Nigeria’s dominance in Women’s football on the Continent could continue for a few more years, but the risk of a slump also looms.
In a recent interview former Falcons star and now assistant Coach of the team Maureen Madu identified the sole factor behind Nigeria’s superiority on continent.
Madu said, “The Super Falcons have many foreign-based players from the European leagues to the Chinese Super League and this is their edge against other teams on the continent because the players give the coaches different options.”
She was talking to CAF’s media team ahead of the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Inadvertently, the former player is also warning football administrators to wake up to their responsibility of promoting the domestic league and quality back home.
Nigeria doesn’t have a long list of young players breaking into European leagues or even China; the trend is slowing down.
Meanwhile, there are emerging countries who are investing in the development women’s football or simply turning also to their scores of foreign based players.
An additional problem for the Nigerian football authorities is the number of players willing to switch nationalities and represent other African teams.
Thus the gap between Nigeria and the rest of Africa is gradually becoming non-existent.
