The Declining Fortunes Of Female Soccer

Editorial

The fortunes of Nigerian female soccer have been on the decline in the last few years with little or no effort being made to reinvigorate the senior national team, the Super Falcons, for them to measure up with their counterparts in the world. Because of their lacklustre performance, the Falcons are no longer Super.

Though they are the current African champions, having won the African Women Championship, AWC, for a record ninth time in 2014, the Nigerian ladies have not been able to replicate their seeming dominance in Africa on the world stage. Even in Africa where they are seen as the soccer powerhouse, they are no longer a force to reckon with in recent times.

Only last weekend, the Falcons were denied a ticket to play in the 2016 Olympic Games by Equatorial Guinea. They lost 2-1 in extra-time to Equatorial Guinea on Sunday and crashed out 3-2 on aggregate, having played 1-1 draw at home in Abuja. The team also failed to make the 2012 Olympics in London due to their poor outing in the qualifying series.

They had the worst campaign at the last FIFA Women’s World Cup held in Canada this year. They failed to make it past the first round of the tournament, where Cameroon’s Indomitable Lioness shone. The Falcons woefully failed to make it to the knockout stage in the last four editions of the World Cup. The last time the team progressed from the group stage was at the USA 1999 Women’s World Cup.

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They will face another acid test in a couple of weeks at the All Africa Games. The Games come up in Congo Brazzaville in September. Though they won the gold medal of the women’s football event of the Games at the Abuja 2003 and Algiers 2007 editions of the tournament, they could not make it to the 2011 edition. They have an uphill task at this year’s Games judging from the ‘Group of Death’ in which the ladies have found themselves. Nigeria are in Group B comprising Cameroon, South Africa, Ghana and Egypt.

The decline in the fortunes of the female team should be a source of concern to the lovers of the game in the country and we believe it is time some drastic actions were taken to address the problem. Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, must look into the welfare of the team as a way of motivating the ladies to put in their best whenever they are called to duty. The ladies are not pampered the way the male national team, the Super Eagles, are treated. NFF accords the Super Eagles more attention than the Falcons. This has to stop if we must raise the morale of the ladies.

The issue of the aging players in the Super Falcons should also be looked into with the urgent need to bring in younger players who can deliver the goods. The technical crew of the Falcons should be overhauled. Football has gone beyond a situation where the interim coach of the team, Chris Danjuma, was giving puerile excuses for losing to Equatorial Guinea last weekend. He blamed the bad calls of the centre referee for Falcons’ loss. He could have simply told that to the marines. A technical crew that is bereft of ideas cannot inspire a team to win.

To halt the declining fortunes of female soccer in the country, a functional and well organised female football league is needed. It will go a long way in repositioning the game in the country beacuse a vibrant league breeds a pool of talented players coaches could pick from.

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