Female football in Africa has come a long way since the first maiden edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. It was first contested in 1991 but was not held biennially until 1998. The Nigeria Super Falcons are the most successful nation in the tournament’s history, having won a record 11 titles (9 biennially). They have only failed to win it three times out of the fourteen editions.

The likely question that would be on the lips of every reader and those that have not closely followed African female football would be, why the commanding dominance of the super falcons? The Super Falcons have been able to dominate the female football scene due to early participation/adoption of female football, the establishment of a female pro league and the abundance of natural talent domiciled in the country. While the majority of African teams were still fighting for the acceptance of female football, Nigeria had already established its first female league in 1978 and by 1990 it organised its first championship. 

Before the first biennial women’s African Cup of Nations in 1998, Nigeria had already produced a lot of talents through the league, so it was no fluke that they were able to crush their opponents in the manner they did, as they went on to win championships after championships as the rest of the African teams played a catchup role in the next two decades.

Sometimes unchallenged success breeds arrogance and overconfidence. As this had turned out to be the case of the Super Falcons, the Nigerian football administrators and the majority of her fans were also not left out, as they all believed that the championship was always theirs to lose, because they were head and shoulders above the rest of Africa, and they could not fault their enthusiasm because, in two decades, they had enjoyed nothing but massive success on the continent.

While the government and the football administrators were still living on the imperious dominance of the past and present by providing little or no funding for their youth and sports development, the rest of the African teams, like the Banyana Banyana of South Africa and the Lionesses of Morocco, were on a deliberate mission to improve their football.

To put things into perspective, our inhouse football analyst at www.elegbetv.com , Eseoghene M Edafe, has decried the minimal level of funding the government has been giving to her youth and sports development ministry.

“Out of the budget for youth and sports development, only 2% of the budget goes to sports development while 90% of the budget goes to the mandatory NYSC (National Youth Service Corp) scheme,” he said on his morning sports show, “Sport Buffet.”

The data was gotten from the Nigerian federal government appropriation bill 2017, which had a total of #83,416,015, 167 (eighty three billion, four hundred and sixteen million, fifteen thousand, one hundred and sixty-seven naira). $238.3m using an exchange rate of 350 naira to a dollar in 2017. Only 11.28% was budgeted for the ministry of youth and sports development, which has five MDA’s. 11.28% was budgeted for everything related to sports, and 88.72% was budgeted for the NYSC scheme and CALT.

Likewise, in the year 2020, of the total sum of #171,061,527,148 (one hundred and seventy-one billion, sixty-one million, five hundred and twenty-seven thousand, one hundred and forty-eight naira). using an average exchange rate of 380 naira to a dollar in 2020. $459.1m in 2020

Only 4.57% was budgeted for sports and their development. This lack of proper funding led to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, while speaking at the 2022 Budget Defence session with the House of Representatives Committee on Sports Development in Abuja, highlighting some of the challenges the Ministry was facing in prosecuting most of its sporting activities.

“Without mincing words, participation in national, continental, and international competitions, which have brought much glory and goodwill to the country, is capital intensive,” began Dare. Due to its extremely low overhead, “the Ministry has been greatly challenged in prosecuting these realities.”  ripplesnigeria reported.

While Nigeria was having funding issues, countries like South Africa and Morocco were investing massively in their sports development.

Teams like Nigeria have a record of being champions for x11, Equatorial Guinea x2, South Africa 2nd place x5, Cameroon 2nd place x4, Ghana 2nd place x3 and Morocco’s only record is their x3 appearance in the competition.

South Africa’s route

Even though the Banyana Banyana of South Africa had advanced to the finals five times and were attempting to win the elusive African Women’s Cup of Nations title, it was clear that they had made progress from their starting point. A national league that kicked off in Soweto as an amateur league with players simply not making a living out of it, then developed into a footballing culture that produced a team that could have gone on to win the AWCN on more than two occasions if not for the superior qualities of the Super Falcons.

In a bid to close the gap in sports in Africa and the world at large, the South African government, through Minister Nathi Mthethwa: Sports Dept Budget Vote 2019/20, stated that “Expanding opportunities for participation in sports will help to ensure sports teams represent all sectors of society.” It will also ensure that South Africa produces results that match its passion for sport. ” He continued, “In order to achieve the desired results, we have to invest.” The total budget for 2019/20 for Sport and Recreation South Africa is R1.154 billion. ($69.24m). Of this, R744 million ($44.64m) is allocated to mass participation sports and recreation, implying that 64% of the budget goes directly to sports development, with R239 million($14.34m) being allocated specifically for school sports. (https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-nathi-mthethwa-sports-arts-and-culture-dept-budget-vote-201920-17-jul-2019-0000#:~:text=The%20total%20budget%20for%202019,allocated%20specifically%20for%20school%20sport.)

This deliberate support and investment in their youth and sports has played a significant role in the development of their sports, particularly their women’s football, which has progressed from the heartbreak of losing five finals to becoming the champions of African women’s football by defeating yet another team, the lionesses of Morocco, in whom their government has been investing heavily to upgrade their sports, particularly their female football team.  

Morocco’s Approach 

The Moroccan government took a different approach in finding lasting solutions to the upgrading of their sports in general. Knowing that they are far behind in the female football category, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (RMFF) set out a deliberate plan not only to develop their female football but also to upgrade their existing gains in every area of their national sports. According to the framework of their national program for improving national In order to improve football infrastructure, they started work on the Mohammed VI Football Complex’s renovation, which cost MAD 630 million ($65 million). At the time of its unveiling, Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) reported that the reopened complex seeks to provide national football professionals with an appropriate environment “conducive to success.” The Mohammed VI National Complex has four natural grass football fields, three astro-turf football fields, and an indoor football field, along with a hybrid football field and a re-training room that can host matches, among others. 

The RMFF did not stop there, as they increased the funding of their ministry’s Department of Youth and Sports by 5.99% from 2020’s budget of MAD 2.65 billion ($291.88 million) to MAD 2.5 billion ($275.36 million) in 2021. (https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/11/327364/moroccos-ministry-of-culture-to–investment-budget-in-2021).

In line with the funding of their youth and sports development, the RMFF laid out a framework to bring in 90 thousand girls into football by 2024, as well as further plans by establishing a national championship for under-17 girls with regional championships to complement the national team.

Just like South Africa, the Moroccan national women’s team have made significant progress from just a team who had a record of just three appearances in African women’s football to a team who will be remembered for being the giant slayers of super falcons at the 2022 AWCN in the semi-finals while also qualifying for their first world cup.

In contrast, the Super Falcons seem to be going through a phase of struggle which needs proper surgical emergency in the manner in which they are funded, how the league is run, and how well they integrate the younger players into a well-structured system as has been done in a well-developed league.

Nigeria seems to have abandoned the strategy that has taken them this far. The strategy of players passing through home-grown clubs like Rivers Angels, Bayelsa Queens, Delta Queens, e.t.c into the national setup to something that resembles the assemblage of foreign-born players could be likened to mercenaries, but it will be unfair to tag these players in this manner when they are good enough to represent their country.

 No national team has done very well in international competitions without their domestic league not contributing immensely to their success.

How to change the tides

Due to their illustrious past and current standing, the Super Falcons have earned the right to be pardoned for not taking home an African Cup of Nations trophy or two. But with great success comes great responsibility, and so the chip of losing just one championship is now a burden on not only the Super Falcons but also on the shoulders of the Nigerian football administrators.

Many African teams are rising to the occasion at the speed of light, and it is just a matter of “when” and not “if” until they complete the catching up phase if things are not properly planned and structured.

The women’s league needs to be reorganised; the ministry of sports needs adequate funding; infrastructure needs to be invested in; and administrators need to come up with a long-term plan to identify and develop young talent. Some might want to argue that these can only be achieved on paper as it will require a lot of money and the country is currently broke with little or no investors. They are right, but the purpose of being an administrator is to serve and provide solutions to these challenges, so they should all roll up their sleeves and get to work.