MOLATsportgist

The first semifinal of the Betsy Obaseki Women’s Football Tournament saw two finalist of the 2021 AITEO FA Cup go head-to-head once again, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, as Bayelsa Queens defeated FC Robo Queens 3-1 to booked a place in the final.

In the match which was a repeat of the Aiteo Cup final game played at the same venue (Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City) some months ago, it was the reigning Aiteo Cup winners Bayelsa Queens who came out victorious once again and are through to the final of the 2021
Betty Obaseki Cup in Benin, thanks to Anjor Mary’s hat-trick.

Proving once again why she won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot at the Aiteo Cup, Anjor Mary helped Bayelsa booked a spot in the final of the inaugural edition of the Betsy Obaseki Women’s Football Tournament in Edo State.

Talking to the media before the game, head coach of FC Robo Queens, Emmanuel Osahon was confident his side will not be beaten again after losing 4-2 to the same side in the Aiteo Cup final some months ago.

In his words, “Though we play in the NWFL Premiership League with Bayelsa Queens, but I can say here that, Bayelsa Queens will not beat us for the second time at the same venue. After the Aiteo Cup finals, we learnt our lessons about the Yenagoa team. We pray for a favourable game that would see my girls come out victorious.”

FC Robo had its consolation goal through none other than the prolific poacher, Monday Gift. After the defeat, the Lagos Landladies will now hope for a third place win against the losing side between Edo Queens and Rivers Angels.

The winner of the third place will go home with N2million and the fourth place team won’t go empty handed too, as there is a N1million prize money for the loser of the third place match.

The third place match will be played 8am on Sunday morning at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium.

The Restoration ladies will wait to face the winner of the second semifinals match between Edo Queens and Rivers Angels. The grand finale will kickoff by 5pm at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium after the closing ceremony.

It’s Saint Etienne with an early threat in the attack with Gago upfront on a counter attack but Nnadozie stayed calm to kept her side in the game.

The hosts kept mounting pressure on the visitors, an effort which was crowned with a clever lob on Chiamaka Nnadozie as Gago opened the scoring in the 25th minute from a Coquard assist.

Restoring the parity just before the break, Daphné Corboz and Louna Ribadeira with a swift one-two passes on the counter attack and the young striker shifts perfectly to equalized for the visitors.

Paris FC made a difference in the second half.

In the 68th minute, Clara Mateo takes advantage of a ball badly repelled by the opponent’s goalkeeper to slip the leather into the back of the net and the visitors the lead.

The hosts could’ve equalized in the 78th minute but Chiamaka Nnadozie had a beautiful parade on a very distant lob shot.

The visitors with another breakthrough counter-attack, Ouleymata Sarr plays with her vis-à-vis on the right and deceives Gignoux with a beautiful cross strike to seal the game for Paris FC.

This victory allows Paris FC to pick up Paris Saint-Germain, which will play this Sunday, after 5 days of the championship.

At the other end, Nigerian international, Esther Okoronkwo who scored brace last week against Dijon was substituted in the 84th minute.

The DFCO has strengthened in the offensive sector with a second Nigerian international in its workforce. In addition to Desire Oparanozie, at the club since last season, the Burgundy club recorded the arrival of Esther Sunday who started on the bench today against Onyinyechi Zogg’s Soyaux.

After two consecutive defeats against Olympique Lyonnais (6-0) and AS Saint-Etienne (0-4), the DFCO had to offer a reaction on the lawn of ASJ Soyaux, DFCO Dijon returned to winning ways thanks to two goals from Super Falcons of Nigeria forward, Desire Oparanozie.

The DFCO entered the game much better than against Saint-Etienne, and did not take long to create its first dangerous situations. On a corner from Elody Salaün, Désiré Oparanozie placed her head, but she ended up in the arms of the goalkeeper. The Nigerian will then take advantage of a poor recovery from Philippe to intercept and go to strike but couldn’t find the back of the net.

It is finally the DFCO which will find the opening in the 15th minute thanks to a superb overflow from Léna Goetsch, followed by a caviar delivered on the head of Désiré Oparanozie, who does not miss the offering.

Kelly Gadea equalised for Soyaux in the 51st minute.

DFCO with immediate reply thanks to Désiré Oparanozie. Served in depth by Léa Declercq, the Nigerian precedes Philippe’s exit and scores in the empty goal, from a difficult angle.

The captain played for the duration of the game and received a yellow card in the 54th minute after her brace which took her goals tally to three in five league games.

At the other end, a Nigerian, Onyinyechi Zogg was replaced by Corina Luijks in the 46th minute.

Soyaux occupies the 11th position with three points from five games ahead of its next game against Chiamaka Nnadozie’s Paris FC on October 16.

Meet Naija Ratels FC ahead of the 2021 Flying Officers Cup which will kickoff on the 10th of October 2021 in Abuja.

Champions of the NWFL Championship will look to go further in the 2021 Flying Officers Cup after reaching the semifinals last season.

Naija Ratels have showed an unbreakable spirit at the last edition of the Flying Officers Cup, reaching the semi-finals, where they finally bowed out to Nasarawa Amazons in the penalty shootouts.

Over the last year, Naija Ratels have been rejuvenated under Bankole Olowookeere, keeping a different style of play from the norm with the players been more flexible on the ball in a more fascinating approach, playing modern football, starting the attack from the goalkeeper.

The ‘Ratels’ will head into the 2021 Flying Officers Cup as a stronger team, having finally gained promotion to the first tier, NWFL Premiership in June, where they emerged champions of the NWFL Championship ahead of the likes of Heartland Queens and Adamawa Queens.

With teenage sensations like Paulina Ali, Aminat Bello, Emmanuel Blessing, Oyinlola Olamide, Adanna Nwachukwu and others, there is plenty of optimism around the future of Naija Ratels.

President of the Club, Barrister Paul Edeh recently unveiled some quality players like Sofiat Bankole, Olamide Adugbe, Adesina Itunuoluwa, Regina Omede into the squad and this may perhaps make the team stronger as they head towards the Flying Officers Cup and the league.

As the Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament goes into the semi finals, all the eight clubs that were eliminated from the tournament were on Thursday evening at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, presented with their consolation prizes of N500,000 cash each by the Chairman, Local Organizing Committee of the tournament, Mrs. Sabina Chikere and other members of the LOC.

Chikere, noted that, the presentations were made to the eliminated clubs on Thursday evening so as to enable them return to their various homes on Friday.

The teams that got their consolation prizes were; Heartland Queens of Owerri, Naija Ratels of Abuja, Rolly Angels of Benin City, Fortress Ladies of Benin City, Royal Queens of Warri, Sunshine Queens of Akure, Confluence Queens of Lokoja, and Kaduna Queens.

Chikere, who is also the Head of Sports in Edo State, disclosed that: “The Chief Host of the competition, Her Excellency the First Lady of Edo State, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, has approved the increase in the overall prize monies for the winners by 80 percent, because according to her, she was impressed by the conduct of the tournament and the general feelings of the 12 clubs in the competition.

“Mrs. Obaseki went round the venues of competition and she saw the professionalism, fair play and football entertainment put up by the teams with none of them protesting over decisions of the referees amidst talents discovery and display of soccer artistry by established players. She saw it all by herself in company of the Sports-loving Deputy Governor of Edo State, Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu.

“Her Excellency approved the increment in the winners’ prize monies from N3 million, N2 million and N1 million for the first, second and third place winners to N5 million, N3 million, N2million and N1million for the first, second, third and fourth place winners. The prize money for the fourth place winners is newly created. This is good for the development of women’s football in Nigeria.”

Winners will get N5m in prize money, runners-up will go home with N3m and third place winner will pocket N2m, as others get N500k consolidation money.

The four semi finalists have emerged after Thursday last group games; they are Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt, Edo Queens of Benin, Bayelsa Queens of Yenagoa and FC Robo Queens of Lagos, that pulled through as the best overall losers in the group games.

The semi finals will be played on Saturday, October 2, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, with Bayelsa Queens slugging it out against FC Robo in the first semi finals at 3pm and Edo Queens battle against Rivers Angels in the second semi finals at 5pm.

The grand finale and closing ceremony hold on Sunday, October 3, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium at 5pm.

The Organisers of the Flying Officers Cup has officially announced on thursday that one of the leading broadcast stations in the country, Africa Independent Television (AIT) will air the final match of the 2021 edition of the Flying Officers Cup live.

The main sponsors of the Pre-season Championship, Ratels Sports Development Foundation (RSDF), in build up to the competition has soughted to partner with AIT as official broadcast partners for the Flying Officers Cup at a meeting held between the management team of the largest privately operated terrestrial television network, led by Anegbe Anthony Akiotu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Group MD, Director and Ratels Sports Development Foundation, led by the President Barrister Paul Edeh, a deal was brokered which will enable AIT beam live the finals of the Competition.

While endorsing the Flying Officers Cup and accepting AIT to be the official broadcast media partner of the tournament, the GMD of AIT commended the Organisers for taking up the challenge of supporting women’s football in Nigeria.

He recounted that in the past, most league matches were aired live, which built the enthusiasm of Nigerians, who always scamper for their television whenever matches were to be played. He also noted that AIT will always be inclined to encourage organisations like Ratels Sports Development Foundation that is selflessly seeking to promote women’s football.

“We at AIT are very excited to be part of this year’s Flying Officers Cup,” Akiotu said.

“We have been at the forefront of promoting women football which is one sport that needs to lot of media attention. The Flying Officer’s Cup will give us the opportunity to avail our numerous viewers across Nigeria with the best of Women’s Football, which they have been yearning for long.

“Sports is a major unifying force which is an important part of our contents and football in particular plays a key role to a large section of our target demographic.

“We in AIT will make out various sports platform available to your foundation and we sincerely hope to have more partnerships with Ratels Sports Development Foundation and make more impact in our society through Sports.” He Concluded.

Speaking on the partnership, Ratels Sports Development Foundation (RSDF) President, Barrister Paul Edeh, who was accompanied by other Organizing Committee members of the Flying Officers Cup noted that the idea behind the Flying Officers Cup is to immortalize the late Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile for her selfless service to Nigeria and also to keep her legacies alive. He stated that RSDF choice of AIT as official media broadcast partners for the Flying Officers Cup is based on it’s consistent support for the growth of women’s football and the girl-child.

“We are delighted to be doing this with AIT, a station known for its uniqueness in live broadcast. This is another huge leap for Ratels Sports Development Foundation and would surely help complement the efforts put together so far by the Organizing Committee.

“The Flying Officers Cup will keep aiming for greatness, and we at Ratels Sports Development Foundation will continue to push for more of this, which will clearly help to develop women’s football in Nigeria and beyond.” He Concluded.

The Africa Independent Television (AIT) is the largest privately operated terrestrial television network with stations in twenty-four out of thirty-six states in Nigeria. The 2021 edition of the Flying Officers Cup will take place from the 10th to the 24th of October 2021 in Abuja at the Area 10 Sports Complex Abuja.