NFF wants First Lady to lead Falcons to Canada

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has appealed to First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to lead the African Women Champions, the Super Falcons of Nigeria to the 2015 FIFA Women World Cup to be hosted by Canada.

Board member of the NFF and Chairman of the Nigeria Women Football League, Chief (Mrs) Dilichukwu Onyedinma told journalists in Abuja over the weekend that the invitation was a mark of honour for Dame Jonathan whom she added has been a strong pillar for the emancipation of women in the country. In addition, she noted that the team would need her patience and good luck to succeed at the world stage.

Onyedinma who also used the occasion to reel out the achievements of female football since her election in 2011 noted that after the initial challenges that confronted her board, they have been able to reposition the Women League with the resultant effect of the discovery of young and talented girls from across the country.

She recalled the exploits of Nigerian female footballers in international championships including the National U-17 women team, the Flamingoes who reached the quarter finals of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Costa Rica earlier in the year with players plying their trade in the Nigerian league.

“Apart from the Flamingoes, we also had the National U-20 Women National Team, the Falconets that went to Canada in August and played to the finals of the FIFA U-20 Women World Cup with 99% of the players from our league here in Nigeria, only one player came from a school in the United States,” Dilichukwu explained, adding, “Only last weekend, we took another set of Super Falcons team to Namibia to reclaim the African Women Championship. In the victorious team, only five players came from overseas, the remaining 17 are all from our league clubs here at home”.

The female football boss further revealed that the present board has been working hard to ensure that the league clubs had some support especially from the private sector with the commissioning of various marketing agents whom she noted have been working assiduously to attract sponsors with whom there are various negotiations at various stages.

Onyedinma further explained that to make the female football more appealing to Nigerians especially the corporate world, her board concluded the incorporation of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) as well as entering a partnership with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) for live transmission of female league matches starting from the next season.