AWCON 2022: Kgatlana, Oshoala Talk Tough Ahead Of Group Opener

The quest to defend the Africa Women’s Cup Of Nations (AWCON) for a tenth time begins soon as the Super Falcons of Nigeria look to cross the South Africa’s hurdle and conquer Africa once again to book a spot for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

Nigeria has been drawn in Group C with South Africa, the team they beat on penalties in the final to win their ninth title four years ago, as well as debutants Burundi and Botswana.

The Super Falcons have since bowed twice against the Banyana Banyana in their last three meetings including the 4-2 defeat on home soil at the Aisha Buhari Cup.

However, from their five meetings at the previous tournaments, the Falcons have won three encounters including the 1-0 win in the semifinal of the 2016 African Women Nations Cup in Cameroun, as well as the final game of the Ghana 2018.

Despite this bitter record, Atletico Madrid and South Africa’s Thembi Kgatlana is confident that Banyana Banyana will dethrone Nigeria as the African champions.

“I think for a number of years Banyana have struggled because they were not able to export players but things are looking positive now,” she told CAF.

South Africa punished Nigeria at the Aisha Buhari Cup

However, FC Barcelona and Nigeria international striker Asisat Oshoala has insisted they are unbothered from playing against South Africa in their group opener on July 4 in Rabat.

“We are just basically focused on working on ourselves and we are not so bothered about playing South Africa. When we get to the phase of playing them, we will cross it… Maybe the mindset of our team and theirs may not be the same, but we have the likes of Cameroon, Morocco, and other great teams in Africa to face.”

After becoming the first African woman to win Spain’s golden boot, she is now focused on qualifying her country for the World Cup next year, but she believes it will not be an easy task as the quality of other sides across the continent is improving quickly.

“The qualification was really tough. We had to go through Ghana and Ivory Coast to get to the tournament and now we see the best from each side in Africa.

“You have teams in Africa growing. We lost to South Africa at the Aisha Buhari Cup and we couldn’t even beat some teams like Mali – we struggled to beat them. So it just shows that it’s not going to be easy to win. It used to be for us before.” She told BBC.

The tournament, which was last held in Ghana in 2018, has been expanded from eight to 12 teams and runs from 2-23 July, where the semifinalists will pick Africa’s tickets for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

Falode Commends NFF’ Rabiu Inuwa; Scores High Patience Madu Led Referee

The Chairperson of the Nigeria Women Football League, Aisha Falode, has commended the Nigeria Football Federation’s Referees Appointment Committee Chairman, Alhaji Rabiu Inuwa, for helping to raise the standard of the Nigeria Women Football League with his excellent appointment of referees for the entire 2021/2022 season.

Falode, who is also a board member of the Nigeria Football Federation, said at the weekend that, the successes recorded by the women’s league would not have been possible without the excellent contributions of Alhaji Rabiu Inuwa: “He was committed to the further development of women’s football in Nigeria as he ensured that only the best sets of referees in the land were appointed to do all matches of the women’s league.

“The improved standard of play in the league was evident in the Super Six sponsored by Tulcan Energy Resources played in Benin City, as 90 percent of Referees appointed for the crucial stage of the league were FIFA graded referees led by FIFA Women’s World Cup, CAF Nations Cup and Olympic Football referee, Ms. Ndidi Patience Madu, from Enugu state. And it was the same scenario during the regular season of the league, this made us achieved a one hundred percent top of the shelve performance worthy of emulation by other women’s football league across the continent. No doubt, we are hopeful that, in this year’s WAFU B qualifiers and the CAF Women’s Champions League, the Nigerian representative, will do us proud in the 2022 edition compared to the country’s performance last year.”

Impactful Use Of Social Media Elevates Zulfah Abdulazeez From The Street Of Lagos To Neymar Jr’s Five In Qatar

Football is unarguably the most popular sport in the world and its importance to the unity of the world can’t be ignored.

In the past, women were not allowed to play the game wearing headscarves or hijabs and this move stopped many Muslim sisters from pursuing their dream in the game.

As women’s football continues to break ground in the far east and predominantly Muslim North Africa, more women footballers are playing the game with their hijab.

Thanks to Asmahan Mansour’s “Faith In Football” campaign in 2007, FIFA later formulates a new policy, which allows women to play with a hijab or headscarf but exempts head coverings that expose the neck.

One of the beneficiaries of the new development, is Abdulazeez Zulfah who started her football journey deep down somewhere in the street of Nigeria.

With little or no resources to promote her craft, Zulfah chose to use her Social Media platforms, to her advantage.

She caught the attention of a Nigeria Women’s Sports Advocate, Saidu who introduced her to a Sports Social Media manager who pushed her content on all Molatsportgist platforms. Zulfah would later get offers from schools in the USA willing to sign her into collegiate games but unable to push through as the COVID pandemic outbreak ruined the plans.

Putting her craft in the faces of her audience, she uploads pictures and videos of her training sessions, filled with skills and inspiring drills.

Her never relenting attitude drew her closer to bigger sports media outlets in Nigeria, featuring in a documentary shot by BBC Yoruba and other online prints like Opera News, and Kick442, just to name a few.

While still very active on social media, she came across the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five adverts where players across the world were asked to upload their best video showcasing their dribbling skills. With no delay and her ‘born ready’ spirit, she uploaded a video of her showboating in a male-dominated team.

Her skill was mesmerizing enough for Neymar Jr. himself to select her among seven players selected across the world to play alongside him to represent ‘Team Global’ at his annual five-a-side tournament slated for Qatar.

Monday Gift Wins Nigeria’s Pichichi Like Oshoala

Just like her mentor and role model, Monday Gift stole the show at the 2022 NWFL Premiership Super-Six after bagging multiple awards including the Golden Boot.

Her role model, Asisat Oshoala had earlier won the Golden Boot award with FC Barcelona in the women’s La Liga after scoring 20 league goals.

Gift has always mentioned that her Super Falcons teammate is her source of inspiration and it’s no different this season.

In a related development, Oshoala shared an interesting WhatsApp exchange between her and Gift before Bayelsa Queens took to the pitch against Ratels in the second game of the Super-Six where Gift scored hat trick.

According to the Barcelona star, a few hours before the game, she challenged Gift to score a hat-trick and she would reward her.

The FC Robo Queens loanee at Bayelsa Queens, Monday Gift scored a total number of nine (9) goals in five (5) Super-Six games to end the season as the top goal scorer. The nine goals added to the three she scored for FC Robo Queens during the regular season take her to a total of 12 goals.

She also picked the Most Valuable Player award as the best player of the Super-Six and Player of the final match award.

Following her outrageous Super-Six performance, her parent club, FC Robo, have called for a bidding war for their star forward.

Reacting via their official social media account, Robo have slapped $1m as a transfer fee on their in-form striker.

“Bayelsa [Queens], we know you love [Gift] Monday,” Robo posted on their Twitter account.

“Let the bidding process start from One million dollars,” the post added.

Bayelsa Queens Wins 2022 NWFL Premiership Title

Bayelsa Queens on Sunday reclaimed the Nigeria Women Football League (NEFL) Premiership title from Rivers Angels following a 2-1 win over Nasarawa Amazons in the final match of the 2022 NWFL Super 6 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, Edo State.

Bayelsa Queens with a maximum of 15 points from five games during the season-ending 2022 NWFL Premiership Super-Six clinched the league title ahead of Nasarawa Amazons (9 points), and Rivers Angels (7 points).

The Journey:

The 2021 AITEO Cup holders started the title journey by finishing top of Group B during the regular season with 24 points from 12 games which qualified them for the Super-Six.

With a tougher clash to start the campaign was arch-rival Rivers Angels on schedule for their first game of the Super-Six, but the Queens from Bayelsa passed the hurdle with a 2-1 victory which marked the beginning of a successful outing.

Newcomers Naija Ratels gave a competitive fight but ended up conceding four un-replied goals as Bayelsa won their second game in style. Which happened to be their biggest win of the Super -Six round.

Despite the competition becoming tougher game-by-game, Bayelsa still managed to forced narrow wins in their next three games beating Edo Queens 2-1, Delta Queens 1-0, and ended with a winning mentality to triumph over Nasarawa Amazons in a game that ended 2-1.

It was Gift Monday’s brilliance that once again helped the girls from Bayelsa as she scored twice to cancel one goal scored by Nasarawa.

Gift with the fastest goal of the Super-Six campaign opened the scoring just a minute into the game before Basirat Amoo canceled it out in the 18th minute. Six minutes later, Gift gifted her side the lead that sealed the needed victory for them.

The result means Bayelsa Queens are the winner of this year’s league and will represent the country in the second edition of the WAFU-B CAF Women Champions League Qualifiers.

U17 WWC Qualifier: Flamingos Battle Ready For Ethiopia

In the bid to grab one of three tickets to the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup holding in India, in October 2022, Nigeria’s U17 girls are pumped up to do the hard work away from home by scoring as many goals as possible against hosts Ethiopia when both teams clash in the final qualifying round, first leg encounter in Addis Ababa today.

Having won their two away games in the series, and have a hundred percent win record scoring a total of fourteen goals and conceding none, the Flamingos are determined to achieve another handsome win that will all but hand them the ticket to the finals in India in October this year.

The Nigeria delegation arrived in Addis Ababa on Wednesday night – which was at the behest of the technical crew as Ethiopia is high altitude territory. 

Head-coach of the Flamingos, Bankole Olowookere said his girls will go all out to win away from home while the return match in nigeria will be a mere formality.

“We are confident. It is going to be a tough game no doubt because the Ethiopians are also a good team. That’s why we have worked hard in the past weeks to perfect observed weak points. The girls know what is at stake and they will throw everything into the fray.”

The aggregate winner over the two legs will progress to the 2022 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup slated for India along with two others as Africa’s flag bearers.

The return leg will be played on the 5th of June 2022 in Nigeria.

NWFL Premiership Super Six: Bayelsa Queens Remains Unbeaten As Rivers Angels Record First Win

Nasarawa Amazons today defeated Delta Queens 1-0 to record six points in the ongoing Super Six tournament of the Nigeria Women Football League holding in Benin City. A game that saw their opponent, Delta Queens losing two penalties in succession.

The solid girls had on Tuesday defeated Edo Queens at the Uniben Sports Complex in their first action, while their game against Naija Ratels has been rescheduled to Saturday, the 21st of May.

Coach Christopher Danjuma led Amazons got their breakthrough in the 27 minutes of the game when Chimeberem Opara took advantage of a loose ball from Delta Queens Goalkeeper Ihuoma Onyebuchi and slotted it in to give the Solid Babes the three points.

The Deltans had the opportunity to equalize when a penalty kick was awarded to them in the 76 minutes of the game but Sarah Nnodim’s poor kick from the spot was well saved by Nasarawa’s goalie Rita Akarekor.

Delta Queens continued to mount pressure on the Nasarawa Amazons’ defense and their efforts paid off again with another penalty kick advantage which Mercy Omokwo missed in the 81st minute to deny themselves a point. The Deltans hope of winning the 2021/22 NWFL crown seemed to have been dashed as they have only managed to pull two goalless draws, against Edo Queens and Rivers Angels so far in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Rivers Angels today recorded their first win in the super six after beating Naija Ratels 2-0.

Chiamaka Okwuchuku gave Rivers Angels a deserved lead 57 minutes into the game after a barren first half.

She got a brace in the 81st minute after pouncing on a coiled pass from Tosin Ogundeko and brilliantly slotting the ball into the net to seal victory for Rivers Angels.

The win means Rivers Angels now have four points and are placed third on the log.

In the last game of the day, Edo Queens lost 2-1 to Bayelsa Queens at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. The ‘Obaseki Ladies’ started brilliantly upfront, with Yemisi Samuel and Taibat Oduoke combining well to give the Bayelsa Queens defence alot of difficult moments.

It was Interim Manager Grace Kurah’s first game incharge, after the dismissal of Wemimo Mathew on Tuesday and the young manager surely didn’t disappoint, as her team fought so hard despite going down by two goals in the 57th minute.

Rave of the moment Monday gift extended her goal tally in the NWFL Premiership Super 6 to 7 six after scoring in the 47th and 57th minute, before Esther Oyenezide reduced the deficit with a wonderful strike in the 72nd minute.

Bayelsa Queens have thus won three games out of three and are top of the log with 9 points, while Edo Queens have just a point from their Matchday one draw against Delta Queens.

Matchday four will continue on Friday, with Delta Queens face Bayelsa Queens at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, by 10 am, while Edo Queens and Naija Ratels will play by 12pm at the UNIBEN Sports Complex Benin, Finally Rivers Angels will battle it out with Nasarawa Amazons at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, by 4pm.

Battle For CAF Champions League Ticket Begins In Benin As NWFL Premiership Set For Super-Six Kickoff

The battle for Nigeria’s single ticket to the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League begins Monday, May 16, with all the six top Premiership clubs geared up to clinch the single slot to represent Nigeria at the WAFU B qualifier and also emerge the 2021/22 league champions.

According to the format of the fixtures, the six teams will play in a round robin league with winners amassing the highest points and goals for and against, to become the season’s Champions.

In the first match of the day which will kickoff at 10 am, four-time champion, Bayelsa Queens will slug it out against seven-time champions, Rivers Angels at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, in what has been tagged the “Mother of all battles.”

In the second match of the opening day,
two-time champions, Nasarawa Amazons will battle against newcomers, Naija Ratels FC at the University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus Sports Complex at 1pm,

While the third match will be held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, as five-time champions, Delta Queens set to lock horns with two-time qualifiers, Edo Queens of Benin City by 4 pm.

The results of these cracking openers will go a long way at setting the pace of this year’s Super-Six.

All the clubs coaches are all aiming to win the title, as Delta Queens’ Dan Evumena, Naija Ratels’ Oloowokere, Bayelsa Queens’ Moses Aduku, Nasarawa Amazons’ Theophilus Danjuma, and Edo Queens’ Wemimo Matthew, are all poised to do their states and club proud by winning the title.

The pre-match meetings for Monday’s matches were held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, as the clubs were taken through the new rules of the game.

The chairperson of the NWFL, Aisha Falode, noted Sunday afternoon that, the best women football Referees in the country have been carefully selected to officiate all the matches of the Super-Six, so as to get great results.

Each of the six teams will observe a bye in three days from 17th to 19th May, as two matches will be played on 17th May at the University of Benin, two games on 18th May at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium and two other games on 19th May at the University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus.

While matchday-five on 20th May would see the return of three matches schedule at the University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus and the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium.

May 21st, will be the only Full Rest Day for all the teams, and resume for the final league matches on May 22nd at different venues yet to be decided by the NWFL Secretariat, as the three games must be played simultaneously to avoid any form of manipulations by any of the teams.

The First Vice president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, arrived in Benin City on Saturday, ahead of the NWFL Premiership Super Six kick off on Monday.

Oshoala Wins Pichichi As Barcelona Beat Ajibade’s Atletico Madrid In Final Game Of The Season

20 goals for Jersey number 20 is enough to win the League’s Golden Boot award, popularly called by its Spanish name, the Pichichi award

Super Falcons of Nigeria star Asisat Oshoala was in action as Barcelona Femeni recorded a 2-1 victory against Rasheedat Ajibade’s Atletico Madrid on Sunday, May 15, 2022.

The Nigerian international came off the bench to replace Jenifer Hermoso in the 63rd minute but was unable to add to her goal tally.

Her goal against Sevilla was her 20th of the season in the league which placed her joint top of the goal charts with Brazilian forward Geyse who plays for Madrid CF.

Sisterhood moment between Oshoala and Ajibade

Rasheedat Ajibade came off the bench in the 46th minute to replace Thembi Kgatlana. The Nigerian international was on the verge of leveling the game in the 90th minute but Bonmati would rather collect straight red than to see that happen.

The Rojiblancas narrowly missed out on a Champions League spot with just one point behind Real Madrid despite having the most goal difference.

The Match Breakdown:

Barcelona Femeni took the lead as early as the 11th minute through Irene Paredes before Aitana Bonmati scored in the 23rd minute to give a two-goal lead at halftime. Amanda Sampedro pulled one back for the Rojablancas in the 64th minute but not enough to secure a point.

10 vs 10:

The game ended with 10 players on each side as Atletico Madrid were reduced to 10 players when Merel van Dongen received her second yellow card of the game in the 59th minute. Bonmati then received a straight red card at stoppage time for Barcelona.

Oshoala and her teammates now prepare for the UEFA Women’s Champions League final against Lyon on Saturday, May 21, 2022.

NWFL Premiership Unveils ‘Ivie’ Official Match Ball For Super 6

The official ball for the 2022 NWFL Premiership Super 6 has been unveiled by the NWFL.

The new ball ‘Ivie’ was inspired by the Bini word for Corals, a beautiful ornament of Royalty worn around the neck or adorned on the head by brides and Queens in the Oba’s place for grand occasions or ceremonies.

The artwork used for it’s design brings a sense of tradition, which is closely linked with the spirit of the Super 6 tournament. The 2022 NWFL Premiership Super 6 ball is predominantly white, with a garish upper graphics that combines blue brush stroke prints with striping in neon pink colours. While the logos of the NWFL and Ivie are black.

The ‘Ivie’ was comprehensively tested to make sure it is suitable for professional football and was used at the NWFL-LaLiga ‘Show Your Other Side Challenge’ Novelty Match. It has excellent shape precision, flight stability, predictability after the bounce, and it is well durable.

The 2022 NWFL Premiership Super 6 will hold at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, kicking off from the 16th of May to the 22nd of May 2022.