By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Determined to be amongst the best coaches on African continent, the assistant coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s football team, Super Falcons, Ann Agumanu-Chiejine, has obtained her badge as a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Elite Women Instructor.
Chiejine who also holds CAF Grade A License, UEFA and U.S Coaching Certificates, received the badge at the weekend in far away Rabat, Morocco after attending a one-week CAF Elite Women Instructors Course organised by the continental football ruling body in the North African country.
Interestingly, Chiejine was the only female football coach from Nigeria who attended the Course just as no fewer than three coaches from South Africa and two from Cameroon also got their CAF Elite Women Instructor Course badge.
Host country- Morrocco, Algeria,Tunisia, Tanzania, Burundi and Senegal as well as Nigeria’s neighbour-Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Ethiopia produced one candidate each.
The CAF Elite Women Instructors Course was conducted by two CAF Women Instructors namely Clementinè Tourè from Cotè d’ Ivorire and Jacky Chipanga of Namibia while Ethiopian Abraham Mebratu was the third Instructor in the Course.
Chiejine was the pioneer Super Falcons first-choice goalkeeper who kept for Nigeria in three successive FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in 1991,1995 and 1999 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in Australia as well as two Africa Women Championship (AWC) now WAFCON in 1998, 2000 and 2002 in Nigeria and South Africa before retiring from active football to via into coaching.
A graduate of Nigeria Institute of Sports (NIS), Chiejine started off as goalkeeper coach/assistant to late Coach Ntiero Effiom Ntiero to the 2007FIFA Women’s World Cup final in China and assistant coach to late Joseph Ladipo aka Jossy Lad before working as assistant coach to national U-17 women’s football team.
She has also served as both goalkeeper trainer and assistant coach to junior and senior women’s football teams since she was first appointed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as assistant to the Olympic team for the 2007 African qualifiers ahead of 2008 Beijin Olympic Games. READ ALSO:
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Chiejine was 2013 assistant coach of the Falconets U20 Falconets in Costa Rica and the U17 Flamingos in 2016 but was later moved to Super Falcons to assist Head Coach Florence Omagbemi to win the 2016 WAFCON in Cameroon.
She was reappointed as assistant coach of Super Falcons two years ago to assist Randy Waldrum, making her the longest serving assistant coach of the senior women’s football team.
