August 18, (THEWILL) – Preparations for the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament, slated for September 13 – 21 in Lagos, are at an advanced stage with the six-nation international tournament billed to serve as a celebration of 30 years of women’s football in Nigeria.
Already the country’s senior women’s national football team, the Super Falcons spent a part of their summer camping in Vienna, Austria which they wrapped up with a lone goal victory in an unofficial match against Olimpija Ljubljana, a professional football club competing in the highest division of Slovenian football, the PrvaLiga.
The invitational, named after Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, is framed as a celebration of the evolution and development of women’s football, in particular, as well as the celebration of the girl-child, in general. As a result, it will boast of arguably six of Africa’s strongest women’s teams in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Morocco, Cameroon and Mali.
Making clear the entire rationale for the tournament, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, the 1st Vice-President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) had this to say:
“Not many people reckon with the fact that women’s football in Nigeria is already 30 years old but it was actually in the mix of conversation about how to celebrate this landmark that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick came up with the idea of hosting a tournament of this magnitude.
“We equally found out that our objectives for this tournament aligned with the set objectives with the Future Assured Programme of the First Lady which is basically the promotion of the girl-child, and we have no doubt that football is a perfect medium to promote such ideals.”
The NFF VP added that the choice of Lagos was strategic as the former capital city of Africa’s most populous country had a vibrant and perfect ambiance for the tournament and the type of fans that can appreciate what the entire tournament was about with the facilities and resources to handle the competition.
He said: “The choice of Lagos as the host of the maiden edition of the Aisha Buhari Cup, is also strategic since the city already has virtually everything in place for a good tournament.
“Lagos has everything in place as regards accommodation, security, medical facilities and with the on-going renovations at the two stadia (Mobolaji Johnson Arena and Agege Stadium) we are confident of a hitch-free tournament.”
The draws for the Cup, already dubbed the ABC by a section of the local media (an acronym for Aisha Buhari Cup), was conducted by Aisha Falode, the Director of Organisation on Wednesday, August 18 at the exquisite Australia Hall of the Eko Hotel & Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos.
From the result of the draws, the hosts, the Super Falcons of Nigeria, will square up against the Atlas Lionesses of Morocco and Les Aiglonnes of Mali in Group A of the tournament. The Falcons were spared the much stiffer Group B competition between the Black Queens of Ghana, the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon and Banyana Banyana of South Africa.
But that reality was not lost on Desiree Ellis, the South Africa women’s national team coach. She expressed her thoughts on their group after the draws: “Our (Aisha Buhari Cup) draw was difficult. It’s not as easy as it seems. Ghana has been a powerhouse as well as Cameroon in African football. We cannot take any of the teams lightly.
“We’ve always wanted more women’s football competitions on the continent and this will be a mini Women Africa Cup of Nations. I think this is a start of great things to come for women’s football in Africa.”
Nigeria’s coach Randy Waldrum has seen an improvement in the team since taking over although their participation at the June Soccer Summer Series to which they were invited was not as fruitful as their triumph at the four-nation invitational tournament Gold City Tournament in Antalya, Turkey in February.
In the US Series, the Falcons made a strong showing though the results did not give a fair account of their overall performance. They started with a loss to the Reggae Girlz of Jamaica, drew with the Seleccao das Quintas of Portugal before the tie against the USWNT, which they also lost by two stoppage-time goals at the end of each half.
So far, with the return of Desire Oparanozie, and the pair of striker Ngozi Okobi and goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, there are enough reinforcements in the squad to make them top contenders and favourites to win the maiden trophy at the ABC next month.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
