It is a miracle that the Super Falcons of Nigeria have qualified for the 2018 AWCON because they’ve suffered a torrid time since winning the 2016 AWCON in Cameroon.
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The Super Falcons’ woes began even before they played the final match at the 2016 AWCON. They had heard that the sports minister, Solomon Dalung and members of the NFF led by their president, Amaju Pinnick, would come and address the team, especially on issues concerning their camp allowances, winning bonuses and the coaches’ nine months salaries would be settled.
However, the sports minister, NFF president and their delegation flew into Yaounde in a chartered jet, stayed at the airport until it was almost time for the match, drove straight to the stadium to watch the match without seeing the Falcons and then drove back to the airport after the match and flew to Nigeria without seeing the players.
The VIPs flew into Yaounde in a chartered jet, but the players had to fly back to Nigeria via commercial flights. They had to fly from Yaounde to Douala in a plane that was too small to carry their luggage (their luggage was transported by road) and then fly from Douala to Abuja.
Protest
Their allowances and bonuses were still not paid when they returned to Abuja and they had to stage a sit in protest at their hotel.
Meanwhile, the Lionesses of Cameroon that were beaten by the Falcons were being hosted by President Biya at a state reception in which they were showered gifts, given medals and praised as heros of Cameroon.
The Falcons protested at their hotel until they were evicted, then they carried their protest to the streets. They staged a protest march to the National Assembly and they also marched to the Aso Rock Villa where they were received by the chief of staff to the president. The COS promised that President Buhari would intervene in their situation.
It took an intervention by President Buhari before the Falcons and their coaches were paid their entitlements.
Florence Omagbemi
Some members of the NFF were angry that the Falcons staged a protest in Abuja. They believed that the Falcons embarrassed the NFF before the government and people of Nigeria and they held Coach Florence Omagbemi responsible for the protest.
They believed that Coach Omagbemi was responsible because she did not control her players and prevent them from protesting, so they decided that she must go. They decided that they would either appoint a foreigner as coach of the Falcons or they would recall the former coach, Edwin Okon, to take over as coach.
The NFF initially ignored Coach Omagbemi for months, then they directed her to apply for her job. They eventually frustrated her out of the job and the Falcons were without a coach for many months.
The Falcons complain
After spending 8 months without a coach, a warm up session or a friendly match, the Falcons took to social media to stage another protest. They complained that other African teams were playing friendly matches and progressing, while the Falcons had been dormant and regressing. The Falcons had won the AWCON in December 2016, but they had not been involved in any activity till October 2017 when they complained on social media. Some people felt that the Falcons were being punished for their protest while others felt that the NFF was focusing solely on the Super Eagles’ qualification for the World Cup in Russia to the detriment of the other national teams.
South African captain, Janine Van Wyk, celebrating the fact that they were going to play a friendly against Sweden (they actually played 2 friendlies against Sweden, home and away). The Super Falcons page complained that Nigeria was not doing anything. Asisiat Oshoala hit up Ghanaian captain, Elizabeth Addo (amapele10) to find out if they were in the same situation. Elizabeth Addo said that they were going to play France (I thought that she was joking, but they did indeed play France. I think that Oshoala also thought that she was joking, because she joked that we are playing Germany).
The NFF responds
Eventually, in November 2017, the president of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, declared that the NFF had not abandoned the Super Falcons. He also declared that a new foreign coach would be in Nigeria to sign a contract within a week.
New coach or no new coach?
The next week the NFF announced that an American, Randy Waldrum, had been appointed as the new coach of the Super Falcons. However, Randy Waldrum became the coach of the University of Pittsburgh in December 2017. The NFF had announced that he was the Falcons coach without signing a contract with him!
Thomas Dennerby and friendlies
The NFF eventually signed Thomas Dennerby as the new coach of the Falcons in January 2018, more than a year after the 2016 AWCON. They also announced that the Super Falcons would feature in the Alanya Women’s tournament in Turkey alongside Mexico, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia and France’s B team. The Falcons were scheduled to play a friendly match against France in April 2018.
The Falcons participated in the WAFU Cup tournament in February 2018, but it was basically a home based team and it was mainly made up of players from the Under 20 squad (e.g. Rasheedat Ajibade and Anam Imo). Nigeria lost to Ghana on penalties in the semi-final and defeated Mali in the third place match.
Falcons no show
Late in February 2018, the NFF announced that Nigeria will no longer take part in the Alanya Tournament because it did not have enough time to procure visas for the players.
Nigeria played against France in a friendly match on April 6th, 2018. It was the first time that the full senior team was playing together since December 2016. Asisat Oshoala could not make it to the game due to visa problems, but Courtney Dike, Ini Umotong and Sophia Omotola Omidiji were in the team. The Falcons lost 8-0 to France.
In June the Falcons played two AWCON qualifying matches against the Gambia. Nigeria defeated Gambia 0-1 away and won 6-0 in Lagos to qualify for the AWCON.
The future
The matches against France and the Gambia were the only proper matches that the Super Falcons (the full team) played in almost two years.
The Super Falcons have now qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup which will hold in France in June and July 2019. The question is, will the NFF abandon the Falcons in order to concentrate on the Super Eagles’ quest to win the 2019 Nations Cup? Will the NFF organise quality friendly matches for the Falcons, or will they wait till 3 weeks before the World Cup to organise “friendly matches” against local Under 17 boys’ teams? What are the NFF’s plans for the Falcons ahead of the World Cup? The South Africans have already arranged a friendly match against Sweden for January 2019, when will the Falcons play friendlies? Bafana Bafana’s quest to play at the AFCON has not affected Banyana Banyana’s programmes, will the Eagles’ campaign at the AFCON affect the Falcons?
Friendlies are very important because they help the players to understand each other better, they help the coach to ensure that the players understand the way he wants them to play, they help the NFF and the fans to assess the performance of the coach and they help everybody to assess the performance of the players. Will we play quality friendlies before the World Cup?
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