The 8th African Women Championship
Earlier in the year, the Guineans played co-host to the 28th African Cup of Nations finals alongside Gabon, and it was an incomplete party, what with the Super Eagles of Nigeria and a number of top African nations absent from the house party. However, the setting for the 8th African Women Championship is every bit […]
Earlier in the year, the Guineans played co-host to the 28th African Cup of Nations finals alongside Gabon, and it was an incomplete party, what with the Super Eagles of Nigeria and a number of top African nations absent from the house party.
However, the setting for the 8th African Women Championship is every bit more convincing with the Super Falcons of Nigeria and the Women National Teams of Cameroon, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia set to light up the firmament in Bata and Malabo for the next two weeks, starting tomorrow.
Ethiopia’s football is in a euphoric state with the senior men’s team having also just qualified for the 29th African Cup of Nations taking place in the Republic of South Africa early next year.
As I said at the opening ceremony of the FIFA Women Football Coaching Course in Abuja on Tuesday, the women’s teams have continued to do exceptionally well for the country and the least we can do as a Federation and as a people is to always encourage them.
The Super Falcons will enter the fray as undisputed hot favourites having won SIX of the SEVEN editions that have been held, and with further intimidating credentials in fly Africa’s flag at every FIFA Women’s World Cup since the inaugural edition in 1991, playing at the Olympic Games in 2000, 2004 and 2008 and winning the gold medal at the All-Africa Games in 2003 and 2007.
The setting in Bata on Monday, when the Falcons take on the Lionesses Cameroon, will bear semblance of a revenge forum as the Nigeria team will be determined to avenge their Olympic Games qualifying defeat at the hands of the Cameroonian maidens.
In October last year, only two weeks after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations, the Lionesses ambushed the Falcons in Yaounde, winning 2-1 for a 3-3 aggregate and then prevailed on penalties.
The pain of that particular month has only just reduced but the Falcons can heal it completely by taming the Lionesses with ease at Nkoantoma Stadium in Bata on Monday afternoon.
The Lionesses went to the Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament in London but were far from impressive. However, that is not to say that the Falcons should under-rate them when the two teams clash for the first three points of Group B.
So many exciting matches are expected at Africa’s top women football party but the clash between Nigeria and Cameroon should rank as the choice of the group stage.
The clash between Equatorial Guinea and South Africa should also provide a lot of spark given the pedigree of the two teams – Equatorial Guinea won the only title that has eluded Nigeria in the 14-year history of the championship, when they hosted at home in 2008, and South Africa should be respected with a string of runner-up positions mostly behind Nigeria.
It is a delight that we can talk about Africa’s women football in the same breath as the men’s, less than two-and-half decades after it was considered a pure joke to have a Women National Team.
The reactions and gestures that followed the decision of then Nigeria Football Association to form a Women National Team in 1990 can still be recalled. But the team went ahead to qualify for the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in a flourish, with some astounding scorelines somewhat solidifying the position of the conservatives that the African continent was not ready for women’s football.
The Falcons were brought down to earth against Germany, China and Italy at that World Cup but the team improved in USA in 1999 and did not do too badly at the last edition in Germany.
Women’s football has indeed come to stay, with some of the conservatives among the game’s top backers today.
Certainly, Nigerian ball fans will expect to see their Falcons lift the African Women Championship trophy in Malabo on 11th November, with the rocking drums of the ubiquitous Nigeria Football Supporters Club providing background music.
The Falcons will be expected to pay back the Lionesses in shining coins in Bata on Monday, and then to defeat Ethiopia inside the same Stadium on Thursday, 1st November.
The last game in the group will involve the clash with the Ivorians (who humiliated Mozambique in the qualifying series) in Malabo and it should provide some good test for the Falcons ahead of the semi finals, which may take them back to Bata.
The truth is, while Cameroon (which eliminated Ghana), Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo may flex muscles, Nigeria still remain the ultimate powerhouse of African women football, and will prove that beyond any reasonable doubt in
Equatorial Guinea.
The first-ever FIFA Women Football Coaching Seminar…
The first-ever FIFA Women Football Coaching Seminar ended on a happy note in Abuja on Wednesday, with the FIFA Instructor Fran Hilton-Smith from South Africa paying her respects to the abundance of women football Coaches in Nigeria and the country’s position as a pioneer and powerhouse of the African game.
At the opening ceremony on Tuesday, which I attended with a number of members of the NFF Executive Committee and Management, Fran Hilton-Smith, who is a member of the Organizing Committee of FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, applauded the role of Nigeria as a pioneer of women football in Africa, and praised the tenacity that has gone into retaining the powerhouse status despite other countries also investing well in the women’s game.
There were 25 women Coaches in all and they included Ann Chiejine and Okunwa Igunbor, two unforgetable members of the pioneer Senior Women Team of Nigeria.
I believe the women Coaches have learnt a lot from this programme and this will definitely reflect in their approach to their jobs henceforth. The NFF will continue to encourage and support ‘Train-The-Trainers’ programmes for men and women, which is the only way to ensure real growth for the Nigeria game.
Eaglets have to sustain…
Tomorrow, inside the September 28 Stadium in Conakry, Guinea, the Nigeria Golden Eaglets trade tackles with their Guinean counterparts in the second leg of their 2013 African U-17 Championship second round fixture.
The Eaglets must sustain the momentum after a 3-0 whiplash of the Guineans in Calabar two weeks ago that followed a 10-1 aggregate dismissal of Niger Republic in the first round.
Nigerians will be happy to see the Eaglets back in the African U-17 Championship and the Nigeria Football Federation is doing everything possible to ensure the team gets there.
I use this platform to commend the technical crew led by Manu Garba for a marvelous job done so far.
NEXT WEEK: Expectations for November and December