.

The change of guard took place recently and in Falode’s place as head of the NWFL, a lady from the sports marketing world, Ms Nkechi Obi has been saddled with the responsibility of driving further the growth of professional Women’s Football in Nigeria.

As if she has been expecting this appointment all along to contribute own quota to the development of the women’s game, she has hit the ground running. She has promised not to only grow the level of female participation in football but the capacity of the game as well.

According to her, “We will grow the level of female participation in football and improve on the quality and capacity of personnel around the League including players, coaches, officials, and administrators.”

As a result, the new NWFL board in its drive to make the league a sustainable one and a tool to foster gender equality, and livelihood for women, has unveiled the “Women’s Football Rising” platforms which include Football and the Girl Child, Sisterhood Campaign, He4She Campaign and the Class to Pitch Collaboration with Sports Business Institute.

Under this laudable and ambitious but realisable “Women’s Football Rising” platforms, Ms Obi has lined up an array of professionals to help achieve her dream for the girl-child through women’s football development in the country.

Among these women is a young and promising lady who has equally equipped herself for her new role in the sports broadcasting and marketing business as the Chief Operating Officer of the Brila group, Miss Debbie Larry-Izamoje.

According to Ms Obi, “Debbie Larry-Izamoje and the seven other women in the Sisterhood Campaign constitute one of our initiatives under the NWFL “Women Football Rising” Platform established as an IP Product for the development of Women’s Football in Nigeria through providing funding and resources for events, products and activities. Through the Sisterhood, the NWFL hopes to get more girls and women playing football, coaching or refereeing. As Chairman of NWFL, I’m humbled by the willingness of Debbie and other Sisters to join the group and contribute to this task.”

Debbie has already accepted the challenge to contribute her quota, promising “to bring my expertise in strategic communications, media relations, and brand building to the NWFL. It is important for women to rise up to elevate women’s football.. Our efforts aim to promote positive dialogue around the girl child, build a nation and empower women through the beautiful sport of football, all while aligning with FIFA’s five pillars of football development”.

The task before Ms Obi’s new NWFL board is huge. With the support of the eight-woman Team Sisterhood which would be led by Hamda Ambah, and assisted by Debbie acting in the Deputy capacity, I believe that the women’s league will be taken to a greater height.

With this new drive, I believe the NWFL should be able to regain its glory of attracting players from neighbouring countries like Cameroon, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea in particular which was the first country to dethrone the Super Falcons as African champions.

That was before South Africa’s Banyana Banyana added to their pains at the last Africa Women’s Nations Cup which Morocco, another emerging force in Africa Women’s Football, hosted last year.