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.
Continue.
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.
Source Vanguard.
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